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I’VE BEEN SMITTEN with pumpkin bread all my life. I would bake dozens of mini loaves at a time each October when I was in my teens, and when I had young children, I would bake a big family loaf for Halloween. Through the years, my love for it has never waned, only deepened, but I have continued to search for the perfect loaf. It must not be too sweet, have enough flour to give it structure but not too much to make it dry, and needs plenty of spice, too, mostly from cinnamon. And if I’m feeling sassy, then, absolutely, it calls for chocolate chips. So when reading a post on Instagram from bestselling Deb Perelman of the Smitten Kitchen Digest and how she was so ready for pumpkin bread season, and how she’s always been searching for the perfect pumpkin bread, I was nodding my head in approval while printing out Deb’s recipe. It calls for one 15-ounce can of pumpkin, pretty standard, but when you’re on book tour all fall, you don’t stock up on canned pumpkin in September. So with the smaller cans gone at the store, I bought a big 29-ounce can. It didn’t matter, I told myself. If one loaf doesn’t work, I’ve got enough ingredients to bake it a second time. But Deb’s loaf did work, and I’m not surprised. I’ve always admired her ability to not only cook but bake.
What makes a winning pumpkin breadAs someone who has studied pumpkin breads intensely, this is a good recipe because it contains the perfect balance of sugar to pumpkin. It’s not too sweet. Even with the added sugar and cinnamon on top before baking, it’s still not too sweet. And it contains a nice mix of spices, plenty of cinnamon, and you can always adjust the mix of spices as to what’s in your spice cabinet. I happened to have some fresh nutmeg to grate so I doubled the amount of nutmeg, and it was delish! I baked the loaf in my Lodge cast iron 9-inch loaf pan, which conducts heat beautifully and evenly, and the loaf rose up straight and tall in the oven. Most any 9-inch loaf pan will do. A little trick about unmolding this loaf so as not to disturb the sugar topping: Run a thin icing spatula around the edges of the pan after the loaf has cooled in the pan about 5 minutes. This helps loosen the bread from the pan. Let it rest another 10 minutes in the pan, then repeat with the running of the spatula. Turn the pan on its side and try to ease the loaf out of the pan, then let it rest and cool right-side up. Some of the sugar may fall off, but just gather it and sprinkle it back on top. As for storage, Deb says this pumpkin bread keeps at room temperature ‘’as long as you can hide it.’’ She stores hers in a metal tin with a piece of foil or plastic just over the cut end and the top exposed to best keep the lid crisp as long as possible. I loosely wrapped the loaf in waxed paper after slicing, and then I gently over-wrapped it in foil to preserve that gorgeous top. Are you obsessed with pumpkin bread, too? It’s a curable affliction as long as you just keep baking. Happy Halloween! - xo, Anne
How’s Book Tour Going So Far? My sweet dog Ella was overjoyed to see me back home. And I was happy to see many of you in Atlanta and Savannah, as well as throughout South Carolina and North Carolina.
THE RECIPE: Smitten Kitchen’s Pumpkin BreadHere is what Deb Perelman says about this bread, and I heartily agree after testing the recipe: ‘’This is a towering, craggy pumpkin bread with a crisp cinnamon sugar lid that is impossible not to pick off in deeply satisfying bark-like flecks.’’ This makes one big loaf in a 9-inch loaf pan, but you can also make muffins, about 18 of them. Distribute the cinnamon-sugar on top each muffin before baking for about 25 to 30 minutes. The only adjustments I made to Deb’s recipe were to add twice the freshly grated nutmeg she called for, upping it to 1/2 teaspoon, and by my calculations 2 1/4 cups flour is 280 grams. I also stuck an instant-read thermometer into the side of the loaf when it was nearing doneness. When the thermometer reads 200ºF, the bread is done. No guesswork. Makes 1 big 9-inch loaf
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