Making Pumpkin Bread from Fresh Pumpkin

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Eating freshly baked pumpkin bread from fresh pumpkin or squash is as joyful as gifting it. Try your hand at these vintage pumpkin bread recipes.

Sometimes the best recipes aren’t the most trendy, fancy ones touted all over social media. Take harvest and holiday pumpkin breads for example. Recipes handed down for generations are not only tried and true, but the memories made baking with friends and family last long after the last crumb is cleaned from the plate.  

This is the time of year that winter squash such as pumpkin, acorn, buttercup, butternut, delicata, hubbard, and kabocha are in season. All members of the Cucurbita family are delicious in sweet and savory dishes. They also keep well in cool, dry places so it’s the perfect time of year to stock up.  

Pumpkin breads are what I call sharing breads. Each recipe makes two loaves, one for you and one to share with family and friends. A loaf of pumpkin bread wrapped in wax, parchment, or tinfoil, and tied with string or ribbon makes a welcome gift from the kitchen.  

Eating freshly baked pumpkin bread is as joyful as gifting it. How about a slice of toasted pumpkin bread smeared with butter alongside a mug of hot tea? The perfect morning or afternoon pick-me-up! 

I hope you try the recipes I’m sharing today for vintage pumpkin breads. These breads are not difficult to make, so let the little ones help as is age appropriate. 

 Cooking Winter Squashes for Purée 

• Smaller sugar pie pumpkins have the highest ratio of flesh to skin, so use those if you can. But all winter squashes give good results, so don’t be shy about experimenting. 
• To make squashes easier to cut, poke all over with a fork, then microwave on high for a couple of minutes or so. Use mitts to remove as it will be hot. 
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

1. Cut pumpkin or squash in half.  
2. Scrape out seeds and stringy portion. Put the seeds in a bowl to roast later.  
3. Cut into quarters or manageable pieces. 
4. Place on sprayed baking sheet. You can put them flesh side up or down. I don’t cover the pumpkins. Roast until fork tender, about 30 to 45 minutes. 
5. As soon as you can handle them, remove skin by peeling off. 

Harvest Pumpkin Bread  

This recipe goes back to the 1960s. Printed in community newspapers and magazines, it quickly became the standard. I veer a bit from the original recipe by adding vanilla. 

Ingredients 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 2 to 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice or 1 teaspoon each: ground nutmeg and cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 
• 12 tablespoons butter, room temperature 
• 2 cups granulated sugar 
• 2 large eggs 
• 15-ounce can pure pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling) 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla 

Instructions 

1. Place rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 325 F. 
2. Spray two loaf pans with cooking spray or brush generously with shortening or butter.  
3. Whisk together dry ingredients: flour, soda, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. 
4. On medium speed in mixer or by hand, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. 
5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
6. Mix in pumpkin and vanilla. Mixture may curdle, but no worries. It will all come together after you add the flour mixture. 
7. Slowly add dry ingredients until everything is combined.  
8. Divide between prepared pans and bake for one hour. (Some ovens will take longer.) When a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, the loaves are done. 
9. Let cool in pan a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. 

 
Can be frozen for up to six months. 

Switch It Up: 

Instead of pumpkin, substitute roasted cushaw, acorn, or other winter squash and add poppy seeds. 

Black Walnut Pumpkin Bread 

Black walnuts have a distinct, stronger flavor and color than their English cousins. 

Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup coarsely chopped black walnuts to the flour mixture. This helps the nuts stay suspended throughout the bread, rather than sink to the bottom. 

Other Good Additions:  

1/2 cup raisins, golden raisins, or 3/4 cup dried currants 

2/3 cup coarsely chopped English walnuts, pecans, cashews, or hickory nuts 

Betty’s Blueberry Pumpkin Bread
 

My friend and cooking school colleague, Betty Howell, lives down the road with her husband, Dale. When blueberry season is in, Betty stocks her freezer for her heirloom blueberry pumpkin bread. 

Ingredients 

• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoons baking soda 
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt 
• 3 cups sugar 
• 1 teaspoon each nutmeg and cinnamon 
• 1-1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed (see tip for thawing) 
• 4 large eggs 
• 2/3 cup water 
• 1 cup vegetable oil 
• 15-ounce can pure pumpkin purée 

Instructions 

1. Place rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350 F. 
2. Spray two loaf pans with cooking spray or brush with shortening or butter. 
3. Whisk together dye ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. 
4. Gently stir in blueberries. This keeps them suspended in the bread so they don’t sink to the bottom. It also prevents your batter from turning blue. Set aside. 
5. On medium speed in mixer or by hand, beat eggs until light in color. 
6. Mix in water, oil, and pumpkin until well blended. 
7. Slowly add dry ingredients until everything is combined.  
8. Divide between prepared pans and bake for one hour. (Some ovens will take longer.) When a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, the loaves are done. 
9. Let cool in pan a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. 

Can be frozen for up to six months. 

Gilding the Lily:

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar prior to baking. 
Mix 1/4 cup granulated sugar with 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon.  This makes enough for two loaves. Sprinkle on top of batter prior to baking. 

Thawing Blueberries for Baking 

I like to rinse frozen berries in cold water several times. The water starts out dark but turns light bluish red.  

Lift berries out with a slotted spoon, then pour onto a paper-towel lined pan and gently pat dry all over. Careful, they’re fragile. Your reward will be breads that bake up the same as using fresh blueberries: no dark bluish streaks. 

RITA HEIKENFELD comes from a family of wise women in tune with nature. She is a certified modern herbalist, culinary educator, author, and national media personality. Most important, she is a wife, mom, and grandma. Rita lives on a little patch of heaven overlooking the East Fork River in Clermont County, Ohio. She is a former adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati, where she developed a comprehensive herbal course.   

abouteating.com column: rita@communitypress.com  

Originally published in the October/November 2022 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.