Pumpkin Bread

It is only a week until Thanksgiving! Pumpkin bread is part of that holiday's traditions for us, whether it is homemade, or purchased at DeBoer's Bakerij. This is a modified Joy Of Cooking Cookbook recipe. The usual drill -- preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix or whisk together:

1 3/4 cups flour (or substitute up to 3/4 cup of wheat flour for the same amount of the white)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon each: cloves, nutmeg, ginger and pumpkin pie spice

In a large bowl, beat until light and fluffy:

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/3 cup soft shortening or margarine

2 eggs (the margarine and eggs really should be at room temperature)

Add 1 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix -- the cans look deceptively alike)

Add the dry ingredients to the egg/margarine/sugar mixture alternately with 1/3 cup milk (into which you've poured 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla - optional). The book says to do it in three additions -- I did it in five, starting with the flour mixture, since I wasn't sure if they meant three of each, or three altogether. Put into a greased 5 X 9 inch bread pan. Bake at 350 degrees.

I am pretty sure that I was not supposed to open the oven door to take a picture of the batter after it had already started to bake. No harm seems to have been done, fortunately.

Remove from oven when it's done -- this is the hardest part for me. I decided it was done after about 55 minutes. The cookbook says an hour. Ovens vary, and I used a dark pan which bakes faster, I hear. Let it cool on the rack in the pan for 10 or 15 minutes, then remove it from the pan. I added extra spices -- the original recipe has only 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon cloves, but I like a spicy bread. If this is good, I'll make another loaf for Thanksgiving. If not, there's time for a trip to DeBoer's. I made some of my homemade tomato soup for lunch today, and I'm thinking that this bread would go well with the leftover soup for lunch tomorrow.