Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

What is a Quick Bread?

Pumpkin bread is considered a “quick bread.” Quick breads are breads that don’t require yeast and the dough/batter doesn’t need time to rise. Most often quick breads use baking powder or baking soda as their leavening agent (the ingredients that helps it rise.) 

Muffins, pancakes, waffles, biscuits and scones are all quick breads. Some quick breads, like banana bread and pumpkin bread, are more like cake than bread.

Why this recipe works

Our baked pumpkin bread is a simple recipe. It’s soft and moist with a tender crumb. We like to use canned pumpkin instead of fresh pumpkin. It’s easier and the concentrated puree gives a stronger pumpkin flavor.

We use fall spices cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger to make this homemade pumpkin bread. Their flavors complement the pumpkin and create a heavenly aroma and lots of anticipation around our house!

What you'll need to make pumpkin bread (ingredients)

• Pumpkin. We use canned pumpkin (pumpkin puree) for its concentrated flavor and ease of preparation. Don’t confuse this with pumpkin pie mix which also comes in a can. Pumpkin flavors and gives moisture to the bread.
• All purpose flour. Flour creates structure for the bread and adds protein.
• Sugar. Sugar sweetens the recipe and makes the crumb more tender.
• Butter. Butter gives this bread rich flavor and tenderizes it.
• Eggs. The liquid in eggs creates steam which helps the bread rise; protein helps build the structure of the bread.
• Milk. Milk creates steam which helps the bread rise.
• Baking powder. Leavening agents which help the bread rise by creating expanding bubbles of carbon dioxide.
• Salt. Salt enhances the flavor of the pumpkin bread.
• Spices. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger add flavor to the bread.
• Chocolate Chips. We love adding semi-sweet chocolate chips to our pumpkin bread. You could also add white chocolate chips, nuts, or omit them completely if you prefer.

How to Make this Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees then lightly grease bottom of 1 standard loaf pan or 2 small loaf pans. Next, line with parchment paper.
2. In a separate bowl gently sift or mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.) We suggest you use this method to measure flour accurately.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat well with electric mixer. Add eggs and beat well. 
4. Add pumpkin, milk and vanilla and beat mixture until it is light and fluffy. If using chocolate chips, you can add them at this time. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and gently mix by hand with spoon or rubber scraper just until dry ingredients disappear. Be careful not to over mix the batter or it could become tough and have tunnels when baked.

Baking pumpkin bread at high altitude

When baking at high altitudes the air pressure is lower so food bakes differently. There are several factors that need to be adjusted in a recipe if you’re baking over about 3,000 feet elevation.

These are some basic suggestions. It would help to take notes when you’re baking at high-altitude so you can figure out what works best for you on each recipe you use.

BAKING OVER 3,000 FEET

Expert Tips

• Turn this recipe into muffins. Just add muffin liners to a 12 cup muffin pan. Fill each cup half full and bake for about 25 minutes (check them the last 5 minutes.)
• Don't over-mix the batter. Mixing too much will give you a tougher pumpkin chocolate chip bread and may even create a peak or tunnels.
• Swap orange juice for the milk. Use orange juice instead of milk for a delicious fresh flavor.
• Use pumpkin pie spice. You can add 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.
• Use shortening. You can substitute shortening in this recipe if you don’t have butter.