Spiced Honey Pumpkin Bread

Mission: To create a pumpkin bread that is just-my-kind-of-perfect pumpkin bread. 

Requirements as follows: 

- obviously pumpkin-y

- whole grain

- naturally and lightly sweetened

- plenty of spice (especially cinnamon)

- very moist

- a strong, tender crumb

- crunchy top crust

Mission: Accomplished. Yessssssss.

Notes: This is a really great base recipe for pumpkin bread. You can certainly bake the batter in muffin tins or even double the recipe to bake in a bundt pan. I've included a three options for slightly different variations; one simply sprinkles a little sugar and some pumpkin seeds on top, another adds a cinnamon-oat streusel topping, and the last is a bittersweet chocolate chunk version. As for the sweetener, honey or maple syrup will do just fine. My reason for using honey (other than the excellent flavor and moisture it adds to the bread) is the fact that we have gallons of the stuff thanks to our busy bees out back. And as for the flour, I found a little white flour gave just enough structure to the bread. A substitution of spelt flour or even white flour may be replaced for the whole-wheat pastry flour.

A Flour Sack original

Spiced Honey Pumpkin Bread

1 1/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (or spelt flour)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons freshly-ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (or melted coconut oil)
1/2 cup honey (or maple syrup)
2 eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 8 1/2 x 5-inch loaf pan with olive oil. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the pumpkin puree, olive oil, honey, and eggs until well-combined. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and whisk for 10 seconds, just until the flour disappears and the batter is mostly smooth.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with desired toppings (see below) and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.

Let the bread sit in the pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then remove bread and finish cooling on the wire rack. Slice the bread once it has cooled for at least 1 hour.

Yield: one loaf

:: Variations ::

Crunchy Pepita Topping
Pour pumpkin bread batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle top with 2 tablespoons pepitas (pumpkin seeds), then 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Bake as directed above.

Cinnamon-Oat Streusel Topping
In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour, 1/4 cup rolled oats, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, and a pinch of sea salt. To the mixture, add 4
tablespoons of chilled unsalted butter that has been cut into cubes. Rub the butter between your
fingers, breaking it into smaller bits. Continue rubbing until the mixture feels coarse like cornmeal, with some larger chunks of streusel as well. Add in 1/4 cup chopped pecans. Pour pumpkin bread batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle top with streusel. Bake as directed above.

Bittersweet Chocolate-Chunk
Fold 6 ounces of coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate into batter after combining flour and pumpkin mixtures. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle top with an additional 2 ounces of coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate, then 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Bake as directed above.

This post shared on The Nourishing Gourmet and Beyond the Peel

Millet Muffins

Christmas presents arriving in the mail yesterday are good things. "Um. Isn't it April, Brooke?" Well, yes. Yes it is April. But you see... I got a gift card for Amazon for Christmas. Of course I knew exactly what I would use it for - cookbooks. And of course I knew that one of those cookbooks would be Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day, set to be published in April 2011. See where I'm going with this whole Christmas-in-April thing? Uh-huh.

Well, the book finally (!!!) arrived. I completely love Heidi's first book, Super Natural Cooking, and have made many of the lovely recipes therein. Heidi is the author and creator of one of my very favorite culinary blogs. In fact, her site was the first to inspire me in this wide world of food blogging. Anyway, I absolutely love her style and approach to cooking. She and I have very similar taste and her photos and recipes continually inspire me.

These muffins were the first I made from Heidi's new book. They are the perfectly honey-kissed, lemon-scented, and just a little nutty from the millet. They come together quickly and are a wonderful morning breakfast. Be sure to serve them warm from the oven with plenty of salted butter.

Notes: I made no changes to these muffins. They are beautiful the way they are. I did half the recipe, which worked perfectly and made exactly 6 muffins. They store well in an air-tight container for a couple of days or will freeze well if sealed in a plastic freezer bag.

Adapted from Super Natural Everyday, by Heidi Swanson

Pear & Buckwheat Pancakes

Buckwheat flour is easily recognizable. It is dark, almost purple in color, and has a very distinct flavor. It is bit of a deep, earthy taste. Traditionally, buckwheat flour is used to make galettes and buckwheat crepes in north-western France, in Russia to make blini, and in many Asian countries to make noodles. The name "buckwheat" comes from the Middle Dutch for "beech-wheat" because the triangularly-shaped groats look similar to beech-tree nuts. Because of it's assertive flavor, buckwheat pairs well with fall fruits, as in these Pear and Buckwheat Pancakes.

These little breakfast cakes are topped with a rich honey butter instead of the usual maple syrup accompaniment. The honey goes wonerfully with the buckwheat while the pears lend a bit of moisture, texture, and sweetness to the cakes.

Notes: If you find buckwheat flour too strong for your taste, simply use a greater proportion of white or whole-wheat pastry flour. I also think these pancakes would be extra-nice with a few warm spices added to the batter - I think I'll try a 1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg and then an 1/8 teaspoon cardamom.

Adapted from Good to the Grain

Graham Crackers

I have been wanting to try my hand at homemade graham crackers for some time now. I finally found a recipe that looked like it would promise what I was hoping for. I have to say, these are some good crackers. Apparently someone else in this household thinks so, too. I made these with the intent to later use them as a crust for a cheesecake, so I sealed them up and put them in the freezer. A few days later I noticed that there were, oh maybe 7 left in the container, along with a few small crumbs. So much for that cheesecake. I guess I'll have to whip up some more crackers soon. And find that sneaky thief (and his sly accomplice)... *ahem, little brothers*

Notes: The original recipe is written in metric units, but I've included the measurements in customary values if you don't have a scale. The original recipe calls for all-purpose flour and dark brown sugar. It also calls exclusively for molasses, but I like these with a touch of honey to keep the strong molasses flavor from dominating the crackers. I would like to also try these by replacing all of the molasses with honey. A quick word on graham flour - graham flour is whole grain and is just hard red wheat. We don't usually keep red wheat on-hand at home so I purchase Bob's Red Mill graham flour and it is great. It's pricey on line, but only a few dollars at our local grocery. If you can't find it locally, any whole-wheat flour will substitute well.

Adapted from here