Pumpkin, Sage, and Browned Butter Quick Bread

Look at me.  I taste like fall feels

Let's get this out of the way: I am not a baker.  Baking requires an exactness, a preciseness that I just don't have the skill (or the patience) for.   I'm more of a broad-strokes kind of cook, which is why cooking generally suits me much more than baking. Especially when baking evolves into pasty creation--working with delicate doughs, shaping intricate designs, painstaking attention to detail...these are not my strong suits.  Baking is all about exactness.  Whereas in a recipe for dinner you can usually sub in/out myriad ingredients, adjust cooking times, etc., substitution in baking requires precise calculations--how will the leavening agent work with a different acid?  What if I go over a few grams in flour--how to adjust the sugar content?  Etc., etc.  Although I'd love the knowledge (and detail-oriented mind) to be a good baker, it just isn't so--or isn't so yet. With a new food scale, winter coming on, and my devoted search for the most perfect pizza dough, I am going to try to work on this season...)

But...I love baked goods. Ay, there's the rub.  Simple things--cookies, brownies, quick breads--usually don't give me too much trouble.  Until I "forget" about that whole "baking is an exact science" mantra and think I can just experiment willy-nilly with precise baking recipes. Thus, my somewhat sabotaged pumpkin-sage-browned butter quick bread (Martha Stewart Living, Nov. 2009) .

Getting ready...

The original recipe made eight 2"x4" mini loaves, so I figured that I would have the recipe and make about one regular  loaf.  So far, so good.  But, I wasn't thinking, and I halved everything in the recipe except the pumpkin (and the spices, but that was deliberate.  I like heavily spiced pumpkin flavors, and wanted the clove, cinnamon and nutmeg--the flavors of fall baking--to really burst through).  And, admittedly, I thirded the amount of butter from 1.5 sticks to just 1/2. I thought the extra pumpkin would contribute the lost moisture of the two extra Tbsp of butter, but I went overboard on it.  Thus, my bread was a little flat, a lot dense, but, thankfully, still delicious.

Just out of the oven.

And, I think instead of puttering around with halving the recipe I should have just made the whole thing.  I'm not wise enough to know whether my loaf is so squat because of the extra moisture preventing the leavening agent (baking powder) from working, or if it plain and simple wasn't enough batter for a full loaf.

Let's get back to the main point though--this bread is good.  Forgiving it's denseness, it is nice and moist, which I thank the pumpkin for.  Dry quick breads are common, and not commonly good, so I'll take the err on this side of the dry line any day of the week.  The browned butter is nicely nutty, and the sage imparts this wonderful herbaceous aroma into the back of your mouth while the pumpkin and spices play up front, and help to balance the sweetness enough that you could just as easily have this on the dinner table as well as the brunch table (whatever that means...).

I've linked to the recipe on MarthaStewart.com above, but it's pasted after the jump with my reworked amendments below.

Pumpkin, Sage & Browned Butter Quick Breads

Minimally adapted from Martha Stewart Living, Nov. 2009

Makes one 4"x8" loaf

• 1/2 stick butter
• 3 Tbsp fresh sage, cut into thin strips, plus more, whole, for garnish
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup solid-pack pumpkin (from one 15-ounce can)
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour your loaf pan (or spray with pam and sprinkle with flour). Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add sage strips, and cook until butter turns golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.

Whisk together pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and browned butter with sage. Add flour mixture, and whisk until incorporated. Pour into pan and smooth top gently.

Bake until a tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Invert pan to remove breads, transfer to wire rack, top side up, and let cool completely.

Bread can be stored, wrapped, at room temperature overnight or refrigerated for up to 5 days. Garnish with whole sage leaves before serving.