I’ve made this recipe a lot, and I continue to tinker with it every fall. There are a few notes below the recipe with some variations I’ve used over the years.

3 1/2 c. flour
3 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. soda
nutmeg 1 tbs. + 2 tsp.
cinnamon 2 tbs.
1 heaping tsp allspice
2 tsp. clove
3 1/2 c. pumpkin puree*
1/2 c. oil**
4 eggs
1 c. raisins (optional)
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Sift dry ingredients together and add the wet ingredients. Bake in greased pans at 350F for 45-60 minutes, checking the loaves at 45 minutes and continuing to bake until a toothpick comes out clean. If they seem to cook too quickly on the outside, try baking at 325 instead. Remove from pans as soon as bread is cool enough to handle.

This makes 3 regular-sized bread loaves, or one giant Bundt pan, or several smaller loaves.

*This amount works really well if you have rendered your own pumpkin as below and it’s a little watery. If you have a drier puree, substitute a cup of the pumpkin with a cup of applesauce or water. This will give moisture and the applesauce has a good flavor. I’ve also used apple butter in the past, though if you use this, you’ll still want a little water. Test the batter and decide if it’s too thick before adding water.

Rendering pumpkin puree: Canned pumpkin will do in a pinch, but real pumpkin is very easy to use. Roast a whole pumpkin or chop into sections until you can puncture it easily with a fork. Roasting will give the puree a little more flavor, though if time in the kitchen is at a premium —

If you have a crock pot and a day to plan ahead, chop up your leftover Jack-o-lantern, or dissect a whole pumpkin (separating the seedier bits) into chunks that will fit into your crock pot and cover with water. Cook on Low overnight or while you’re at work. Drain and remove the rinds (which should be a piece of cake by the time it’s cooked to mush). Stir the pumpkin with a fork and you’re ready to make bread!

Dole out the stuff you don’t need yet into 2 1/2-cup freezer bag portions and freeze. Then you have a bag on hand to thaw the next time you want to make pumpkin bread, or some other pumpkin-y thing. This also makes a good soup thickener.

**Oils: I once used a blend of almond oil and apricot kernel oil instead of regular vegetable oil. It yeilded a thicker batter, rose higher in the overn, and created a taller bread with a lighter taste. However, this was also when I was using 1 1/2 – 1 2/3 c. oil and no apple butter…substituting apple butter for most of the oil keeps the bread moist without being greasy. The oils are also a nice substitute over vegetable oil, if you can come by them easily, but I haven’t done this lately and the bread still seems to go over well in mixed company.

Spices (Last note): I haven’t usually measured spices. The original recipe I based this on called for just 1 tsp. nutmeg and 1 tsp. cinnamon. For 3 loaves, that’s a criminally negligent amount of spice by my standards! My general rule of thumb: more nutmeg and cinnamon, plus supportive but lesser amounts of clove and allspice. If the mixture of dry ingredients still looks white, you definitely need more spices! The photo below shows the amount of spices I usually dump into this recipe. Mm-MM, Spice Dump!