The Great Pumpkin Bread-Off!

My friend Kathleen and I like everything pumpkin. Our favorite season is fall, and as soon as September rolls around, we break out our Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin lotion and look forward to the pumpkin-filled treats to come. We both love this chocolate chip pumpkin bread we found years ago at Breadsmith, but this year I found out that the location near us had closed. I had one recipe for pumpkin bread that I've made a few times, and another one saved to make, so we decided to have a Bread-Off (rather than a Bake-Off) with the two recipes. We held the contest on our way to the apple orchard - which has the best cinnamon apple donuts ever by the way! It was a sugary day to say the least...

I'm mixed on my feelings about having chocolate chips in pumpkin bread - on one hand the combination of chocolate and pumpkin is a great; on the other, I think the chocolate distracts from the purity of the pumpkin. In the end, I decided to include chocolate chips in both breads, so the experiment was controlled. I should also mention that only I knew which bread was which and what components went into the breads; my two tasters (Kathleen and Bob) knew nothing going into it :)

Each original recipe makes 2 large loaves, so I just cut the recipes in half and made 1 loaf of each. The first time I made pumpkin bread, I used applesauce instead of the oil - to be honest, it wasn't nearly as good. I'd rather use the oil and just eat less!

I cannot even tell you how hard it was for me to find the pumpkin puree!!! So hard that this bread-off almost didn't happen. I went to two of the big chain grocery stores with no luck, and finally found some organic pumpkin puree at Whole Foods (for $3 a can - what the?!) Dominick's had canned pumpkin pie mix, but no thank you - I prefer to spice my pumpkin myself!

One of the recipes recommends making the bread a day ahead for best flavor. I've tried this before and happen to agree, so that's what I did with both loaves. As I was making the breads, I realized that these recipes are veeerrrry similar, and that made the tasting a little difficult. However, I think we were able to declare a winner. See below for the results!

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread (Bread A)

Recipe for 1 loaf.

Ingredients:

1/2 a 15-ounce can pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup water

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour one 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water, and sugar until well blended.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices, and then stir in the chocolate chips if using.

4. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pan.

5. Bake for about 50 minutes. Loaf is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Source: Adapted from Allrecipes.com

RESULT: Both tasters liked this bread. They both noted that it has good spice and was very moist.

Pumpkin Pie Bread (Bread B)

Recipe for 1 loaf.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 a 15-ounce can pumpkin puree

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour one 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice, then stir in chocolate chips, if using. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture alternately with water. Add batter to prepared pan.

4. Bake in oven for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. For best flavor, store wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for a full day before serving.

Source: Adapted from Allrecipes.com

RESULT: Both tasters again agreed that this is a moist bread. Kathleen thought it had more of a "pumpkin" taste, perhaps because it didn't have the same 'spiciness' as the other bread.

OVERALL RESULTS: Although these breads are almost too similar to compare, the winner is Bread A - the Downeast Pumpkin Bread. Overall, the tasters felt it had more of the "spice" one looks for in a pumpkin bread. I think that's because this bread has the spices added individually, rather than the premade pumpkin pie spice blend. Maybe that's why it has 5/5 stars from over 2,721 reviewers on Allrecipes!!!