autumn pumpkin bread with pecan streusel topping

Remember the other day when I boohooed over my cracked pizza stone? No? Here's the gist of it. My pizza stone cracked! It was just in storage under the oven and it cracked. Whyyyyyy? Poor me!

Well, guess what I learned this weekend? Said oven storage is in actuality not storage at all. It is the broiler! Yes, that's right. I've been storing my pizza stone, along with other assorted pans, in my freaking broiler! What??? No wonder that danged pizza stone cracked right in half. It's been hanging out directly underneath 500 degrees of heat. Poor little guy.

Okay, so fun fact for those of you who have never had a gas oven. The drawer underneath the oven is the broiler. Not storage as you might be wont to assume. Those tricky oven makers really threw me a loop with that one. What in goodness name were they thinking anyway? Hey, let's secretly convert this storage drawer into a broiler. That'll be great for a few laughs! (sigh)

Anyway, the cracked pizza stone mystery is now no longer a mystery. Neither are the second degree burns I received when I grabbed my loaf pans out of said storage compartment. But all's well that ends well...and this particular story ends in pumpkin bread with a pecan streusel topping. So this story ends VERY well.

This is another recipe from my most favorite of all cookbooks, The Pastry Queen cookbook. The woman can seriously do no wrong in my eyes. The only bizarre thing here is that it took be over a year to make this bread in the first place. No worries, it's now on the regular rotation this fall. Let the pumpkin obsession begin...

Autumn Pumpkin Bread with Pecan Streusel Topping

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups pecan pieces
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 Tbs (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces, reserved from above

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Arrange the pecan pieces on a baking sheet and toast 7-9 minutes, until golden brown and aromatic. Set aside.

Grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans, or 36 muffin tins with butter or cooking spray.

Whisk the oil and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs, pumpkin, and water and whisk to combine. Stir in the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Pour into the prepared loaf pans.

To make the topping, stir together the sugar, butter, cinnamon, and pecans. Sprinkle liberally over the loaf before baking.

Bake the bread about an hour, until the top has set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Yield: two 9x5 loaves or 36 muffins

Source: barely adapted from The Pastry Queen cookbook