Pumpkin Bread

[Northwoods]

Just popped a loaves in the oven.  Gluten free.  One with no nuts (mostly for the kids), one with mixed pecans and walnuts.

I've had a hankering for pumpkin bread for a while now.  Had to run to the store to get Vanilla Extract and Allspice for it though.

We'll see how it turns out.  At least I remembered to add the Xanthum Gum.

[Azrael256]

You can come to my house starting about mid-October and chow down on all the gourd atrocities you want.  It'll save me having to deal with it.  I'll PM my address.

This started out as pumpkin bread.  Then she started buying actual pumpkins to make bread and pie (you bake them to get the pumpkin-goo, if you're curious.  You also find out how many "self-cleaning" cycles it takes to bust an oven coil and what a joke "self cleaning" must be over at Kenmore.)  Bread is just bread unless it has jalapeños and cheese in it, but pie is OK.  That was my limit.

Then candies.  Then ice cream.  This year it was coffee.  PUMPKIN COFFEE.  I thought the cinnamon in coffee nonsense was over the top, and I was wholly unprepared for the depths to which coffee consumption has sunk.

Somebody made peanut butter fudge over Christmas (yeah, I dunno either.  It's like letting the sun shine in your mouth.)  and she says, yeah you guessed...  "I could make this with pumpkin!"

By the time "pumpkin" is the only word left in the English language, which I assume will occur in my lifetime, we'll all just be taking orange suppositories that will alter our genetic code to make our salivary glands produce pumpkin flavor.  It will be simpler that way.

But anyway.  How'd it turn out?

[Northwoods]

I used Libby's canned pumpkin.  Same stuff most (normal-ish) people use for pies.

Still in the oven.  Probably will pass out shortly after taking them out, certainly before they're cool enough to cut.

[roo_ster]

I love pumpin bread & pumpkin pie.  No nutty adulterants for me, thanks.

[Azrael256]

Stock up.

Funny story about pumpkin goo in a can.  It's somehow sensitive to some environmental condition (the pumpkins themselves, not the can. Or so I assume.) and is thus prone to being completely out of stock for an entire season.  In the short term, you will drive to eleven grocery stores to find two cans, presumably the last in town, that were believed out of stock and are no longer in the computer.  This seriously happened to me in 2009.  In the longer term, you will learn to salvage pumpkin goo from Halloween pumpkins, which are far larger and messier to deal with than pie pumpkins (which were not available due to the shortage).

This will make you proficient with oven repair.

[Northwoods]

Oh, FWIW, I cannot stand pumpkin pie.  The flavor is fine, but the texture is all sorts of wong.

Breads, soups and such, in limited quantities I do quite enjoy.

Oh Azreal, WRT your stories:

[Northwoods]

Both loaves are out of the oven.  Currently I'm torturing SWMBO (who is 32 weeks pregnant) by making her wait until they cooled enough before sampling.

[Gewehr98]

Getting ready to bottle another 3 gallons of pumpkin/raisin wine over here.   

[Northwoods]

They actually turned out really well.  Especially considering they're gluten free.

And it had the desired effect.

[Brad Johnson]

They actually turned out really well.  Especially considering they're gluten free.

And it had the desired effect.

Hope yours are better than some I tried a while back.  They looked like pumpkin bread but had no other properties of pumpkin bread.

Brad

[Northwoods]

Kids LOVED the pumpkin bread.

[Marnoot]

They looked like pumpkin bread but had no other properties of pumpkin bread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7-keInFnFE&t=4m39s

[SADShooter]

Getting ready to bottle another 3 gallons of pumpkin/raisin wine over here.   

Would like to hear more about must/mash preparation, please.

[Gewehr98]

Relatively easy.  I cook my pumpkin to convert the starches into sugars for better fermentation and flavor.

This will make 3 gallons:

Clean and quarter a couple nice pie/Halloween pumpkins.

Cook the 8 pumpkin quarters on a cookie sheet with some water covering the bottom, in a 325-degree oven for about 45 minutes, or until fork tender.

(This is the same way I cook acorn squash...)

Once the pumpkin's cooked, scoop the pulp out of the skins and mash it up like you're making a pumpkin pie.  You could probably use a handheld immersion blender to make the job easier, too.

This mush goes into the 3-gallon carboy or fermentation bucket, along with 3 pounds of raisins.

Add sugar to bring the specific gravity up to 1.095.  I use dark brown sugar for this recipe, and it works out to about 6 lbs total.

Add water to the mix, but only fill to a point well shy of the airlock - or there will be trouble!

Add yeast nutrients, tannin, acid blend, and one packet of your wine yeast of choice. I use an aggressive Red Star Champagne yeast, but watch that final alcohol level, it can bump 18%!

This will be a vigorous ferment, it'll look alive if you're using a glass carboy or Better Bottle as the pumpkin pulp and raisins circulate around with the CO2 produced.

It will also blow the airlock halfway across the house if you didn't provide enough headspace between the must and airlock. 

If your wife's head happens to be at the exact spot where the airborne pumpkin pulp and airlock decide to return to earth, the last thing you want to do is laugh. (Oops)

Stir it up about once a day to feed the yeast and expose all the good stuff to the little fellows. After about a week, the ferment will slow down to just a few airlock bubbles/minute, and it's time to rack out the young wine off the pulp/raisins/dead yeast.  Check the SG, and add water to replace lost volume (go ahead and sample!), then let secondary fermentation take over.

Subsequent rackings will occur as you watch it clear and settle over the next 6 months or so.  It should be ready to bottle between 9 months to 1 year.

My pumpkin/raisin wine finishes at a medium to dark amber color, thanks to the dark brown sugar and plain raisins I use.

It could be lighter in color if one used white sugar, light brown sugar, or golden raisins.

[SADShooter]

Neat! How would you describe the taste & texture of the finished product? I'm imagining some earthy, barleywine tones from the pumpkin and port-like flavor from the raisins, balanced with the tannins.

[Gewehr98]

I finished my last two batches right on the sweet side. I didn't go overboard, dry enough to want more each sip vs. syrupy...

Thanks to the raisins it has plenty of body, almost a port, but the pumpkin flavor is there without being overwhelming.

I'd push it as an aperitif or digestif, myself.  It makes a nice dessert wine, too. 

[Sergeant Bob]

You can come to my house starting about mid-October and chow down on all the gourd atrocities you want.  It'll save me having to deal with it.  I'll PM my address.

This started out as pumpkin bread.  Then she started buying actual pumpkins to make bread and pie (you bake them to get the pumpkin-goo, if you're curious.  You also find out how many "self-cleaning" cycles it takes to bust an oven coil and what a joke "self cleaning" must be over at Kenmore.)  Bread is just bread unless it has jalapeños and cheese in it, but pie is OK.  That was my limit.

Then candies.  Then ice cream.  This year it was coffee.  PUMPKIN COFFEE.  I thought the cinnamon in coffee nonsense was over the top, and I was wholly unprepared for the depths to which coffee consumption has sunk.

Somebody made peanut butter fudge over Christmas (yeah, I dunno either.  It's like letting the sun shine in your mouth.)  and she says, yeah you guessed...  "I could make this with pumpkin!"

By the time "pumpkin" is the only word left in the English language, which I assume will occur in my lifetime, we'll all just be taking orange suppositories that will alter our genetic code to make our salivary glands produce pumpkin flavor.  It will be simpler that way.

But anyway.  How'd it turn out?

Excellent rant by the way!