Grandma Holmes's Pumpkin Bread

Like so many other quick breads, such as the Applesauce Bread that I made earlier this month, this pumpkin bread is easy to make and even easier to eat. As you can see from Grandma Holmes's recipe below, she thought this was a good recipe. She was right. It is delicious. MDS only vaguely remembers this bread, perhaps because breads like this may not be popular among kids. This type of bread would not have been my favorite treat when I was a kid, but I love it now.

When I made this recipe, I did not include nuts, raisins or dates, as the recipe indicates, but I am sure that they would be good. The recipe calls for mazola oil (a brand of corn oil), but I used olive oil. I also slightly reduced the sugar, but left the original amount in the list below. I only have large loaf pans, but small loaf pans could easily be used instead, as stated in the recipe below. This bread would be delicious anytime, but was especially tasty on a nice Fall day.

Grandma Holmes's Pumpkin Bread 

• 3 1/3 cups flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 cups pumpkin
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup raisins or chopped dates

Sift together the dry ingredients. Mix the remaining ingredients together and then add to the dry ingredients and mix well. Grease two 9X5 loaf pans or seven or eight mini-loaf pans. Pour in batter. Bake at 350 for 45 to 60 minutes. Cool in the pan. Enjoy!