The word pumpkin originates from the word pepon, which is Greek for “large melon”. The French adapted this word to pompon, which the British changed to pumpion and later American colonists changed that to the word we use today, “pumpkin”.
The color of pumpkins plus the the crisp Fall air reminds us of holidays, and the smell of freshly cooked pumpkin recipes.
This is a delicious delicious pumpkin bread recipe that I got from my grandmother when I was a young cook with my own family.
Note: I have substituted my own cooked pumpkin puree in this recipe for years and it gives it a wonderful fresh taste. I have used my left over jack-o-lantern by cooking it the day after I carved it, but it is even better when you use a sweet pie pumpkin. Pie pumpkins are smaller, sweeter, less grainy textured pumpkins than the usual jack-o-lantern types. See recipe to cook your own pumpkin.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil or 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup applesauce
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup solid-pack pumpkin
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
1 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
1/2 teaspoon clove, ground
1/4 teaspoon allspice, ground
1/2 cup water
1/2 nuts and or raisins
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, combine sugar, oil and eggs. Add pumpkin and mix well. Combine dry ingredients; add to the pumpkin mixture alternately with water. Pour into greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 F for 60-70 minutes or until bread tests done. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack; cool completely.
For many years now, I have been growing zucchini & looking for other ways and means to make use of them aside from your usual dishes like salads and etc. So I have experimented a lot of times to get interesting dishes that feature zucchini as the main ingredient.
Here are 2 delicious bread recipes that star the zucchini as main ingredient and they’re absolutely delicious.
Moist Zucchini Quick Bread Recipes With Nuts & Spices
6 cups unbleached white flour, or a combination of half white, half whole wheat
2 tsps salt
2 tsps baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsps cinnamon, ground
6 large eggs
3.5 c sugar
5 tsps pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 c canola oil
5 c zucchini, finely grated
2 c walnuts/pecans, chopped
Preheat your oven to around 350 deg. F. Butter/spray with vegetable spray & flour 4 (8½ X 4½ X 2½ inch) loaf pans and set aside. Using a food processor, grate the zucchini until it is fine. Set aside. Inside a big bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon and set aside. Beat eggs in an another large bowl, preferably with a stand mixer, or a hand-held mixer. Next, add sugar, canola oil & vanilla then mix again until blended well. Scrape sides of bowl.
Add grated zucchini then mix, scraping down sides of bowl once or twice. Using a large rubber spatula, fold in your flour mixture until it is all combined and there are no dry ingredients left in the bottom of your bowl. Fold in the walnuts/pecans. Spread batter into the 4 prepared pans and bake at 350 deg. for 1 hour (60 minutes) or just until knife comes out clean. Allow cooling for 5-10 minutes and then gently removing them from the pans and let them cool completely on wire racks before wrapping and freezing. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Make 4 regular size zucchini breads. Delicious Blueberry Zucchini Bread 3 pcs eggs, lightly beaten 1 c vegetable oil 2 1/4 c white sugar 2 c zucchini; shredded 3 c flour (all-purpose) 1 tsp salt 3 tsps vanilla extract 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 1 pint fresh blueberries Preheat your oven to around 350 deg. F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.
Inside a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, & sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans. Next, bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until a knife inserted in the middle of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
Have you seen the price of bread lately? It’s enough to make one wonder if it wouldn’t be cheaper to make your own. You know what? It is! For the cost of a typical loaf of bread (between $2-$4), you can make more than one loaf of homemade goodness. A large bag of bread flour can make quite a few loaves with a handful of other ingredients. You’ll need some yeast, salt, sugar, milk, water, oil and maybe an egg or two, depending on your chosen recipe.
When you’re at the grocery store, take a moment to look at the flour aisle. You’ll see cake flour, all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and bread flour. Not all flours are created equal for every task. You may be tempted to grab the all purpose flour so you can use it for other recipes as well, but don’t do it. If you’re going to make bread, get the bread flour.
When making bread, there are a few things to keep in mind. Choose a basic recipe if you’ve never made bread before. Plan ahead. Read through the recipe a few times to familiarize yourself with the ingredients and the process. It is important to follow the recipe exactly.
Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before you start. Yeast likes a warm environment. The measuring of dry and wet ingredients is of utmost importance to create a tender, tasty loaf. Pre-measure your ingredients if you find that helpful.
Follow your recipe exactly. If it says to mix the ingredients in a certain order, do it. Making bread is a science as much as an art, and if you want your loaf to turn out the same way every time, follow the directions to the letter!
When all your ingredients are mixed, it is time to knead the dough. You will need additional flour to spread on your counter and to dip your hands in so the dough doesn’t stick to you or the table top. Kneading is necessary to develop the gluten in the bread dough, mix in air for rising, and distribute the ingredients so the yeast can feed. Yes, the yeast actually feeds on the sugars in the dough, and creates a fermentation process, which enables the dough to rise properly. The biggest rookie mistake in bread-making is not kneading the dough long enough. Use a timer if you need it. You’ll want to knead the bread between 8-10 minutes.
When you are done kneading, form the dough into a ball and set in a greased bowl. Cover and let rest. Your dough will need to sit for 1-2 hours to rise. Make sure your kitchen is warm to aid the rising process.
At the end of this time, you’ll want to uncover the dough, punch it down, shape the dough how you want it be when you bake it, and cover it for another rising session. When it is done rising, it is time to bake. Pre-heat your oven before baking. Once your bread is done, let it cool completely before slicing.
Once you’ve mastered a basic bread recipe, you can make artisan breads, French bread, herbed breads, rolls, and more.
My grandmother had the Best Bread Pudding Recipe without a doubt. It is still one of my favorite desserts. Imagine my surprise on my first trip to New Orleans to discover all Bread Pudding is NOT alike!
There are actually several variations of this dessert. My grandmother’s version is a variation of a traditional dessert popular in British Cuisine. It is called bread and butter pudding and is often confused with bread pudding. Cubed bread is placed in a pan and then covered with an egg mixture to make a custard. After it is baked, the bread rises to the top to form a “crust” like topping. It tastes similar to French toast. The egg mixture forms a rich custard pudding at the bottom. Of course, my grandmother added her secret spices to give this a sweet nutmeg flavor. It is absolutely wonderful!
Louisiana bread pudding is made entirely differently and is just as good. The common ingredient is stale bread, but that is where the similarities end. The bread pudding consistency is similar to a moist cake and is warm served with a wonderful vanilla, whiskey, or rum sauce. The smell is heavenly and if you get a chance to visit New Orleans, this is a MUST have dessert that is served at most restaurants.
The following recipe, a specialty of my New Orleans sister-in-law, is a requested dessert at holidays, parties or any special occasion. The secret to this recipe is the bread. Stale french bread is the best. Use the long narrow loaves, if available. No matter what size pan she uses, it is always empty at the end of our family gatherings!
Best Bread Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
6 – 8 cups stale bread, broken in cubes
1 can evaporated milk
2 cups sugar
8 tablespoons butter, melted
3 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 large can fruit cocktail, drained
3/4 can condensed milk
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup raisins
Directions
Combine milks, butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar, nutmeg. Fold in bread and stir. Mixture should be very moist.
Add fruit cocktail and raisins. Mix well. Pour mixture into a 9×13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees approximately 1 hour or until top is golden brown. Serve warm with whiskey sauce.
Variations
You can leave out the raisins. Try adding blueberries, peaches, or apples.
Although my grandmother’s recipe is still one of my favorite desserts, I can truthfully say that this is the Best Bread Pudding Recipe – New Orleans Style!
–
—-
As you know, bread making by hand is not a simple process. There are plenty of stirring, mixing, and kneading required. Stirring and kneading can be relatively painless for bread dough with lots of eggs and butter to soften it up. But for tougher doughs, the manual labor involved could turn into a real chore. That’s where a bread machine will really ease things up. A well built bread machine will automatically handle all the required dirty work, leaving you the creative work. Best of all, it does not take much other than the ability to push a few buttons to work a bread machine the way you want.
When considering a bread machine, it’s a good idea to get familiar with its features and capabilities. Have an idea of how much you are looking to spend, these machines can run anywhere from below $60 to over $180, according to what brand, and what features you are looking for. Some have timers and delay buttons, while some don’t, there is also the option of a crust setting which enables you to have light, medium, or dark crust on your bread loaf. You also need to know what type of breads you will be baking in your machine. If you’re a big fan of making wheat bread, make sure that the bread machine your purchase has a cycle for it. Some bread machines have an extra special cycle for baking cakes and jams. Before deciding to purchase a bread machine, make sure that it has all the features you want and have enough cycles for all your baking needs. It’ also a good idea to check for a cool down cycle, to prevent your bread loaf from becoming soggy, if you can’t be there to remove it after the baking process is over. Most machines have a keep warm cycle to prevent sogginess, but some have a tendency to dry up the bread.
There are some downsides to bread machines, some have special compartments for nuts and fruits, while although a great idea, may sometimes cause clogging, so it would be wise to watch for this and keep compartments clean. You can purchase bread machines that will produce different sizes and shapes of loaves, square, round and the traditional rectangle. Something else to look for in a bread machine is how easy it is to remove the bread ban for cleanup. To maintain your bread machine, it’s good practice to check for the build up of crumbs. You do not have to do this often. I would suggest after every use, so as not to let the crumbs accumulate.
More so than other appliances in your kitchen, you should consider the weight and size of the bread machine. It’s best to buy the bread machine suitable for your purpose and the size of your kitchen. The last thing you want is to have a huge machine taking up a good quarter of the countertop. Make sure your machine comes with a manual giving you instructions for operating your bread machine, because there are some models on the market that don’t. You can choose to go for the cheaper model or the more expensive, the choice is up to you, but just remember, you get what you pay for.
—