PUMPKIN BREAD

We don't really do pumpkin in Britain. We buy oversized pumpkins in October ready to carve into ghoulish grimaces but I'm willing to bet, that just like we did as children, most people scoop seeds and flesh straight into the bin (believe me when I say that I admire you if you do, and have always done, differently). I remember seeing recipes for using up the pumpkin flesh but there was always something about them that made it unlikely I would ever bother, maybe just the size and weight of dragging a pumpkin home.

But then, last week, in the run up to Halloween, I started to see recipes on US sites that called for canned pumpkin and they started to sound tempting, particularly a recipe for pumpkin bread on Culinate. Surely the leap from loving banana bread to loving pumpkin bread couldn't be too big? A small search for canned pumpkin ensued (those of you used to buying it from any local store should know that it isn't always easy to find here) but I eventually found it jarred and looking a lot like pureed carrot baby food. All that remained was a small division exercise to make a recipe for one loaf instead of two and I was ready to go. It takes all of five minutes to make and 45 plus to bake. I managed to wait about another five before cutting a slice and deciding that spreading it with cream cheese and washing it down with a glass of milk might well be a wonderful thing, try it you'll see.



PUMPKIN BREAD
from Culinate and the Jes Burns collection
makes 1 loaf

2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 can (8oz) pumpkin
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (or 350 degrees F). In one bowl mix together the eggs, oil, and water then mix in the pumpkin. In a different bowl mix the remaining dry ingredients together. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet and scrape the batter into a greased loaf tin. Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean (mine took closer to an hour but it is worth checking at 45 minutes as this will depend on the consistency of your pumpkin puree and the size of your loaf tin). Turn the loaf out of its tin and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.