Chocolate Espresso Pumpkin Bread

I’d like to re-title this “Grown Up Pumpkin Bread” because it carries an air of sophistication with it. The hint of coffee flavor and smell from the espresso power… the dark chocolate chunks… the subtle, not-too-sweet pumpkin taste. It’s not a neon orange loaf, no, the orange is muted. It is an amber-colored loaf. And is not studded with chocolate chips. No, don’t get confused. It is studded with dark chocolate chunks. High quality, smooth, hand-chopped dark chocolate.

When you slice through the bread, you’re actually slicing through icebergs of chocolate. Well, at least if you chop chocolate the way I do. I’m honestly quite shocked these chocolate boulders didn’t sink to the bottom of the bread. I hate it when that happens.

While the bright orange loaves of bakeries, Starbucks and grocery stores call to me this time of year, well not so much call but scream in my face “IT’S FALL IT’S PUMPKIN SEASON!” so often I am let down by dayglo bread. It’s either a) too sugary, b) straight up cake disguised as bread or c) all spice and no pumpkin. Of course, MY favorite pumpkin bread recipe doesn’t commit any of those faults.

I’m not going to compare this pumpkin bread to my favorite recipe I shared last fall. That would be like picking your favorite child. At least, I assume it would be, since I have no children and I myself am an only child, making me the favorite child, always. I’m just saying this recipe is a little more upscale, a little more fancy, a little more froofroo, a little more grown up.

It’s the kind of bread you drink with imported tea or while wearing your J.Crew outfit with your Warby Parker glasses, which you need to read that Michel Foucault essay on your iPad. I think I might start calling this “J. Crew Bread.”

Dark Chocolate Espresso Pumpkin Bread (Grown up Pumpkin Bread)
by Portuguese Girl Cooks

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons espresso powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup room-temperature water
6 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped (at least 70% cocoa)

Instructions
Position rack to the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and oil until well combined. Add in the espresso powder and both sugars and whisk until combined. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until combined, then the vanilla. Add in the water and mix until combined. Stir in the chopped chocolate.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, just until combined. Be careful not to over mix. Pour the batter into pan and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 65 to 85 minutes (mine took 65 minutes because my pan was small and I technically poured some batter into a muffin pan to prevent overflow).

Transfer the loaf pan to a wire rack, and allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Turn out the loaf onto the wire rack and cool completely.The bread stayed fresh for four days, sliced, in an airtight container.

Tags: bread, chocolate, chocolate chunks, coffee, dark chocolate, espresso, fall, pumpkin, Pumpkin Bread, sophisticated