Best-Ever, So-Easy Pumpkin Bread Recipe
Dry Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
3⅓ cup flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Baking Powder
1½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
¼ tsp mace
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves
4 eggs
2 cups pumpkin
1 cup oil
1/3 c. water
Optional:
1 c. chopped nuts (pecans are best)
1 c. raisins
Sift all dry ingredients together into a good-sized bowl. Make a well and add the eggs, pumpkin and oil. Stir together well. Mixing by hand seems to work best. Add chopped nuts and raisins, if desired, and mix those in thoroughly.
Grease and flour 2 loaf pans (Actually, non-stick spray works very well.) Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1¼ hours, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out pretty clean. Let cool for about 30 minutes, so that the bread will firm up enough to take out of the pan without breaking it.
Notes:
This bread tastes great hot or cooled. It’s delicious with or without the raisins and/or nuts. If you freeze it overnight and slice it and toast it, it is marvelous with coffee for brunch on Friday morning after Thanksgiving, when everyone is still recovering from the feast of the day before.
This mix will cook very well in muffin pans, also. The muffins will freeze and can be popped into the microwave and served warm in the morning with your coffee, tea or milk. We like them served with Constant Comment tea and slathered with butter on chilly mornings.
This recipe has been successfully doubled, tripled and quadrupled. As long as the bowl you use is big enough to hold the batter as you mix it up, then have at it in increasing. We have used the big batches to make SCADS of muffins to share around with folks.
The loaves are very moist, but firm enough to wrap in plastic wrap or foil to take to others. We have used this as a treat for friends and family members throughout the fall/winter season. They make great hostess gifts, because they can be frozen by the receiver and used later. They are just all-around good little loaves.
There is a spread we do at home with butter and spices and honey that is delicious. It makes a marvelous accompaniment to the bread, and I have put it into small jars or plastic containers to give with the loaves. For each cup of softened butter, add ¼ cup of honey, and ¼ tsp. each of Nutmeg, mace, and ginger. Mix thoroughly or blend in a blender or food processor. Stores well in the frig. Tastes fabulous on toasted slices of this bread.
Never have we received a lukewarm response to this pumpkin bread. Even if the initial response is less-than-enthusiastic, we receive calls afterwards as to the delicious taste.
One last thing: I gave this recipe to a friend once, who changed the spice additions a bit for her family. She increased the ginger and deleted the mace and cloves. It was still delicious, which proves that adjustments may be made in the spices. I happen to like the mace and cloves and would not leave them out at all, although once I used apple pie spice instead of allspice, as I was out of the latter. Still good. You just can’t mess up this bread without really trying.
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