Thole Kitchen · Quick bread

Pumpkin Bread browned butter, malt & toasted oat

The banana bread chassis with one 15 oz can of pumpkin in the banana's slot, cooked down in the browned-butter skillet, and full-fat sour cream for tang.

Yield2 loaves
Oven325 °F
Bake75–90 min
Pull205 °F
Per pan850 g
Pan1.5 qt glass
Tentmin 40

360 g
cooked-down pumpkin from one can, brick-colored and stiff
850 g
batter per pan, divided by weight
205 °F
internal at the center. Ignore how it looks.

Prep ahead ~40 min

Butter first, then pumpkin in the same skillet. Don't wash it between.

Toasted oat flour 100 g → 80 g

Steel-cut oats on a sheet pan, 350 °F, 8–12 min, stir once. Cool completely before grinding. Grind 45–60 s, sift, re-grind the tailings.

Browned butter 200 g → ~167 g

10–12″ light-bottomed skillet, medium, swirling, 6–9 min. Pull at amber. Scrape into the mixing bowl, fond included.

Cooked-down pumpkin 425 g can → 360 g

Whole can into the buttered skillet. Medium, stirring and spreading thin, 8–12 min, until brick-colored, no longer sputtering, and it holds a furrow. Spices go in for the last minute. Start weighing at minute 7.

Overshot? Whisk milk back in to 360 g. Cool to room temp.

Ingredients tap to check off

Spice

Ground cinnamon2½ tsp
Ground ginger1 tsp
Nutmeg, freshly grated½ tsp
Ground cloves¼ tsp

Dry

All-purpose flour300 g
Toasted oat flour80 g
Malted milk powder, plainCarnation or King Arthur50 g
Baking soda1½ tsp
Baking powder1 tsp
Kosher salt1½ tsp

Wet

Dark brown sugar, packed300 g
Granulated sugar75 g
Browned butter, cooledfrom 200 g raw~167 g
Full-fat sour cream, room temp140 g
Large eggs, room temp4
Vanilla extract2 tsp
Cooked-down pumpkin, cooledwith spices360 g

Optional

Toasted pecans, choppedfolded in120 g
Raw pepitason top before baking — skip if frosting30 g

Method tap a step when done

Oven to 325 °F, rack in the middle. Spray two 1.5 qt glass pans, line with parchment, overhang on the long sides.
Whisk the dry together, breaking up malt clumps.
Whisk both sugars into the cooled browned butter, fond and all. Add the sour cream, then the eggs one at a time, then vanilla.
Whisk in the 360 g of pumpkin until uniform.
Add the dry all at once and fold by hand until a few streaks remain. Fold in pecans if using. Don't rest the batter.
Divide by weight, 850 g per pan. Smooth the tops; pepitas on now.
Bake 75–90 min. Tent at minute 40. Swap and rotate the pans at the halfway mark.
Pull at 205 °F in the center.
Onto a dry towel or wood board. 10 min in the pan, lift out, cool completely, 2 h minimum, before slicing.

Glass pansNever set a hot Pyrex pan on cold stone, a wet rack, or a damp trivet. It can shatter.

Cream cheese frosting optional

Kept tangy and light on sugar, since the loaf is already sweet. Frost only fully cooled loaves.

Cream cheese, full-fat block, softenednot tub or whipped225 g
Unsalted butter, softened55 g
Powdered sugar, sifted120 g
Vanilla extract½ tsp
Kosher saltpinch
Ground cinnamonoptional¼ tsp

Beat the cream cheese and butter on medium until completely smooth, 1–2 min. Any lumps now stay lumps.
Add the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix on low until it disappears, then medium for 30 s. Stop there. Overbeating turns it runny.
Spread over the tops of the cooled loaves, about 200 g each. Chill 20 min to set before slicing.

Frost it or spread it

Frosted loaf fridge · 4 days

Spread over the cooled tops and chill 20 min to set. Once frosted, the loaf lives in the fridge.

As a spread fridge · 5–7 days

Pack into an airtight container and keep the loaf plain on the counter. Let the spread sit out 10 min, or give it a stir, before using. Best on a slice warmed in a toaster oven.

Notes

What changes when pumpkin replaces banana

	Banana, 530 g	Pumpkin, 425 g can	What it means
Water	~370 g	~380 g	Same water. Cook-down is for flavor.
Sugar	~95 g	~15 g	+75 g granulated to replace it.
Body	Pectin, soft starch	Fiber, holds water	Dense and moist. Watch for a gummy band.
Flavor	Loud	Quiet, tinny	Needs spice, salt, tang, cook-down.
Acid	~pH 5	~pH 5	Leaveners hold as written.

Why each choice

Canned purée, not pie filling. Filling is pre-sweetened and pre-spiced. Libby's runs drier than store brands; the 360 g target evens it out.
Cook-down drives off the canned note, browns the edges, and picks up the browned milk solids in the skillet.
Sour cream keeps malt, dark brown sugar and spice from reading flat. Full-fat only. Mascarpone works for a richer loaf: scant 1¾ tsp salt, tent 5 min earlier.
Maple goes in the frosting, not the batter. Baked, it disappears behind the spice and malt, and its water works against the gummy-band risk.
Doneness: pumpkin holds water to the end. A loaf that looks done at 195 °F will have a gummy band.
Malt with pumpkin lands closer to spice cake than caramel. Expected.
Half can: cook down the whole can, use 180 g, freeze the rest flat in a bag.
Change one thing at a time from here.

Nutrition per slice

Estimated. 10 slices per loaf, ~75 g each. Frosting at ~20 g per slice.

	Plain	+ Classic	+ Maple
Calories	260	345	340
Fat	11 g	17 g	17 g
Saturated fat	6 g	10 g	10 g
Cholesterol	65 mg	80 mg	80 mg
Sodium	235 mg	275 mg	275 mg
Carbohydrate	37 g	44 g	43 g
Fiber	2 g	2 g	2 g
Sugars	21 g	27 g	27 g
Protein	4 g	5 g	5 g

USDA values and the Carnation malt label, raw butter weight. Salt assumes Diamond Crystal; Morton adds ~60 mg sodium per slice. Pecans add ~40 calories and 4 g fat per slice.

Troubleshooting

Gummy band near the bottom: cook pumpkin down to 340 g next time, nothing else.
Dry or crumbly: back up to 380 g pumpkin.
Bland: spice up 25%, then salt to 1¾ tsp.
Too sweet: granulated sugar down to 40 g. If frosted, try it plain first.
Sunken middle: check the soda measurement.
Top too dark: tent at 35.
Sides or bottom too dark: the glass. 315 °F, add 5–10 min.
Pumpkin scorched: heat too high or spread too thick. Medium, stir constantly at the end.