Name: Doris’ Pumpkin Bread
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Ingredients: 1 cup white sugar; 1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar; 1/2 tsp. baking powder; 2 tsp. baking soda; 1 ½ tsp. salt; 1 tsp. cinnamon; 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice; 3 1/2 cups flour; Generous 2 cups canned pumpkin; 4 eggs; 1 cup canola oil; 2/3 cup water

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Did ya’ll feel that?

Yesterday morning, I walked outside to get the paper, and the temperature was, wait for it, in the seventies!

This, coupled with the fact that those noxious cinnamon brooms are now polluting the entrance of every Publix in town (making me extra grateful for the face mask requirement), means only one thing—

It’s Fall in Florida!

In my mother’s Strawberry Kitchen, this always meant it was time to start cranking out the loaves of Doris’ Pumpkin Bread.

You could set your watch by it.

When I went away to college in Virginia, it was no mystery when each September, a shoebox, carefully wrapped in a brown paper bag and addressed to me, would show up at mail call.

Pegster knew I’d be missing Doris’ pumpkin bread.

Next to her famous chocolate chip cookies, I’d wager there’s no other baked good that’s been made in such quantities in the Strawberry Kitchen over the years.

Who the heck was Doris, you’re probably asking?

It seems Pegster filched the recipe from Great Aunt Peg’s friend Doris.

I remember two things about Doris: she traveled around in an RV (the thought of going on a 12-hour road trip and not having to stop at Stuckey’s to use the bathroom was endlessly fascinating to 5-year-old me), and she made a hella mean pumpkin bread.

For the most part, the recipe remains as Doris baked it 50 years ago. The only change I’ve made is to substitute half the original white sugar for dark brown sugar (tastes richer that way) and to sub in pumpkin pie spice for pure nutmeg.

There’s nothing bougie about Doris’ pumpkin bread. The woman drove an RV, for heaven’s sake.

If it’s bougie you’re seeking, I’m sure there’s a great vegan pumpkin bread with flax seed over on some clean living website.

As for me and the Strawberry Kitchen, we’re sticking with Doris.

Unchaperoned pumpkin bread has been known to multiply. Or you can make 1 1/2 times the recipe and add 3 mini-loaves to the batch…

RECIPE Details

Servings

2 Loaves

Prep time

30 Minutes

Cooking time

50 Minutes

Temp

350 Degrees

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3 1/2 cups flour
Generous 2 cups canned pumpkin**
4 eggs
1 cup canola oil
2/3 cup water

** So, for years you would buy one can of Libby’s at the store and it would contain exactly 2 cups of pureed pumpkin. But in recent years, Libby’s has reduced the amount in each can to only 1 ½ cups! Scoundrels! Blaggards! Lest you be tempted to cut corners here, I would exhort you to go ahead and buy the second can, and use the whole 2 cups called for in the recipe. It’ll be moister that way. What to do with the leftovers? Canned pumpkin can be frozen, or stored in the fridge and added to pancake batter for another fall treat. Yum!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour two large loaf pans.
Stir together all the dry ingredients in a very large mixing bowl. If your brown sugar is lumpy, you may want to sift the mixed dry ingredients with a colander.
In a separate bowl, whisk all the wet ingredients together, well, with a wire wisk.
Create a well in center of dry ingredients, and pour in the wet ones. Fold ingredients until well-combined, but don’t over-work the batter. (If you don’t know how to fold, consult this handy instructional video from Schitt’s Creek.)
Divide batter between two loaf pans.
Place on center shelf of oven and bake for about 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.
Cool in pans for about 10 minutes. Skirt around the outside of the pans with a sharp knife to separate bread from pan, and invert onto wire rack to continue cooling.
Stores well, wrapped in foil, on countertop for up to 4 days. If you expect it to last longer than this (what’s wrong with you?), store in fridge. Also freezes well.

RECIPE FOR PRINT