Pumpkin bread
November 23, 2011 • Category: Dessert
Happy Thanksgiving!
This recipe was extracted from Roland Mesnier’s Dessert University. Roland Mesnier, a French native, was the Executive Pastry Chef at the White House for twenty-five years and fed the likes of President Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and others.
Well if it was good enough for them, it should be good enough for us too!
This bread is as simple as can be. I barely tweaked it (can’t help it).
INGREDIENTS: 8 servings
- 1 cup of fresh or canned pumpkin (preferably organic)
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of apple cider molasses (the recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar); you can substitute dark honey for the molasses. See note below on a source for the apple cider molasses.
- 1/2 cup of sunflower oil
- Dry ingredients: 1 1/4 cup of flour (recipe calls for 1 cup; I added 1/4 cup due to the addition of molasses)
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp each of ground cloves and ground nutmeg
METHOD:
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Place the eggs, sugar, molasses and oil in a bowl and mix for 5 minutes at medium-high speed; add the pumpkin and mix to combine.
- Sift the dry mixture onto the pumpkin batter and mix to combine. Pour into the pan of your choice, previously greased and floured. The recipe used a 10-cup bundt pan; I had no problem with a standard loaf pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes or so, checking to make sure a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean; it is a good idea after 20 minutes or so if the bread has browned but the middle is still uncooked to cover it with foil.
- When baked un-mold it on a rack to cool it quickly and serve. It keeps 3 days covered at room temperature and can be frozen for 2 months. If freezing it, wrap in plastic then in foil.
NOTE: Apple cider molasses is made by Allens Hill Farm in upstate New York and can be purchased through their website.
It is a natural molasses made from apple cider following an old pioneer-era recipe. This type of molasses is also produced in Lebanon but is not (to my knowledge) exported.
Comments
17 Comments • Comments Feed
T.W. Barritt says:
Looks lovely – I’ve had some good success with pumpkin bread this season. Just finished the pumpkin pie for tomorrow too, but found I had to let the fresh pumpkin drain in a cheese cloth so the custard was not too watery. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
On November 23, 2011 at 7:41 pm
Joumana says:
@T.W. Great tip! Thanks! Actually that’s what I do when I make pumpkin kibbeh! 🙂
On November 23, 2011 at 8:52 pm
Christine @ Fresh says:
This is a beautiful pumpkin bread! I love the dark color from the molasses. It must be quite special indeed if it is served at the White House.
On November 23, 2011 at 7:50 pm
Belinda @zomppa says:
That looks like the absolutely best texture and flavor!
On November 23, 2011 at 7:52 pm
Rosa says:
Beautiful and so tempting!
Cheers,
Rosa
On November 24, 2011 at 12:37 am
Mallika says:
Loved your pumpkin bread. Nice texture and beautiful color too!
On November 24, 2011 at 12:46 am
Priya says:
Omg, wat a great looking bread, i can happily few slices for my breakfast..
On November 24, 2011 at 4:01 am
Heavenly Housewife says:
I’d be so curious to try this, to see how they eat at the White House. The texture looks perfect!
*kisses* HH
On November 24, 2011 at 7:47 am
Chiara says:
The texture looks really perfect Joumana ! have a good weekend…
On November 24, 2011 at 11:47 pm
Chiara says:
Yum, pumpkin bread is one of my favorite things… Will have to make it soon!
On November 25, 2011 at 4:30 am
Brandon Disher says:
Just came back to write a nice word, you recipe was good and tasted awesome when I tried it! Thanks!
On November 25, 2011 at 8:21 am
Joumana says:
@Brandon: Gee, thanks Brandon, so glad you liked it!
On November 25, 2011 at 11:09 am
lisaiscooking says:
Apple cider molasses sounds lovely. I’d love to try it. I still have pumpkin puree in my freezer from the last pumpkin I roasted. I look forward to using it for pumpkin bread!
On November 25, 2011 at 1:02 pm
Ivy says:
Hope you enjoyed your thanksgiving holiday. The pumpkin bread looks scrumptous and very tempting.
On November 25, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Alaiyo Kiasi says:
Hi Joumana,
Everyone loved the maftoul on Thanksgiving. We have plenty left, actually. I will take a photo before it’s all gone so that you can see how it turned out. I love the look of the pumpkin bread. It looks very moist and delicious! I have all the ingredients except for the canned, organic pumpkin! Hope your holiday was enjoyable.
Alaiyo
On November 25, 2011 at 6:12 pm
domi says:
ça doit être drôlement bon ce pain…
On November 26, 2011 at 12:54 pm
mely says:
Great combination. I had seen another versions of pumpkin bread but the addition of molasses will give it a nice taste to the already moist cake mixture.
Thanks for sharing.
On November 27, 2011 at 6:18 pm