Pumpkin Spice Bread

I think I'm on a quick bread streak. I just love making it. I made this recipe for the first time a few months ago, and I finally found the canned pumpkin in the store, so I could make it again. :) Seriously though- I looked everywhere, and when I went to the store recently, I was walking half-asleep down the baking isle. I came to the part with all the sprinkles, candles, and decorative frosting. There, on a short little shelf under all of that stuff, was the canned pumpkin! I couldn't believe my eyes. Stinkin' pumpkin. So, here is the recipe. It turned out beautifully.

Pumpkin Spice Bread:
adapted from Taste of Home Baking Book
yield- 2 loaves

3 c sugar
1 c vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
15 oz solid pack pumpkin (if you can find it!)
3 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t ground cloves
1/2 t ground allspice
1/2 c water

Preheat the oven to 350.

Put the sugar and oil in a mixing bowl. Mix 'er up!

Add the eggs. Mix well.
Next up? Throw the pumpkin in there. Guess what you do with it? Mix it up.
Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices in a separate bowl.
Whisk it. Using a whisk incorporates air into the mixture. This is like sifting without the sifting. Nice. Sifters are a pain in the bum.
Mix the flour (see next picture caption)...
alternately with the water.
Pour into pans. You may be thinking. Whoa, crazy lady! You said this makes only two loaves. It does if you are using the bigger bread pans. I like the smaller loaves, so I did three. I thought they turned out just fine. I also got a little crazy and added some toppings to a couple. I put cinnamon-sugar on one and chocolate chips on the other. I wanted to make a pecan streusel topping for the third, but I was out of pecans. Drat the luck!
Bake them for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
There you have it. Three delicious loaves of pumpkin goodness. I would dare to say that these are just as good as Great Harvest's pumpkin bread. And- as an added bonus, you get the aroma of pumpkin bread baking in your house for an hour. Who needs candles? hmph.

Some tidbits I read today on baking quick breads- only mix the dry ingredients into the wet stuff until it is moistened. If you over mix it, it will lose air. That will make the texture not as smooth. Also, don't wait to pour the batter into the pans. Some crazy chemical reaction takes place, and the bread will sink in the middle during baking if you wait to long to pour from bowl to pan to oven.