Kabocha Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD:

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C, or 448 K).

2.  Grease 5 mini-loaf pans (or 2 regular sized loaf pans) with butter (or non stick spray), then dust with flour.  (The flour will help keep the pumpkin bread from sticking to the pan after baking.)  To do this just dump a few tablespoons of flour into a greased pan, tap it all around until the sides, corners, and bottoms of the pan are covered with a thin layer of flour.  Shake the excess flour into the next pan and continue.  As a final step, I liked to hold each pan upside-down over the sink and tap the bottom a few times to remove any extra flour.

3.   Measure all your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, and spices) into a large bowl.  Make sure you stir your flour first to “lighten” it, and when measuring, use a straight spatula (or the blunt end of a knife) to level it off.  Sift all the dry ingredients together, using a whisk.  Please don’t skip the sifting step!  If you leave little clumps of baking soda, someone will end up with a nasty-tasting surprise in their slice of pumpkin bread.  Yuck.  Baking soda does not taste good!

4.  Mix together the kabocha, eggs, oil, water, and sugar until you have a uniform orange mixture.

5.  Dump the kabocha mixture on top of the dry ingredients.  Use a rubber spatula to gently fold it all together.  Be careful not to over mix, or the texture of your pumpkin bread will be tough and chewy instead of tender and delicate.

6.  Gently stir in the chopped walnuts.  You can skip the walnuts if you like, and substitute with golden raisins.  Or you could probably even use chocolate chips – go wild, it’s your pumpkin bread – so put what you like in it!  (Or just leave it plain.)

7.  If you are using 5 mini-loaf pans, pour approximately 1 1/2 c. of batter into each prepared pan.  If using 2 regular loaf pans, pour a little more than 3 1/2 c. batter into each pan.  You can also make muffins with this recipe – just make sure to fill each muffin tin only 2/3 full (no more).

8.  Sprinkle the tops of the batter with large crystal decorating sugar.  If you don’t have decorating sugar, you can just sprinkle plain old granulated sugar on top. I prefer the larger crystals of the decorating sugar – it makes the final product look a little nicer, but regular sugar will taste just as good.

Or you can decorate the tops with raw pepitas.  Pepitas are shelled pumpkin seeds, and you can find them in the bulk grain/spice section of a health food store.

I have also found pepitas in the “international” aisle of the regular supermarket, with all the Mexican spices (packaged in little plastic bags, hanging from hooks) and dried chili peppers.

You can skip the decorating step and leave the tops of the batter plain, if you like.

9.  Bake the mini-loaves at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes.  If baking 2 larger loaves, then bake for 50-60 minutes.  Muffins will take about 20-22 minutes.  Don’t forget to do the touch test to make sure the loaves are done: gently press the top of the bread with your clean finger, and if it gently springs back (without feeling too soft or mushy), then it is done.

10.  When done, cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.  Run a rubber or silicone spatula around the edges and flip out the loaves onto the cooling rack.

When the loaves are completely cool to the touch, wrap with waxed paper and an outer layer of plastic wrap.  This will keep for a little over a week in the refrigerator.  Or you can wrap each loaf in several more layers of plastic, and freeze for up to 3 months.  You can leave it out on the counter if you finish the pumpkin bread within a few days – just make sure it stays tightly wrapped in plastic to keep it from drying out.

Source:

http://www.the350degreeoven.com/2011/02/breads-quick-breads/the-dark-green-impostor-kabocha-pumpkin-bread/