Mmmm...pumpkin bread. A family recipe we've been making for years, I can say now, before it comes out of the oven that this bread is very good. Better than good, really, more like excellent or outstanding. If you like pumpkin pie you will love this pumpkin bread. With that introduction, I give you: the recipe.

Pumpkin Bread
A Family Recipe

• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2/3 cup water

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°
  
• In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and set aside.
• In a large bowl with a wooden spoon, mix together sugar, oil, and eggs.
• Add flour mixture, mix well.
• Add water and pumpkin, mix well.
• Grease and flour a 9x6 loaf pan and fill only to 1/2 high.
• Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

About this recipe: this is a great recipe for anyone with minimal tools available in the kitchen since all you need is a large bowl and a wooden spoon. You don't even need to be particularly strong for this batter!

Cinnamon is the common denominator in the baking with vegetables series. You can look forward to seeing it in the rest of the recipes. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that cinnamon goes well with vegetables when you bake them in a cake. Well, this pumpkin bread is no exception.

I halved this recipe and opted for the mini-loaf pans and got 3 mini loafs from a half batch. My loaves took 35 - 40 minutes to cook through, and if I remember correctly, I had to cook it longer than 1 hour when using a regular sized loaf pan.

The result is a fairly moist, dense, pumpkin-rich sweet bread. I don't know that you could find a better recipe for pumpkin bread. If you like nuts, I think chopped walnuts would be an excellent addition.