Imagine my happiness when I got the October issue of
Vegetarian Times in the mail (courtesy of my dad, who mails his issues up north to me!) and found their '1 Food, 5 Ways' section featured pumpkin - my favourite seasonal ingredient. I'll eat pumpkin anything once September hits. We had an overnight guest coming to visit us for the weekend and I always like to bake when there people around to eat, so I picked the
Pumpkin Pear Bread for our Friday night dessert. (Recipe not online so I'll post it below).
While the others played Super Mario World on our Wii, I got started on whisking the dry ingredients. It called for quite a bit of sugar, 1 1/4 cups, which I changed to about 3/4 cup. I find most recipes can handle a small reduction in sugar without compromising the rest. I also made it 100% whole wheat flour, as I usually do. I pretend it's healthier that way. Plus a pumpkin bread doesn't need to be too delicate. I'm also sure you could reduce the oil down to 1/3 cup from 1/2 cup thanks to the pumpkin puree - something to try for next time. Not sure if I got the exact right amount of spices, I was grating fresh nutmeg in so wasn't measuring. (Bonus tip: Buy fresh nutmeg at a bulk store - it's worth it)
I next whisked the wet ingredients together - pretty simple. We used lactose-free milk because our guest is lactose-intolerant, but could have easily used milk, or soy or almond milk. You could probably also use flax-meal as an egg replacer to make it completely vegan if you're so inclined.
I had poured the batter into the loaf pan only to find out - duh - I had forgotten the damn pears. I was clearly getting distracted with all the chatting. Since I had gone to the store to buy them just for the bread, I poured the batter back in the bowl and folded them in. I don't think the extra handling toughened the dough, as the bread turned out fabulously. Still very sweet even with the reduced sugar, nicely spiced, really moist.
Bonus: there was lots left for the rest of the weekend. Breakfast of champions: Strong coffee and sweet pumpkin pear bread. We didn't put anything on it, just ate it as is. Quite decadent! Better than the usual Cheerios or Mini-Wheats. And, perhaps thanks to the pear, the bread stayed moist until Sunday when we finished it off.
Pumpkin Pear Bread,
Vegetarian Times, October 2012:
Oven: preheat to 350. Coat loaf pan with oil or margarine.
In medium bowl, whisk:
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp each cinnamon and baking powder
1 tsp each nutmeg and baking soda
Pinch salt
In large bowl, whisk:
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
Whisk in:
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla.
Stir in dry ingredients until just combined.
Fold in 1 15-oz can pears (drained and diced).
Spread in pan, bake 45-55 min.
