I Can't Believe It's Whole Grain Pumpkin Bread!

There is something to be said for the process of cooking pumpkin--finding the right kind of pumpkin, cleaning out the seeds (and cooking them separately, because pumpkin seeds are delicious), baking the pumpkin, scraping the meat from the skin, and puréeing it--which leaves you with lots of Pumpkin Goodness to use in many recipes. But there's also something to be said for opening a can of pumpkin purée, which is what I did when I made pumpkin bread yesterday.

I've been experimenting with different whole grain flours. While I've often made pumpkin bread and other such breads with whole wheat flour, I've always used the flour from hard red wheat. It's delicious and works really well. But recently I've been trying out hard white wheat and soft white wheat flours. They both have milder flavors than the red wheat flour. The soft white wheat flour is very light and  fine--like pastry flour. I had trouble figuring out how much more to use, though. King Arthur Flour website came to my rescue! So yesterday I took some soft white wheat:

 

 I ground it into flour:

And made pumpkin bread, with raisins and walnuts:

And with cranberries and walnuts:

I gave most of it away (portion control, sort of). I didn't tell anyone that it was whole grain. I hope they enjoy it, and the fact that it is whole grain is a bonus. 

Pumpkin Bread

2 C (8.5 oz.) flour (I use soft white whole wheat flour)

2 C sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

4 eggs

1 C oil (such as canola oil) (or ½ C oil and ½ cup applesauce)

2 C pumpkin, canned (Cooked and puréed pumpkin or squash works well, also.)

1-2 C raisins or nuts (optional)

Mix together dry ingredients. Mix together wet ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Add raisins and/or nuts, if used. Pour into greased and floured pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Yields 2 regular loaves or 6 mini loaves.