Perfect Pumpkin Bread

A super soft and tender pumpkin bread recipe, perfectly spiced, with a surprise secret ingredient that makes it ultra-moist and delicious!

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You may remember Mama having a pretty scary brain surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville a few years ago. Leading up to and following the surgery put us in Jacksonville, FL quite a lot.

Never ones to let tragedy keep us from sniffing out something good to eat for supper, we ended up at a restaurant in Ponte Vedra Beach called Barbara Jean’s on the Water which literally sits right on the Intercoastal Waterway and has some of the best food I’ve ever had!

I can’t tell you how many times we’ve eaten there since first discovering it. I almost look forward to Mama's yearly check-ups so we can stop by Barbara Jean’s! Mom’s A-OK, by the way. The incredible doctors, nurses and staff at the Mayo are world class and I appreciate them all so much!

Among the many delicious things Barbara Jean's serves is pumpkin bread, which comes in a basket of assorted warm bread before your meal.

The first time we went, I wasn’t even going to eat any of the pumpkin bread because everything else looked so good and, well... I’ve never gotten too excited about pumpkin bread so…

Then Mama tried it and was like OH WOW!! which lead to how I discovered the most delicious pumpkin bread I’ve ever had!

I searched online a bit for a copycat recipe but never saw anything that looked like the fine, tender, ultra-moist bread from Barbara Jean’s so I never attempted to recreate it.

BUT THEN I figured out how to make the best banana bread in the universe by using mayonnaise (I know, I KNOW, it sounds crazy but it makes the bread life-alteringly moist and tender!) and decided to use the same recipe to make pumpkin bread!

This recipe has almost EXACTLY the same texture as Barbara Jean’s! The spices aren’t quite the same but I think they’re close. If I had to guess I’d say Barbara Jean’s pumpkin bread doesn’t have pumpkin pie spice and is likely just nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon.

I seriously doubt Barbara Jean’s has mayonnaise in it either but since I already knew the base recipe would make the texture the same and make the pumpkin bread soft, moist and tender, I used it and have zero regrets!

You can use this recipe to make Sweet Potato Bread too! Use about 2 cups leftover mashed baked sweet potatoes. If you use canned sweet potatoes check to see if they’re sweetened at all – if so you’re going to want to reduce the sugar in the recipe.

You may notice that the pumpkin bread cooks 50% longer than the banana bread. I have no idea why. There’s only a bit more pumpkin than banana (and it’s not as “wet” as mashed bananas). I cooked it for an hour, went to take it out of the oven and could see the center was still jiggly. 

I tented some foil over it to make sure it didn’t brown too much then proceeded cooking in 5-minute intervals until I thought it was done. Knowing most cakes are done at about 220 degrees I tested it after an hour and 25 minutes (because I thought I was SURELY going to burn it!) and it only registered 198 degrees. I took it out anyway – because seriously, I was convinced I was overcooking it – and you can see in the photos the tip-top center is slightly undercooked.

If you have a thermometer, use it (for this and all sweet breads and cakes – aim for 220 degrees). If you don’t have one, test with a toothpick. I use an instant-read meat thermometer and it works perfectly for cakes and quick breads!

This recipe was based off my Secret Ingredient SUPER MOIST Banana Bread. You’ve already figured out the “secret” is mayo but if you want to read more about it or want to make the best banana bread you’ve ever had in your whole entire life, check out the link above!

Recipe for Perfect Pumpkin Bread

Perfect Pumpkin Bread

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 1 H & 30 MTotal time: 1 H & 40 M

A super soft and tender pumpkin bread recipe, perfectly spiced, with a surprise secret ingredient that makes it ultra-moist and delicious!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup butter, at room temp
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 15-oz can pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch loaf pan; set aside.
2. Whisk butter and sugar together for 30 seconds.
3. Whisk in mayo, vanilla, eggs, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon until well combined.
4. OPTIONAL STEP: Sift flour, salt and baking powder together to prevent small clumps of flour and/or baking soda from appearing in the bread.
5. Stir in flour, salt and baking soda until just combined.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan then bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. You’re not done yet – be sure to read the next step!
7. Tent a large piece of foil over the bread to prevent it from overbrowning then continue cooking for approximately 25-35 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8. Cool bread completely in the pan before turning out.

Notes

• Pumpkin Pie Spice is a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. I use it in this recipe because it’s such a well-balanced blend then add a bit more cinnamon. Use whichever spices you have and enjoy best. To make your own pumpkin pie spice, I’d go with a 4-3-2-1 formula… 4 parts cinnamon, 3 parts ginger, 2 parts nutmeg and 1 part allspice.
• Any quality, traditional mayo will work (Duke’s, Hellmann’s, Kraft, Blue Plate, etc). Don’t use Miracle Whip or anything sweet and tangy like it.
• You can add chopped pecans or walnuts to this if you’d like! Add 1/2 cup or so when you mix in the flour. 
• Letting the pumpkin bread cool in the pan helps it stay moist so try to be patient and let it cool before slicing into it.
• Don’t use a whisk to stir in the flour and only stir it long enough to combine it into the wet ingredients. Stirring develops the gluten in the flour which will create air pockets in quick breads like this and make it tough.
• Pour the batter into the pan as soon as it’s ready then bake it immediately. The longer the batter sits wet, the more gluten develops which will also make the bread tough.

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