Pumpkin Walnut Bread Delight
As you are all now probably far too aware, I like to do something a little special for my weekend breakfasts.
During the week I am all about my bowl of yoghurt, raw rolled oats, berries (frozen ones which I defrost) and a drizzle of light agave nectar. Occasionally I will have half a large dark rye roll with nut butter and jam, plus a small bowl of the yoghurt and raspberries, sans the oats. What can I say? I adore these two breakfasts and I simply do not mess with them. Come Saturday or Sunday, however, I love to spice things up. Occasionally I will crave eggs, bacon, mushrooms and the like, but usually my mind teeters over to something sweet.
As we are still in the phase of unpacking after our move, I recently came across four tins of pumpkin that I had purchased at USA Foods six months prior. I gazed at them and, call it food telepathy, I sensed they were feeling neglected. It had been a while since my last pumpkin venture, you see. And so I consulted the delightful Californian baker, Joy, as I was certain she would have a pumpkin-centric gem for me (those North Americans sure know how to use their pumpkin). I searched through her blog until I came across the perfect recipe (it's a vegan recipe too!).
Buzzing with the prospect of a pumpkiny breakfast, last Saturday morning I rose early and bounced into the kitchen to get baking...
Pumpkin Walnut Breadrecipe link.
It was delightful.
Bakers beware, this is a very sweet loaf. I halved the recipe to make just one loaf (the original recipe is for two loafs), and furthermore I reduced the sugar content from 1 cup brown sugar to 3/4 cup (it felt like simply too much sugar to me), and I think it could have even been reduced to 1/2 a cup. Maybe next time. Although having said that, the sweeteness was a lot more pronounced when the loaf as eaten warm from the oven. When nibbling on a slice the following day, the sweeteness was well balanced (a spread of butter didn’t go astray either).
I also altered the spices, I doubled the nutmeg and cinnamon, added a touch more cloves (which I ground up myself - the recipe called simply for cloves and I was unsure whether she meant pre-ground or whole - surely not whole?!). I also added ground ginger in place of the all-spice, as I didn't have any of the latter. I was thrilled with my spice assembly.
I baked my loaf for 55 minutes and rested it for 15 minutes in the tin before turning out and serving with Greek Yoghurt. It was wonderfully delicious.
Thank you, Joy.