Other than the Pumpkin Spice Latte from major chain coffee shops, this Pumpkin Bread is the first thing I bake to welcome Autumn.

It has been quite the hiatus from my little corner of the internet. Sitting at the keyboard, my fingers feel rusty as my mind races in circles as how to explain my absence, and wrestles with the absolute truth that no one is owed an explanation. That I can choose to share what I deem appropriate, and keep close to my heart the things I need to. It can be empowering and exhilarating to take that power back for myself, and to say my health has never been better since being diagnosed with a life changing autoimmune disease, my heart has been full, and the curveballs have been settling down in the last little bit.

Though this site has been silent for the better part of the last two years, my creative side and my kitchen had not been silenced. I learned and perfected many nice and nephew approved dishes (and many others that they rejected haha), and continued to figure out techniques that work well for the home kitchen, refining things to more of a restaurant or bakery standard. There have been spectacular failures, and some surprising improvisations that challenged me in the moment but allowed me to grow.

Sweet, cinnamony, salty, and crackly little chunks of delicious Streusel top the deeply velvety Pumpkin Bread.

We are officially in the thick of Autumn, and while Arizona tries in vain to embrace the sweaters, flannels, and all other cozy trappings of the season, it is painfully clear that 95+ degree weather ensures that those of us who love the season are not quite ready to layer on all the “season appropriate” clothing that our counterparts in cooler parts of the country are snuggling into. Thanks to the Pandemic, all of us fall lovers were able to embrace all things pumpkin obnoxiously early.

So as I sit in my desert kitchen, surrounded by mini pumpkins and a struggling Harvest Festival candle sputtering, I offer to you my favorite Pumpkin Bread. Which is, if I am completely honest about it, is thisclose to being cake with the amount of sugar that is in it, but the texture is just dense enough to have it fall into quick bread category.

Get ready for the tallest, fluffiest, most delicious little loaf of Pumpkin Bread! Though, to be honest, this really is not a “little” loaf - it was too tall to fit under the lid of my airtight container!!

This Pumpkin Bread is light, spiced just enough to make you think “Pumpkin Spice”, but the pure pumpkin flavor shines through. It can be a delicate balance to not completely overwhelm the senses with either the ginger or cinnamon in the marketed blends, and I think this balance of spices is just right in order to actually taste the pumpkin in the bread. Topped with a completely delicious Streusel topping (because truly, who does not love a sweet, salty, and crumbly Streusel topper?), it really cannot get much better than this. Well, in actuality, if the weather dropped about 30 degrees, the saturation of all things Autumn and pumpkin would be quite perfect.

Let the loaf cool completely to get clean, even slices - if you can wait that long!

Pumpkin Bread

Author: Iris Anna Gohn

Servings: 10-12 slices in a 9x5 loaf

This Pumpkin Bread is easy to prepare and comes together quickly. I played around with baking temperatures and the viscosity of the batter to try to find what would create the best height in this bread. It rises quite a lot, so I very much recommend you move the top rack to the bottom of the oven or pull it from the oven to allow the bread to come to its full height. I ran into issues (think scraped tops of breads) by not doing this and it is a very sad thing to have your beautifully puffed up bread suddenly become decapitated.

For the Streusel topping, the butter must be room temperature to fully incorporate into the dry ingredients. I’ve tried melting it, and yes, it *can* work, but the sugars melt and the finished product is definitely not the same once the bread has baked. The sugars, already starting to melt, kind of disintegrate into the top of the loaf with only a few distinct crumbles, which tastes fine but gives a different texture and appearance. I just take out the butter and eggs about an hour before baking to allow both to come to room temperature.

Sifting the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients will definitely allow for maximum height (as well as room temperature eggs), however it is not necessary for the bread to rise properly. It just allows the finished product to be a bit lighter, and it definitely allows for a beautiful domed top to the bread!

Ingredients

For the Streusel Topping:

5 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
5 Tbsp Granulated White Sugar
3/4 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
Scant 1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
3 Tbsp cubed Salted Butter, room temperature (I use the Costco Kirkland brand)

For the Pumpkin Bread:

2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 1/4 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/4 Tsp Ground Cloves
1/4 Tsp Ground Ginger
3/4 Tsp Sea Salt
2 Cups Granulated White Sugar
2 Eggs, room temperature
1 1/3 Cups Pureed Pumpkin (I use Libby’s Brand, and make sure to not use Pumpkin Pie Filling)
1/3 Cup Canola Oil (or any other flavorless oil)
2 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions

For the Streusel Topping:

In a small bowl, add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and sea salt.Stir together till combined.
Add in the butter and with a fork, methodically cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it is incorporated and resembles a loose, crumbly sand. There may not be big chunks which is fine, you want to make sure that the butter is absorbing the flour as best as it can before you sprinkle it on top of the batter before baking.

For the Pumpkin Bread:

Preheat Oven to 375 F. Move top rack to the lower third of the oven as the bread will rise quite a bit and you don’t want to accidentally scrape off the top of your bread checking on it with the toothpick. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper so there is overhang on the sides to easily lift out the Pumpkin Bread later.
In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and sea salt. Whisk together until thoroughly combined. If you want to go for extra credit points for fluffiness, sift all the dry ingredients together to ensure there is plenty of air incorporated in them. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add the sugar, eggs, pureed pumpkin, oil, and vanilla. Whisk together until thoroughly combined. You can do this by hand within 2-3 minutes, 1-2 minutes if using a stand mixer.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and carefully fold them together until incorporated with a spatula. Make sure the flour is pretty much incorporated, but take care to not overmix as this will toughen the final product. If using a Stand mixer add the flour in two batches to the wet ingredients, using the lowest speed, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. This should take about 2 minutes.
Evenly spread the pumpkin batter into the prepared 9x5 loaf pan.
Sprinkle the prepared Streusel Topping evenly over the top of the batter. The mixture may be very sand like in consistency, and not look like pebbles. To get the big crumbles, take some of the mixture in your hand and smoosh it together, effectively creating pea sized clumps to sprinkle all over the batter.
Bake for 55-65 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the loaf. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.