Yesterday I woke up, and things felt different. The air was crisp, the sky was cloudy, and the air smelled a bit like spearmint. It was the first morning of autumn. I have been waiting for this day for a while now. The kind of cool crisp day that requires a chunky sweater and a warm scarf. I bought the first can of canned pumpkin of the year. Fall baking has officially begun.
I wanted to kick off my fall baking with the quintessential pumpkin loaf. This recipe is by no means original, but it is arguably the best. With a whopping 5000+ five star ratings on All Recipes, this pumpkin bread is a surefire winner. It makes your house smell like pumpkin-cinnamon heaven. It’s great eaten warm with a pat of butter and a drizzle of honey. It’s also divine when eaten standing up out of the freezer.
This bread stays moist for days and keeps well in the freezer (it tastes even better after it sits for a day or two). Therefore it’s perfect for autumn gift giving. Toss together a few extra loaves to give to friends, neighbors, colleagues, classmates, family, frenemies, hygienists, strangers, dog walkers, teachers and anyone else who may like a slice of fall.
Happy Autumn!
With love,
Erica
Ingredients
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2/3 cup water
- 3 cups white sugar
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7×3 inch loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
- Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
This is definitely one of my favorite Allrecipes recipes! Even more, I love topping it with a brown sugar/cinnamon/butter streusel; it makes for a great crunch, and my friend always ask me to add more than is probably decent. Great idea for kicking off the autumn!
Thank you! Adding streusel is a great idea (then again, when is adding streusel NOT a good idea?! haha). I will try it that way next time 🙂
Hmmm yum- thinking about pumpkin bread lately with the changing weather and I'll try this one for sure!
Oh my gosh this is such a beautiful color and it looks so delicious! I also made pumpkin bread this weekend and it is just the best! So cinnamon-y and sweet and pumpkin-y 🙂 I love how reliable highly-rated allrecipes recipes are!
Me too 🙂 You can always count on All Recipes to find a fool-proof and delicious recipes. I would love it if you emailed me your recipe for pumpkin bread! (you can never have too many pumpkin recipes at this time of year!)
3 cups of white sugar? For real?
Yes… you could reduce it to suit your tastes. Pumpkin has a ton of antioxidant properties — doesn't that kind of balance it out ;). If you think of this bread as more of a cake-like treat, it's OK 🙂
I thought the sugar was a bit much but when I thought about how it goes for 3 med. loaves, it doesnt sound quite as bad. I made 2 large loaves, and that turned out great. 2 – 5×9. I kept the oven at the same temp. and just baked it another 20 min.
Thanks for the great pumpkin recipe!
Thanks Morgan! I am glad you liked this recipe!
omg that looks soo yummy! could you substitute the oil with greek yogurt? -A
Hmmmmm I am not sure — I have heard people subbing it with applesauce before. If you try it out, shoot me an email, I would love to know how it turns out, and I am always looking for ways to make recipes a bit healthier!
I don't think this sounds healthy at all. That's a lot of sugar!
I know, but if you think about this recipe as more of a cake, it is OK right?
This looks a like a great loaf, but I'm convinced, if you want a really great pumpkin bread, try the one from Tartine bakery. Their recipe is all over the place on the Net, and it is truly remarkable. Happy baking!
Thanks so much for the suggestion! I will have to look for that soon!
A bunch of Debbie Downers got to you here CV. My gosh folks…it's a sweet bread! It has sugar. Go find another recipe if you can't hang with the big dogs. I tried the recipe and it's a wonderful fragrant loaf, fit for any holiday party.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it! I agree, there's nothing wrong with a bit of extra sugar during the holidays!
What a great recipe!! I am a sweet bread maker from "way back"! (I'm a yiayia) My breads are very popular at bake sales and with my family and friends. I try new recipes often from my many food network sites, allrecipes, and southern living, and tweak almost everything or combine two recipes to make it "perfect"!
Yes, it may sound like self-praise, but I do equate food with love for others; hence my constant sharing.
Having said all that…..I think it's totally amazing that a young high school lady posted one of the best pumpkin bread recipes I've made! My family loves it! I followed the recipe EXACTLY, which is unusual for me, but I felt the ingredients were right on. And we weren't disappointed.
Thank You Erica for a wonderful recipe site and proving to everyone something I've known for some time now: One is never too old to learn something new. Just open your mind and heart! I Guess that's the special education teacher in me.
Good Luck sweet girl! carole
Thank you so much Carole, it's wonderful to get such a compliment from an experienced bread baker like you!