Pumpkin Bread

There is no better kitchen fragrance I love than to wake in the morning to pumpkin bread baking. You can hardly wait until it is done and cool enough to slice.

Pumpkin bread is a quick bread that is so easy to make. The ingredients in pumpkin bread are those that most kitchens already have on hand so you are more likely to make this than a lot of other breads on the spur of the moment.

I don't know about you, but we always keep a few cans of pumpkin from a store sale on hand at our house for making pumpkin bread and even pumpkin waffles!

Wake Your Family With The Smell Of Pumpkin Bread Baking

You can get up in the morning, mix the ingredients together and stir them by hand or with a mixer and in 70 minutes while you are doing other things, your family will be awakened by the heavenly smell of pumpkin bread coming from the kitchen.

Our recipe makes 2 loaves, which is good, because one would never do. You can use glass or metal pans but we prefer glass. It's easier to see when the bottom is brown without getting too brown.

Cooling Your Pumpkin Bread

As soon as you bake your pumpkin bread, you can turn the loaves out onto a wire rack for cooling or you can leave it in the pan. The slices look nicer for presentation on the table when you remove the pumpkin bread from the pans for later slicing.

I like to lay my loaves on their side so as not to make marks in the top with the wire rack when cooling them.

What To Serve With Pumpkin Bread

You can serve pumpkin bread plain or it can be spread with butter or cream cheese for a special treat.

Pumpkin bread goes well with almost any meal because of it's rich flavor. It's between being a bread and a dessert. At our house, we often serve pumpkin bread at breakfast with two eggs, a piece of fruit and a glass of milk.

Pumpkin bread also makes a wonderful packed lunch treat or after school snack served with a tall glass of milk or juice.

Our Favorite Pumpkin Bread Recipe

The recipe we have included here is for two loaves of wonderfully delicious pumpkin bread. If there is one thing that is important to me it's that the food be moist and this pumpkin bread is so moist and full of warm cinnamon and clove and pumpkin flavor you will want to make it more often.

It reminds you of grandma's home cooking. We hope you will enjoy it as much as we have over the years.

Pumpkin Bread Freezes Well

This is a recipe that can easily be doubled so if you are at all like me, you will probably want to make several batches and freeze some for another time. It's wonderful to have something like this already prepared for when company comes.

You can bake your pumpkin bread in mini loaves and wrap them in foil and then place them in freezer quality plastic bags. Then you can just pull one of these little loaves out for a snack or freeze regular size loaves and pull it out an hour before serving to your family or guests.

Depending on the temperature of the room you are thawing your bread in, it may take a little longer. When we are in a hurry, we slice a piece of pumpkin bread that is not quite thawed and warm it on a stove top grill or skillet or in the microwave just for a few seconds.

Denise Lorraine's Pumpkin Bread

Cream:

2/3 c. shortening

2 2/3 c. sugar

Stir in:

4 eggs

1 1 lb. can pumpkin

2/3 c. water

Combine and stir into above:

3 1/3 c. flour

2 t. baking soda

1 1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. cloves

Stir in:

2/3 c. coarsely chopped walnuts

2/3 c. raisins

Pour into 2 greased 8 1/2 X 4 1/2 " loaf pans.

Bake 70 minutes @ 350 degrees.