Halfway Decent Pumpkin Bread

Fall means many things to me...knee socks, daylight savings time, apple cider, Indian corn, and last but not least...pumpkin treats! (Including but not limited to pies, lattes, cakes, and quickbreads.)

With this in mind, I recently attempted to follow Alton Brown's pumpkin bread recipe, except I was far too lazy to actually shred a fresh pumpkin. Big mistake. Apparently laziness does not good eats make.

First, I discovered that I was out of oil, but no biggie: I substituted vanilla yogurt and crossed my fingers. However, not much later, I also found that I only had half the pumpkin I needed...and no suitable substitutions came to mind. Drat. I speed walked to the market and snagged another can of Libby's. Geez. The lengths I'll go to for pumpkin treats.

I had envisioned a perfectly moist, spice-laden loaf a la Starbucks, but instead I ended up with a beautiful crust atop a soggy mess that would not solidify, even 30 minutes past Alton's suggested baking time. ??!!

In retrospect, I can only conclude that I'm an idiot: canned pumpkin is much more watery than fresh grated pumpkin, and definitely more compact. I should have known that three cups of pumpkin sounded like a lot. And three cups of canned pumpkin probably amounts to even more than that. D'oh! Not to mention I guess I didn't even need to make that trip to the market. Double d'oh!

What a mess. At least the top half is still tasty and incredibly moist.

Recipe, as I plan to bake it next time, follows.

Hopefully More-Than-Half-Tasty Pumpkin Bread
Adapted from Alton Brown's recipe
Ingredients
Dry:
2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Wet:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup low-fat yogurt
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
And last but not least:
3 cups shredded fresh pumpkin or ONE 15-oz. can of pumpkin

Preparation
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients (except pumpkin) separately. Combine the mixtures and fold in the pumpkin last. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes (may have to increase baking time by ~15 minutes) until a knife comes out clean.*
*I strongly suggest making these into muffins: 325 degrees F for 30 minutes.