Pumpkin Bread (and Muffins)

Happy Homemade Bread Day! I think fall is the perfect time to bake your own bread--no matter what kind, your house will smell amazing, and the finished product will put you in Comfort Food Central. This weekend I made (and consumed) my first pumpkin-flavored items of the year: bread and muffins.

The recipe I followed was for two loaves of bread, but since I only have one loaf pan, I used the leftover batter to make pumpkin muffins. My mouth couldn't tell the difference. Besides that switch, I didn't change a whole lot else with this recipe from Once Upon a Chef.

Pumpkin Bread & Muffins
(by Jennifer Segal, substitutions in parenthesis mine)

• 2 c flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cloves (I don't have cloves on hand, so I used 1/2 tsp ginger and 1/2 tsp allspice to round out the flavor.)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 c sugar
• 1-1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 15-ounce can 100% pure pumpkin (She uses Libby's & so did I.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Lightly grease two loaf pans (or one loaf pan and one muffin pan).

Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in a bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin.

At low speed, beat in flour mixture until combined.

Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly. (I found it easiest to pour about half the batter into the bread pan, then fill my muffin tin (12 muffins), then add the leftover batter to the bread.)

Bake 65-75 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. (I put the bread and muffins in together at the same temperature, then removed the muffins after about 25 minutes.)

Let loaves/muffins cool about 10 minutes, then turn out on wire rack to cool completely.

This bread and the muffins (you know I tried both) were great by themselves, but a layer of cream cheese frosting probably wouldn't hurt. Or a simple powdered sugar glaze. Or butter. Mmmm. Butter. They also didn't last long in this house, so I might have to stock up on pumpkin for the next few weeks.