Shouldn’t there be a pumpkin-bread exemption to the old “man cannot live on bread alone” adage? If you’re anything like us, you could happily nibble that sweet, spicy quick bread all day, every day.
Of course, some pumpkin breads are better than others. Some are dry, some are oily and many go distinctly soggy on the second day — if, that is, it lasts that long. And while canned pumpkin puree is certainly more convenient than roasting and pureeing your Jack O’Lantern’s cousins, canned versions often give the bread what the America’s Test Kitchen crew calls a “raw, metallic flavor.”
The test kitchen’s solution is brilliant: Cook down the puree first and you’ll concentrate the pumpkin flavor and eliminate any tinge of tin. They add cream cheese and buttermilk for tangy flavor — and mix the batter in the same pot, to minimize dishwashing. A quick crumbly topping not only adds flavor and texture, it helps fight the sog factor.
One final tip: Measure your loaf pan. This recipe is designed for a pan that measures 8½ by 4½ inches. If yours is 9 by 5, start checking for doneness five minutes earlier.
America’s Test Kitchen Pumpkin Bread
Makes 2 loaves
Topping:
5 tablespoons packed (2¼ ounces) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon salt
Bread:
2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
15-ounce can unsweetened pumpkin puree
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into 12 pieces
4 large eggs
¼ cup buttermilk
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped fine
Directions:
- Using your fingers, mix all the topping ingredients in a bowl until well combined. The mixture should resemble wet sand.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pans.
- Whisk flour, baking powder and baking soda together in bowl.
- Using a large saucepan set over medium heat, cook the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cloves, stirring constantly, until reduced to 1½ cups, 6 to 8 minutes. Off heat, stir in granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil and cream cheese until combined. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until no visible pieces of cream cheese remain and mixture is homogeneous.
- In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and buttermilk together, then whisk into pumpkin mixture. Gently fold in the flour mixture until combined (some small lumps of flour are OK). Fold in walnuts.
- Scrape batter into prepared pans, smooth tops and sprinkle evenly with topping. Bake until skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking.
- Let loaves cool in pans for 20 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack and let cool for 1½ hours before serving.
— Courtesy America’s Test Kitchen
