Baking pumpkin bread is easy. You may not have been doing so well baking bread lately. I want to show you how to get out of the way of common mistakes and prepare for your first and definitely not the last perfect pumpkin loaf of bread.
1. Wrong type of pumpkin for your bread recipe
If you are buying a pumpkin to bake pumpkin bread or to prepare for any other food, you should be able to try it first. Pumpkins go out easily and quickly. A pumpkin should not be more than a week old, when you are about to prepare it for later use. To make sure your squash is still good, try a wedge. If it tastes sweet like it’s supposed to be, it’s good to stick with this pumpkin.
Before you start experimenting with different types of squash, you should stick to the most common one. Not only are there big differences in taste, you can also buy a pumpkin that is not necessarily recommended to eat. Ornamental gourds are on the market everywhere. You should never eat one of those. It may sound like common sense, but its ingredients can be toxic.
Tip: It might not sound all that tasty, but it is, and canned pumpkins are very useful for baking bread, because you won’t necessarily have to cook them like fresh pumpkins.
2. Wrong pumpkin bread recipe
You can obviously be unlucky with your recipe. But it is not necessary. The Internet offers many websites full of recipes rated by thousands of people who have tried all of those recipes.
Another very important thing is that you must stick to the recipe and do not modify it unless you are a professional. Read why in point 3.
3. Bad mix of ingredients
Since most people have no idea what effect each ingredient has on pumpkin bread dough, it can easily go in the wrong direction. You might want your pumpkin bread to be a little sweeter than usual, so you can add more sugar, right? But what does salt do to your bread? Watch?
Now, in addition to what a single ingredient does in your dough, you also have to see everything in relation. The amount of baking powder depends on the amount of this, the amount of salt on the amount of that. I’ll tell you all about it in another article, but for now, stick to your recipe and buy a digital scale. Halloween is knocking on our door, so there really isn’t much time left to learn a craft!
Another misconception is that the order in which the ingredients in your pumpkin bread recipe are put together is not important. It is. Trust me. The recipe you choose will guide you down the right path anyway. So once again stick with it!
4. Leaving pumpkin bread in the oven for too long
Yes, this happens to everyone. But it’s actually quite easy. Every oven is different and you can’t trust what the recipe says about how long a pumpkin loaf should stay in there. Set an alarm clock 5-10 minutes before the bread is supposed to be done. Then stick a knife through the pumpkin bread and see if it comes out clean. If so, congratulations, your bread is done, even though it wasn’t supposed to be. If not, leave it there for a bit longer.
5. DO NOT throw it away
Seriously, please don’t throw away the bread you’ve made with your own hands. Quick breads like pumpkin bread, especially the sweetest ones, are fated for the fridge. They freeze well! So if you already know that your chosen recipe suits you and your taste, double it up and bake a second or even a third pumpkin loaf for your upright freezer.