Week 10 Dish 1: Vegan pumpkin bread

Oh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! I've made it to week 10, double figures! And guess what is coming up soon? Halloween!!! And so I decided to buy a pumpkin and use it in my bakes. I first made it into pumpkin puree (I will put up instructions soon). It was definitely...educational - but a whole lot of effort. It's worth it if you have the time, but I would definitely buy tinned puree next time. I now have about 10 cups worth of pumpkin puree (it was a MASSIVE pumpkin) in my fridge and freezer ready to be used and I'm really looking to baking a few pumpkin recipes!

For my first recipe I decided to go for pumpkin bread. And oh my god it turned out so well! Moist and delicious, and as long as you've got pumpkin puree on hand it also very very easy. Please do give it a go!

Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 1/2 cups plain flour (can substitute with some/ all whole wheat flour)
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil (can replace with some unsweetened apple sauce)
2/3 cup coconut milk
2/3 cup desiccated coconut
Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two 8x4 inch loaf tins with grease proof paper.
2. Spread walnuts in a single layer on an ungreased baking tray and toast in the over for 8 to 10 minutes until slightly browned. Leave aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix in the pumpkin puree, oil and coconut milk until combined. Fold in the nuts and desiccated coconut.
4. Divide the batter between the two tins and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes - until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
5. Remove from the oven, cover tightly with foil and allow to steam for 10 minutes. Remove foil and turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Tent loosely with foil and allow to cool completely. (All this foil business keeps the bread so moist, trust me it's worth it!)

Original recipe: Super moist pumpkin bread