Equal Parts

In 2012 I made a return to Sur La Table and in exchange came home with a brand new Nordic Ware bundt pan, the traditional, fluted, ring-shaped one. I had recently started working at the bakery and was obsessed with the shape of our coffee cakes, all of which were made in these pans. I knew nothing of their baking lore, just that they were beautiful and elegant and turned out cake stand-worthy coffee cakes. I figured I’d become a person who bakes a bundt every weekend, and I started with Martha Stewart’s lemon ginger bundt, which narrowly beat out Joy the Baker’s chocolate bundt in my lineup.

I didn’t become a weekly cake baker, of course, but looking back I credit that moment as the one that sparked my true baking passion. From there I was on to nectarine pies and homemade pizzas in that same Ann Arbor, blue-painted kitchen, the one I would have to leave abruptly after a major dispute with my landlord. My next kitchen was the tiny one that shared its space with my entryway, and there I tried homemade pop tarts and the plum cake for the first time. I made Heidi Swanson’s biscottini and shared with my then-new boyfriend, Jeff, and we baked another batch together, dipped them in white chocolate, and took bags to our respective family Christmas parties. Shortly thereafter I moved again, to a new kitchen closer to Jeff’s kitchen, and one fall morning we woke up and drove to Williams Sonoma to buy the Nordic Ware Fall Harvest Loaf Pan and a box of their pumpkin bread mix.

Since then we’ve tried several different pumpkin bread recipes, and have finally settled on a favorite. Jenn’s family recipe comes from her grandmother and hasn’t changed in over fifty years. In other words, it’s classic. It puts cloves on equal footing with cinnamon and nutmeg, which I unexpectedly loved. The recipe yields two loaves, so you can bake one in a the Fall Harvest Loaf Pan and the other in a regular loaf pan. Which is good because 50/50 on if the fall loaf will release cleanly from the pan, but that’s part of the fun!

Transcript of an actual conversation between me and Jeff:

Him: “You baking anything today?”

Me: “Thinking about it!”

Him: “More of that pumpkin bread maybe?”

PUMPKIN BREAD, from Jenn Segal

You’ll need:
2 cups AP flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 15oz can pumpkin purée

Heat oven to 325. Prepare 2 loaf pans by lightly-but-efficiently spraying the interior with baking spray and then dusting a thin layer of flour over the baking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or, with a hand mixer), beat together the butter and sugar until just combined. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until combined, then continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the pumpkin purée and beat until combined; the mixture may look curdled at this point and that is ok. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Divide the batter among the 2 prepared loaf pans. Bake for 65-75 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before releasing them from the pans. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.