Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread
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November isn’t quite over yet, so I’m sneaking in another pumpkin recipe.
Pumpkin bread is always a popular sweet treat, and it’s a great way to use up the sugar pumpkins that decorate your house during the fall. Of course canned pumpkin works too if you don’t have a fresh pumpkin ready to roast. Personally, I’m happy to eat pumpkin bread all year round, so I try to have lots of pureed pumpkin on hand in my freezer.
Last week, I received a fabulous package on my doorstep. I won a giveaway from Jill at Reini Days, and it was a box filled with some of her favorite things. Jill’s package included some fun ingredients for the kitchen, and this recipe uses two things from that package: whole wheat pastry flour and coconut oil. I usually use Trader Joe’s white whole wheat flour when I bake with gluten, and I was eager to try whole wheat pastry flour because I’ve heard good things about it. The flour was perfect for this pumpkin bread, generating a nice, tender crumb.
This isn’t a super-sweet dessert bread. It’s a mildly sweet snack that tastes great with a cup of tea or coffee.
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup mashed banana
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups maple syrup
- 1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease 2 9x5 inch loaf pans.
- Mix together the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
- In a large bowl, mix the remaining ingredients. If you want to minimize the number of pans you’re washing, you can melt the coconut oil right in the loaf pan as the oven preheats and then pour it directly from there into your measuring cup.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
- Bake for about 50 minutes. It’s important that you don’t let it bake too long or it will come out dry. Keep an eye on the bread starting at about 45 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center of the bread to test it, and take it out when there are a few crumbs sticking to the toothpick.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Approximate Nutrition Info
Pumpkin Bread Price Breakdown
This recipe costs $6.61 to make, or $.28 per serving. It’s one of my favorite autumn treats, although I won’t hesitate to make a batch any time of year.
I made a paleo pumpkin cheesecake a few days ago (from pinterest) and needed to use up the rest of my freshly roasted pumpkin. So I made two loaves of your pumpkin bread and one loaf of your applesauce bread, both for the first time. They are both wonderful, and very similar, but the pumpkin seemed so incredibly moist, that it won as my favorite of the two. I am so amazed at the quality of your quick breads. I am so used to other recipes falling apart, sticking to the pan, or worst of all and most common, being gummy in the middle. But yours always turn out! Thank you for this gift of great recipes.
And another note about pumpkin, just to throw an idea out there: I have a hard time digesting pasta, and am lactose-intolerant. But sometimes I miss mac-and-cheese. So I recently started making “rice and cheese” like mac and cheese, from scratch on the stove top, using leftover brown rice. I make a quick white sauce with butter and sprouted whole wheat flour, then stir in yogurt (lactose is predigested in yogurt), shredded sharp cheddar until it melts (not much lactose in sharp cheeses), and then a bunch of cooked pumpkin. I add a touch of nutmeg, and finally stir in the cold rice. The rice cools down the cheesy pumpkin sauce and it’s ready to feed my 1-and 3-year-olds immediately. Pretty different from classic mac-and-cheese, but it satisfies the craving for me, and is quick, tasty, and healthy. I feel good about using more vegetables and less dairy, and the bright orange color is very convincing that it’s just more cheese sauce.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the bread recipes, Kate. And what a great idea about the rice and cheese! Sounds like a delicious combination.
Yum! I rearranged my fruit-and-veggie freezer and discovered a few more packages of pumpkin and I’ll use one of them for this!
Thank you!
I really need to reorganized my freezer too. I just came home with several sugar pumpkins left over from an event at my children’s school, so I have to make room for some more puree.