My Mother's Pumpkin Bread Recipe (2024)

Learn how to make my Mother's World-Famous Pumpkin Bread Recipe

All the sweat, all the hours spent weeding and watering the garden are worth it when you harvest the fruits and vegetables of your labor.

Baskets of potatoes, apples and onions, pumpkins and pecans sit on your kitchen counters and scent your home with harvest goodness, and you feel a sense of pride at the work of your hands.

Serving a meal to my family using those items I've grown myself is even more satisfying than the harvest itself. I don't know if that feeling will ever lessen - in fact, I hope it won't.

We all have our favorite ways of preparing and serving our homegrown harvest, and this is one of my favorite recipes, handed down from my mom.

And if you didn't grow that pumpkin yourself, don't worry, I won't tell anyone. In fact, I'll include the directions for using a can of pumpkin puree.

Celebrating autumn

When I was a child, as soon as autumn arrived my mother made her world-famous pumpkin bread.

(Why is her recipe is world-famous? Because hubby and I have lived all over the world and I always used her recipes no matter where we lived. People loved those dishes, so they're famous all over the world!)

I know it came from a cookbook originally, but Mom's pumpkin bread recipe is the best I've ever tasted, moist and delicious and rich with pumpkin and spices.

It was Mom's way of celebrating the change of the season. There's nothing better I could do with a pumpkin.

Where to source your pumpkins

If you don't have pumpkins in your garden, you can buy one at your local farmers market or a roadside stand, or use a can of pumpkin puree (that's what Mom did).

Either way this quick bread is delicious, whether served as a dessert with whipped cream or as a snack slathered with real butter.

Why this pumpkin bread recipe is so special

This pumpkin bread recipe is what I call a "luxury recipe" because it requires four eggs. I come from a frugal family and four eggs was considered, well, a bit above our means at times.

That's probably why pumpkin bread seemed like such a celebration to me; Mom didn't make it very often and it was a special treat.

But if you live on a homestead and your hens are cooperative, four eggs is easy.

On the other hand, if you live on a homestead and it's cold outside and your hens aren't spring chickens anymore, you might have to go to the store to buy a carton of eggs so you can make pumpkin bread.

But the result is worth a trip to town.

If you can't find mace

Mom's recipe calls for mace, which can be hard to find and quite expensive when you do spot it on a grocery store shelf.

Mace and nutmeg both come from the fruit of nutmeg trees.

Nutmeg comes from the seed of the nutmeg fruits, while mace is the covering of the seed, ground into powder.

You can substitute the mace in this recipe with an equal amount of nutmeg,allspice, cinnamon, ginger or pumpkin pie spice.

Print the recipe

If you'd like to print this recipe, you can download it here, then print.

Mom's pumpkin bread recipe

Pumpkin Bread

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp mace
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ginger
3 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups of fresh pumpkin or 16 oz of canned pumpkin (some cans are 15 oz)
1/2 cup water if pumpkin is fresh or frozen OR 2/3 cup water if pumpkin is canned
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine the flour, soda, salt, spices and sugar in a large mixing bowl.

In another large bowl, combine eggs, water, oil and pumpkin; stir until blended.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients, add nuts if you're using them and mix well.

Lightly grease the bottoms of two 9"x5" loaf pans and pour in the batter.

Bake for one hour*. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the middle of the loaves; the toothpick should come out clean.

*NOTE: The baking time will depend on your oven and your bakeware. The one-hour mark is when you should begin testing your loaves with a toothpick, but more than likely they will require more baking time, perhaps as much as an extra half-hour or even more.

Stick the toothpick in as far as it will go to test doneness, and test multiple areas of the top of your loaves.

When the toothpick comes out clean, your pumpkin bread is ready!

Remove the pans from the oven and cool slightly. Take the loaves out of the pans to cool completely on a rack. Makes two 9"x5" loaves.

Enjoy!

Hubby and I always slice off the end of one loaf while it's still warm and spread some real butter on top. Yummmm, it melts in your mouth.

Now that's some good comfort food, and a great way to welcome fall!

More fall recipes

If you're looking for more fall recipes, check these out:

Italian Green Beans from Terri at Our Good Life

From Tree to Table - Homemade Applesauce from Michelle at Mid-Life Blogger

Crockpot Chicken from Danielle at Spring Lake Homestead

Create a Harvest Tablescape from Danielle at Spring Lake Homestead

Syrup on a Salad from Michelle at SoulyRested

Sugar-free Raspberry Coffee Cake with Zingy Raspberry Sauce from Kim at Day to Day Adventures

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~~~~~

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FAQs

Why does my pumpkin bread have no flavor? ›

Why does my pumpkin bread taste bland? Make sure to follow the recipe exactly. That means—don't leave out the salt, don't cut the amount of sugar, and use the specified amount of cinnamon.

What happens if you put too much pumpkin in pumpkin bread? ›

You might think you could overcome the lack of flavor by adding more pumpkin purée to your recipe, but you'd be mistaken: By the time you've added enough purée to taste it, your baked good would have a soggy texture on account of all that moisture.

Tell Me More ›

Why is my pumpkin bread so dense? ›

Pumpkin bread can become dense if there is not enough hydration or wet ingredients in the recipe. Another cause is overcooking the bread which can cause it to dry out. Remember, it's always easy to keep cooking if it isn't done but impossible to take cooking time back.

Read On ›

Why did my pumpkin bread come out gummy? ›

If your pumpkin spice bread is gummy or undercooked in the center, it's typically because it either 1) needed more time to bake in the oven or 2) the batter was too wet, which led the bread to collapse in on itself a bit (this happens if you measure ingredients by volume, rather than by weight: it's easy to ...

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How do you enhance pumpkin flavor? ›

Both black and white pepper work, but will add different flavor notes. High-quality black pepper is my favorite since it has citrusy, floral notes that complement pumpkin and the other spices so well. White pepper is also a great option and will bring a more subtle, umami-rich note to the spice blend.

Show Me More ›

What happens if you forgot the salt in pumpkin bread? ›

If you forgot the salt, your dough will rise too quickly, and your bread will taste bland.

Read On ›

Why won't my pumpkin bread cook in the middle? ›

If your oven runs hot, your bread is likely to brown and bake up on the outside before the center has a chance to fully cook. Invest in a simple oven thermometer to help verify the temperature. Make sure you have other bread baking essentials in your kitchen, too.

Tell Me More ›

What not to do with pumpkin? ›

Feed the birds, but not the hedgehogs

You would be right to think most wild animals would love some pumpkin, but not all of them do. In fact, leaving out pumpkin scraps can be really dangerous for some wildlife, especially hedgehogs.

Read On ›

Should pumpkin bread be jiggly in the middle? ›

You want the bread to puff up and crack on top—this is a sign that it has cooked all the way through. It's easy enough to test for doneness by inserting a wooden skewer or cake tester (sometimes I use a paring knife) into the center of the loaf.

Get More Info ›

How can I make my bread lighter and fluffy? ›

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

Tell Me More ›

How to tell when pumpkin bread is done? ›

So, to know when pumpkin bread is done, look for the crack on the top of the bread, which is a tell-tale sign it's either done or close to being done. Then stick a skewer or toothpick into the center of the bread. If it comes out clean, it's ready to come out of the oven.

Read The Full Story ›

What happens if you use too much baking soda in pumpkin bread? ›

It's important not to use too much baking soda in recipes, as it can result in a metallic, soapy flavor. It is much more powerful than baking powder – you only need about 1/4 teaspoon baking soda per cup of flour to leaven baked goods.

See Details ›

Why does my pumpkin bread crumble when I cut it? ›

Too much flour and not enough water can cause crumbly bread – people often do this if the dough is too sticky and they add more flour rather than kneading through it. Other culprits can be overproving or not kneading enough – the things you need to do to get a good structure.

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How to fix undercooked pumpkin bread overnight? ›

Heat the oven to 350 F, return the bread to the oven, and bake for another 10 to 20 minutes. This will work even if the loaf has cooled, which is similar to par-baking bread. If you are concerned about the bread browning too much, tent the loaf with foil.

Read On ›

Should pumpkin bread be stored in the fridge or on the counter? ›

Should Pumpkin Bread be Refrigerated? Pumpkin bread stores fabulously well at room temperature due to the pumpkin and oil. It does not need to be refrigerated unless you want to make it last an entire week.

Learn More ›

Why does my bread lack flavor? ›

Salt adds flavor to bread. If none or too little is used in a recipe, the bread will lack the right flavor and taste "bland." If you reduce the amount of salt, try adding some dried herbs to increase the flavor. Too much yeast in bread will give bread an off-taste.

Learn More Now ›

Why does my pumpkin pie taste bland? ›

If the recipe doesn't use enough spice, or if the spices were old enough to have lost much of their flavour, or if the mixture isn't well balanced, then the pie is not going to taste right and could be quite bland.

See Details ›

What can I do with tasteless pumpkins? ›

slice it up thinly and put it on pizza.
dice it up and add it to couscous, rice, or pasta sauce (a cream-based sauce with paprika and garlic is nice, maybe sauteed sliced onions, spinach, bacon, chicken)
make some pumpkin pie spice and use it and the pumpkin for baking: cupcakes, brownies, whatever.

More items...

Dec 4, 2014

Keep Reading ›

Why doesnt pumpkin spice taste like pumpkin? ›

Pumpkin spice blend is usually a mix of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Pumpkin spice blend can even be added to alcoholic drinks. When you use real pumpkin and not a canned puree, you control the level of sugar and spices in the finished food.

Learn More ›