Pumpkin Spice Bread with @creativetruth

Pumpkin Bread is one of my favorite foods to eat. I love the spices, the richness of the sweet pumpkin, the color, the soft cake center, and the caramelized crispy, sticky crust.

Today I'll be sharing with you the methods I used for making Pumpkin Bread.

The recipe I follow is available on AllRecipes.com, although I prefer to modify a few things each time I follow a recipe I am familiar with. This is a recipe that is more special because I only make it once or twice a year, and I keep coming back to it because it is so good.

WARNING: If you are on a strict diet, trying to cut down on fat and sugar, then please abort now. By continuing on with this post, you are consenting to hold yourself liable for any adverse effects you may suffer as a result of viewing this post. Do not continue to view the material below if your willpower is susceptible sudden onset weakness from visual stimuli, or if you cannot handle the possibility of suffering a sudden overdose of unhealthy foods such as M&M's, cookies, donuts, and cakes.

Are we clear? Good! On we go!

Combine the wet ingredients together in a bowl

3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, lightly beaten

Add the pumpkin.

16 oz. of pumpkin.

My can only has 15 oz. Close enough.

I tried to grow pumpkin this year in my yard. Didn't work out for me. If you have fresh pumpkin, go for it. I like this brand of canned pumpkin because it is canned locally, it is organic, cheap, and tastes just as good as the the other brands.

Hmm, something is missing here.

Let's add some vanilla.

1/2 teaspoon (approx.) of vanilla

Next combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

3 1/2 cups of All-Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon Mace, or alternatively 1 teaspoon of Nutmeg. Mace has a fresher flavor and is less gritty. They are made from different parts of the same tree seed.

1/2 teaspoon Allspice

1/2 teaspoon Cloves

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

Put all of the fine powder through a sieve or sifter to help mix it up easier. Mine has a little crank wheel that spins the powders into the powder layered underneath.

The only ingredient I did not put into the sifter was the mace, because it looked a bit too course and sticky, so I added that directly to the wet ingredients.

Things are starting to smell heavenly.

1/2 cup of fresh orange juice

The recipe calls for water, but I used fresh orange juice to heighten the flavors. If you have ever tried combining orange with cloves, then you know why this is a winning combo. Don't worry about straining out the pulp. You won't even notice it, and the fiber is good.

Next prepare the loaf pans.

Oil the pans, and cover with flour. Normally I use Crisco to coat the tin pans. This time I am trying coconut oil I melted down. Not sure if this was a good idea. The oil sort of pooled at the bottom, and turned into a sort of jelly after I added the flour.

Mini loaf pans are my favorite. Sometimes it is hard to bake a large loaf of quickbread to bake evenly. I have some with burnt crust and wet batter on the inside. Smaller pans helps the heat of the oven to get into the center of the batter more easily.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, but not all at once. Add the orange juice alternately to help keep the batter moistened.

At this point I had only been using a rubber spatula to mix things together.

Time to use the electric mixer to make sure there are no lumps. I want a smooth batter.

The color lightened up. Looks creamier now. Maybe the electric mixer incorporated some air into the batter.

Preheat the oven.

350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fill the pans with batter.

Don't fill them too full. I usually aim for 2/3 full, otherwise they will overflow and make a mess in the oven.

I always end up with extra batter, so it is good to have a full-sized loaf pan to pour the rest into. This pan I used the melted coconut oil in, but I did not flour it. I am experimenting to see if one method is better than the other.

Put them in the oven.

Bake for 1 hour.

I like to turn the pan around half way through baking. If the heat is not even inside the oven, this should help. Leaving space for airflow between the pans is also a good idea.

As it bakes, now is a good opportunity to clean up the utensils and and the counter-tops. My mother decided to help out with this. I decided to start working on my Steemit post here while I waited.

Time's up!

Stick a toothpick deep down into the center of the loaves, and check to make sure it is cooked through. If batter sticks to the toothpick, it needs to stay in the oven.

Mine looked done, but I like the crust to crisp up darker, so I turned off the oven and let them stay inside 5 to 10 minutes longer.

This is the bittersweet moment in baking. They look and smell so hot and delicious that I want to eat them right now, but they need to rest. Inside they are still cooking and setting. The moisture and the oils inside will sort of glue the loaf together as it cools. If I try to eat it now, it will be a crumbly mess and anything left will turn stale and dry the next day. Have patience, and let them rest...

Big loaf.

Baked potato?

Transfer the loaves to a wire rack as soon the pans are cool enough to touch. For a larger loaf, you might have to use a knife around the side to pry it out.

The mini loaves just popped right out of the pans for me.

A little bit of flour coating stuck to the bottoms. I think that is because the oil/flour coating became too thick.

Slice it evenly, and it is ready to serve.

Overall good results. The orange really lifts to flavors across the palette making me want more after I finish a single bite. It has a nice muffin texture in the center, and a chewy brownie crust. Using mace was definitely a good choice, because the texture is much softer. Next time I will use Crisco to coat the pans instead of the coconut oil. Other than that, perfecto!

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Bonus photo:

My oven is a gateway into another dimension. In order to save humanity, I had to push the button. All nature of demons would have been unleashed on this world. You can thank me in the comments below.