Following up with the news that I now have a small yet beastly toaster over, I thought I'd make everyone aware of my latest endeavor. Actually, some baking experiments have turned out ok, some went really wrong... but this one I was able to tailor into deliciousness. I hope you (my mother and Lauren Flocco) enjoy my new segment of this blog and this month's Expatriate Bake.
Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients*
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt (or like... a few pinches)
1 heaping cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda**
1 1/2 cup pumpkin purée***
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup (1 dL) chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg****
1/2 teaspoon allspice****
*I recommend doubling this recipe just for the sheer volume of pumpkin purée you will inevitably make. Or, if you have a refrigerator at your disposal (which I do not) you could throw it in there for later use in a second batch for yourself, after your friends eat all of the first.
**Realize you either don't have any baking soda, or can't figure out with misc chinese packet is baking soda, and use a few pinches of baking powder instead. They're like practically the same thing, right?
*** To make pumpkin purée, you could... cut the pumpkin in half, bake it at 180°C (350°F) for 45 minutes, wasting time. Or, skin and cut the pumpkin up into pieces, and boil them until tender, then mash the living daylights out of them. If no ground cinnamon can be found in your small Chinese city, take the sticks you have and add them to the water while it starts to boil. Then while the chunks are softening, they will soak up the cinnamon flavor. Or at least, that's the plan. Later you can take the sticks out and while they're still damp and soft, grate them over the pumpkin purée with a fine grater.
****Also realize you have neither nutmeg nor allspice, and don't feel like making the trip to Beijing to buy some. Instead, substitute 2 big pinches of readily available ground ginger.
Method
1 Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda. With your hands, because you don't have a sifter. Break up the huge brown sugar clumps, if any, but leave the little ones.
2 Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts.
3 Pour into a well-buttered [pie pan Yusi's mom left here the other day and I have commandeered]. If there is still more left in the mixing bowl, scoop it out with a crooked left index finger (because you have no plastic spatula) and slop into 3 greased egg-tart tins you've been using for muffins.
4 Bake 30 minutes (on convect setting) until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean, and the top starts to crack with little brown sugar volcanos erupting.
5 Enjoy.
6 Make your boyfriend do the dishes.
The original recipe can be found here.
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