Pumpkin Harvest Loaf Recipe

THE FARMHOUSE

As a pumpkin bread devotee, I’ve made about a hundred different recipes over the years (including the winner of this taste off), but they never stack up to this classic harvest loaf IMO. It has all the warm, soul-satisfying goodness of traditional pumpkin bread but with a heartiness and spice profile that makes it a bit more substantial. You can make this recipe with canned pumpkin, or if you’re feeling ambitious, purée your own butternut squash. Either way it’s 100% delicious.

kitchen sources here

I’ve been making this recipe for years now. It’s inspired by one at my favorite Seattle bakery, Macrina. I used to work a block away from their bakery, and racked up quite the bill on thick slices of the squash harvest bread. The original recipe was created by Leslie Mackie and pastry chef, Lynn Upson (published in this phenomenal cookbook) and is still served at the bakery, but now that I live 100 miles away, I bake my own ;)

Harvest Bread Loaf Recipe

makes two 9” loaves (I use these pans)

Ingredients

1 cup mixed walnuts and pecans

1 cup pumpkin seeds

2 1/2 cup all-pupose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

Spices: 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 tsp cardamom*

1 tsp salt

1 cup canola oil

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups purée - pumpkin or butternut squash**

4 eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.

Spread nuts and pumpkin seeds onto baking sheet and toast for 15 minutes or until fragrant and lightly toasted. Let cool and then mix seeds and nuts together and chop medium-fine. Set aside in a bowl.

Reduce oven to 325. Prepare two 9” loaf pans with oil and line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides.

Combine oil and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on medium for 5 minutes. Add purée, and mix for a couple more minutes. Then add eggs, one at a time, incorporating each egg with the mixer before adding the next.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Add in nut and seed mixture, minus some reserved for the top of loaves. Add dry ingredients and buttermilk into the wet ingredients in small amounts and stir until just combined.

Pour half the batter into each pan, filling about 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops with remaining pumpkin seeds and nuts. Bake for about 75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. If bread begins to over-brown before fully cooked, cover the loaves with tin foil for the remainder of baking time. Once cooked, let loaves cool in pans for 20 minutes. Then, using the exposed parchment paper, remove the bread from the pan and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Best served warm with a pat of butter!

Notes

*adjust spices based on your preference

**to make your own butternut squash purée as I did for the loaves shown in these pictures, wash and cut squash in half, length-wise. Place squash halves cut-side down on rimmed cookie sheet, pour 1 1/2 cup water in cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for an hour, or until squash is fork tender. Let cool for 20 minutes and then scoop squash out of skin and purée in food processor, adding water as needed. Let purée cool completely before using. Store excess in airtight container in fridge or freezer.

The vibrant color of butternut squash lends the loaves a seasonal look.