Grandma’s Pumpkin Bread, But Not Quite…

March 19, 2014

Okay, so you’re probably wondering why The Local Kitchener is sharing a pumpkin recipe in March, right?  And if you’re not wondering that then maybe you live in the southern hemisphere!  And if that’s not the case then maybe you don’t know that pumpkins are definitely not in season right now, at least not here.  Well, we bought this pumpkin in September, and finally decided to cook it!  That’s right, pie pumpkins last a long time.  So do most winter squashes, like butternut, acorn, buttercup, and many others.  We’re down to our last few, but they still taste great and are very useful.  Now that that’s all been said, let’s proceed to the actual post:

I grew up eating pumpkin bread almost every day, or at least that’s how I remember things.  In the fall my mom would bake up huge amounts of my Grandma’s recipe, using pumpkins we had grown and freeze them.  She’d pull a loaf out fairly often, such that it was a very frequent part of my lunches.  I grew up thinking it was a healthy food.  Eventually when I got the recipe I realized it wasn’t exactly healthy, but I still loved it and continued making it.

However, as part of my ongoing sourdough and whole grain journey I decided my Grandma’s very classic recipe needed to be updated by taking it a bit back in time.  As in give it a boost of traditional grain preparation methods, using a spelt, an ancient grain, as the flour source, and letting the dough sour a bit before baking.  Furthermore, as a locavore I wanted to replace the sugar with a local sweetener, so the recipe features maple syrup.  Interestingly enough, the result tastes pretty similar to the original, which was my hope!   Unlike the original though this recipe is refined-sugar free, whole grain, and very nourishing.  I hope you enjoy this recipe for Nourishing Spelt Pumpkin Bread, because we sure do.