I just love this season, I love the smell of pumpkin and spices baking in the oven.  My mother has a wonderful pumpkin bread recipe that I have been making for years now, and it is fabulous.  I added some chocolate chips the last time I made it for an extra special treat…  This year I was actually going to skip pumpkin bread, because I have so many other goodies on my list – but something happened that made me rethink that choice.

The other week my good friend (and neighbor) were coming home from our morning boot camp class (which we try to attend two mornings a week), and she said she had a surprise for me.  It was 7am in the morning, so I was a little confused.  She opened the back seat of her car and took out this book.  It was still dark, so I couldn’t really see what it was, but she said it was her favorite cookbook from this bakery downtown.  When she mentioned it was the Macrina Bakery, the smile that was already on my face just exploded.  It was so nice of her to buy the Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook – and little did she know, but that happens to be my favorite bakery in Seattle.  I was so smelly and sweaty, but gave her a big hug, and couldn’t wait to tear it open and start reading about all the treats inside.  She made my entire month.  She also mentioned that the Squash Harvest Loaf was her favorite recipe, so I had to give it a try.  It is fabulous – so moist and flavorful – and wonderfully sweet.  The perfect sweet bread for this season.  I only had pumpkin in the house, so that’s what I used – but really you can use any type of squash puree, and I am sure it would be amazing.  Thanks so much for the fantastic cook book – I am so lucky to have you as my neighbor and good friend!!

Ingredients

•  2 cups pumpkin puree
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 1 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 325 F.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the oil and two types of sugar and use the paddle attachment to mix on medium speed, for 4 mns.

Add the pumpkin puree and continue to mix for 2 mns.

Then, add one egg at a time.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and add the flour and the buttermilk alternatively, until the liquid is absorb each time.

Transfer the preparation in 2 oiled loaf pans measuring 9 x 5 x 3″, 2/3 to the top.

Cook in the oven for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out dry once inserted in the loaf. Remove and let cool for 20 mns before unmolding on a cooling rack.

For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, please click here:  Pumpkin Bread (Squash Harvest Loaf)