SOLE Ginger Pumpkin Bread

Why is bartering with someone so much more satisfying than buying and selling? I love the satisfaction that comes from sharing my talents – home baked bread, garden vegetables - with another person, and bringing home a unique handcrafted gift in return. I’ve never had an argument over value. And I don’t want to haggle: I just want to give generously, and accept graciously. Somehow, we both end up feeling that we got a good trade.

 

I delivered a couple of baskets of home made goodies this week (coincidently, both people I was bartering with – strangers to each other and distant acquaintances to me – lived within a few blocks of each other). In exchange, I now have two little gifts for my sister and my future sister-in-law, and a hat for my son - knitted from the same yarn as his stroller blanket.

baking sheets of granola

The food baskets were full of bottled chai tea concentrate, granola, chocolate chip & almond cookies with smoked salt, and gingered pumpkin bread. I had some bottles leftover from making the chai, and found someone on twitter who wanted them, so I gave them away and received some backyard eggs and honey.

I used Simply Recipe's recipe for the pumpkin bread, replacing the nuts and spices in her recipe with 1/4 cup of diced candied ginger and 1/4 teaspoon allspice, and adding a pumpkin seed streusel topping.

topped with pumpkin seeds and ready for the oven

Gingered Pumpkin Bread with pumpkin seed topping 

Adapted from Simply Recipe's Pumpkin Bread 

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 cup canned pumpkin purée
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup diced candied ginger

For the full Simply Recipe's Pumpkin Bread directions, see her blog here...

For the topping:

3 tablespoons of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of melted butter

1/4 cup of toasted pumpkin seeds 

a generous dash of smoked salt if you have it (I am addicted!!)


Beat together the wet ingredients. Sift in the dry ingredients. Stir in the candied ginger to incorporate. 


In a separate bowl, mix together the streusel topping.


Pour the batter into a loaf pan. Dot with the streusel topping. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, until a knife inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.

Cool completely before wrapping it up, tying a ribbon around it, and trading the bread with someone for another fabulous thing!

baked in paper loaf pans make easy gifts

SOLE Notes: This week I am baking the ginger bread again, making it more local than last time. I am using Bob Redmill's flour (grow in WA and milled in OR), local backyard eggs, an organic butternut squash (WA) in place of the canned pumpkin, and Golden Glen organic butter (Bow, WA) in place of the oil. The squash and butter are provided by Spud.com