Vegan (Or Not) Pumpkin Bread

This is an adaption of a recipe from vegweb.com. You can substitute dairy for the soymilk and egg substitute with equally successful results.

• Ready In: 1 hr 5 mins
• Serves: 10
• Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 1  cup fresh pumpkin puree or 1  cup solid-pack pumpkin
• 1⁄2 cup  vegetable oil
• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar
• 1⁄4 cup white sugar or 1⁄4 cup maple syrup
• 1  eggs or 1  egg substitute
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon ground ginger
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1  teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1⁄2 cups flour (can substitute half whole wheat pastry flour)
• 1⁄4-1⁄2 cup plain soymilk or 1⁄4-1⁄2 cup 2% low-fat milk
• 1⁄4 cup  toasted  pumpkin seeds (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil and flour a standard loaf pan and set aside.
2. Mix together pumpkin, oil, sugars, egg or egg substitute and vanilla. Sift together spices, salt, baking soda, baking powder and flour. Stir into pumpkin mixture. Add (soy)milk until batter is smooth and easy to stir. (Typically, you'll need more milk if you used solid-pack pumpkin, and less if you've used fresh puree or substituted maple syrup for the white sugar.).
3. Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds, if desired. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan 10 minutes.
4. Invert pan onto a wire rack. Flip loaf right-side-up and allow to rest for at least half a day. (This allows the bread to moisten up nicely, and is particularly important if you made the vegan version--the crust will be chewy and the interior gummy if you do not let it sit.) Slice and serve.