Wonderfully spicy with a rich pumpkin flavor, that’s what pumpkin bread should be.

Over the years I have seen and tasted so many pumpkin breads, none of them really wowed me. They would be either too spicy with no pumpkin flavor or too much pumpkin and not enough spice. I was goldilocks searching for that perfect loaf and I almost had given up hope on even liking pumpkin bread. I thought maybe it’s just not for me but I couldn’t give up so easily. I love almost every kind of bread, why can’t I love pumpkin bread too?! This frustrated me from the depths of my bread loving soul, I sought out to make my own. It’s been a long journey but I’m finally there, at last I love pumpkin bread!

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp ground ginger

¾ tsp salt

2 large eggs, at room temperature

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

1 tsp dark spiced rum

1½ cups pumpkin puree or pumpkin butter

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup chopped pecans ½ cup

Preheat the oven to 350°F degrees. Spray a 9×5 inch loaf pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt together, put aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar and rum together until combined. Whisk in  pumpkin and oil.  Pour dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and gently fold using a rubber spatula. Before all your dry ingredients are incorporated, add your chopped pecans and finish folding.

Adding the pecans before the flour is fully mixed ensures that you will not overmix your batter before the pecans are fully integrated.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 60-65 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent the top from getting too brown. A deep gingerbread color is what you are striving for. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few small moist crumbs.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before releasing to cool completely on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy!

Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for up to 3-4 days or in the refrigerator for up to about 10 days.

*Notes: If you would like a more indulgent loaf, add your favorite chocolate chips in with the pecans. I do this if I’m having an especially horrible day, a little bit of chocolate sometimes works wonders!

The baking times will vary with every oven. I’ve had this loaf be fully baked after 60 minutes but with my newer oven it does take a bit longer. I will start checking the loaf after 50 minutes to ensure that it does not get over-baked. 

Tenting with foil is crucial to this loaf! The sugar content of pumpkins is rather high so with the combined sugars this loaf browns at a fast rate. If you don’t tent with foil the outside will look dark and ready while the inside will remain an underdone mess. Trust me I made this error before, the aftermath was not pretty!