Pumpkin Bread

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!! It’s pumpkin spice season!

I can’t help it…and I’m not even sorry…

Now, this is not the first pumpkin bread I have made for my website. I have an amazing recipe for Chocolate Swirled Pumpkin Bread with Spiced Streusel. I wanted to create a classic pumpkin bread recipe, so that it what THIS recipe is. It’s such an easy recipe, anyone can do this AND it is legitimately the best pumpkin bread I have ever had. I don’t mean to pat myself on the back buuuuttttt… oh well, it’s that good!

Tips to make this classic Pumpkin Bread

*Make sure your ingredients are room temperature. This will help everything mix together nicely.

*Spray your loaf pan with cooking spray so the bread doesn’t stick to it. You could butter and flour the pan as well, but I find that this recipe works just fine with cooking spray.

*Make sure to bake it all the way through. When it gets close to the end of the baking time, insert a toothpick (or something similar) in the center to make sure it’s baked. If the toothpick come out clean, then you are good to go. If the toothpick has wet batter on it, bake it a little longer.

*Use an oven thermometer for accurate temperature. If you don’t have a secondary oven thermometer aside from the oven itself, then you definitely need to get one. My oven runs about 25 degrees hot, so if I were to make this pumpkin bread recipe without the proper temperature then it could burn the outside without cooking the inside.

*Use the correct loaf pan. I tested this recipe in two different size pans. This specific recipe is a perfect fit for two 9.5inch X 5inch pans. I also have slightly smaller loaf pans (about 8x4) and the batter was a little too much for those so I made a few muffins with the extra batter. Whatever loaf pan you use, make sure it’s only filled up about 2/3 of the way full, otherwise the outside will bake and the inside won’t.

*Sift all of the dry ingredients in a sieve before mixing with the wet ingredients. I have found that this makes a huge difference in the overall outcome. It makes it so the loaf is not dense and it helps to mix everything together nicely.

Scroll down for the recipe!

Pumpkin Bread ingredients:

3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt (I like using kosher salt)

3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 cups brown sugar (light or dark is fine…either will work)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

1- 15 oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place a large sieve over a large bowl

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl through the sieve; the flour, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, brown sugar and granulated sugar. This will help breakup any chunks and create a really nice, light overall texture

*If the salt does not fit through the sieve then add it after sifting the other ingredients and just whisk it in

*In a separate bow, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, sour cream, melted butter and oil

* Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients using a whisk

*Do not over-mix! Only mix until everything is evenly incorporated

*Spray two 9.5 x 5 inch loaf pans with cooking spray

*Pour the batter evenly between the loaf pans so they are about 2/3 full

*Bake at 350 degrees for about 50-60 minutes or until the middle is set; test this by inserting a toothpick and if it comes out clean then it is done, if it comes out wet then it needs to bake longer

*Allow the baked loaves to cool for about 5-10 minutes and remove from the pan and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack