Marbled Pumpkin Bread
There’s are certain cheats that are universally acknowledged as acceptable by food people and one of them is that it’s totally fine to use canned pumpkin in place of fresh pumpkin in baking recipes. I realize a lot of you are rolling your eyes at that: “Who in their right mind would ever trouble to use fresh pumpkin in a baking recipe?” Well you’re talking to someone who did just that, only it was a Kabocha squash.
My reasoning had nothing to do with virtue or a sense that roasting my own pumpkin (or squash) would make my pumpkin bread taste better. It had everything to do with the fact that I was sitting at my dining room table working on the next novel and I saw a squash and thought I would roast it and make something with it. So I cut it in half, rubbed it with oil, put it face-down on a Silicone mat, and roasted it in a 425 oven for 45 minutes, then pureed the insides in a food processor.
As for what I made with it, I liked the looks of this recipe by Jordan Smith featured on Diaspora Spice’s website. Jordan’s a friend who helped me make dozens of cookies for a book event last year. Didn’t realize this was his recipe when I first made it but seeing it now. Good recipe, Jordan!
The gist is that you beat together butter and brown sugar — I used my new Beater Blade as recommended to me by my friend James and it was awesome; no need to scrape the sides! — adding two eggs, and then the puree.
There are a few things that make this recipe unique. One: you use a combination of oat flour (I made it myself by grinding oats in the food processor) and buckwheat flour, which gives the resulting bread a wholesome quality. There’s plenty of spice in there too, especially cinnamon.
Two: you divide the batter and add cocoa to half of it, which allows you to marble the bread (hence the named Marbled Pumpkin Bread).
I used an ice cream scoop, which was kind of fun.
Finally, you make a streusel with pumpkin seeds, cocoa powder, more oat flour, and butter.
You pinch that all together then pat on top of the batter which you’ve placed in a parchment-lined loaf tin (makes it easier to take out).
Into a 350 oven that goes for 45 minutes and when it comes out, everything will smell like fall.
You let it cool, lift it out of the pan, and finally it’s time for a slice.
Because of the oat flour, it’s really crumbly, but in a nice way. The cocoa flavor definitely comes through on the cocoa end, and the cinnamon and cardamom come through on the pumpkin end. The streusel makes it texturally interesting. Was it worth roasting my own squash? Absolutely not. I was insane to do that. But I’m still glad that I did because now I used up my Kabocha squash and still have some puree leftover for soup or tortellini. So I guess, in the end, I can have my marbled pumpkin cake and eat it too.
Marbled Pumpkin Bread
Adapted from a recipe by Jordan Smith as featured on Diaspora Spice Co.
Makes one loaf
Ingredients:
For the streusel:
32 grams (1/4 cup) raw pumpkin seeds
30 grams (1/4 cup) oat flour (you can use Bob’s Red Mill or make your own, like I did)
25 grams (1/4 cup) rolled oats
15 grams (1 Tbsp) sugar
4 grams (1/2 tablespoon) cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
28 grams (2 tablespoons) cold cubed unsalted butter
For the chocolate pumpkin bread:
120g (1 cup) oat flour
50g (1/4 cup + 2 1/2 Tbsp) buckwheat flour (in a pinch, you can use all-purpose, whole wheat, or Rye)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
125g (1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
150g (1/2 cup + 3 Tbsp) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
225g (1 cup) pumpkin purée (store-bought is totally fine, if not preferred!)
25g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
Instructions:
For the streusel:
Combine all of the ingredients except butter in a large bowl.
Sprinkle the butter into the bowl and rub into the dry ingredients until a crumbly texture forms with pieces ranging in size from small peas to almonds. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
For the chocolate pumpkin bread:
Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center of the oven. Spray and line an 8 1/2x4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, then spray again.
Combine the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a KitchenAid. With the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until lighter in color and increased in volume, about 2–3 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl (unless you’re using a Beater Blade !), add one egg and beat until completely incorporated. Scrape down the sides again, add the second egg and beat until incorporated.
Add the pumpkin purée and beat until mixture is completely uniform.
In a medium bowl, combine flours and mix well. Set aside 1/4 cup (30g) of the flour mixture. Then, add the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and salt to the bowl with the remaining flour.
Add the flour and spice mixture to the wet ingredients and fold until no dry patches are left.
Divide the batter into two portions. Fold the reserved 1/4 cup (30g) of flour into one portion and 1/4 cup (25g) cacao powder into the other portion.
Alternating the batters, scoop or spoon 2-3 tablespoon portions into the prepared loaf pan. Drag the blade of a paring knife or skewer through the batter to swirl and partially combine the scoops of batter. Sprinkle the streusel over the top and press firmly into the batter.
Bake until the top of the loaf has slightly browned and a metal or wooden skewer can be cleanly inserted into the middle of the loaf, about 45 – 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the pan.