Bake Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread If You Have 425 g of Pumpkin Purée

What ingredients do you need?

Spoon measures: a tablespoon here is one regular Korean table spoon, leveled off (about 15 ml), and a teaspoon is one teaspoon (about 5 ml).

Use one loaf pan of about 22×11 cm or 23×13 cm.

Why cook the pumpkin purée first?

Put the 425 g of purée, 49 g of sugar, 1 1/4 teaspoons of cinnamon, and 1 1/4 teaspoons of ginger in a wide pan and cook over medium-high heat for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often. Turn off the heat once it has darkened a shade and is thick enough to stick to the bottom of the pan. You should end up with about 375 g.

The point is moisture. A whole can of purée added straight in makes a wet batter, but driving off water first lets you use all 425 g without a gummy center. The spices also warm up in the pan, so their flavor spreads through the whole batter.

Let the purée cool until you can touch it before it goes into the batter. Hot purée hitting the eggs starts to cook them. The bottom scorches easily near the end, so lower the heat and stir more often.

What oven temperature and time should you use?

Ovens vary, so start checking at 50 minutes. If the outside browns first, check the inside with a skewer and a thermometer before adding more time.

What order do you make it in?

1. Preheat the oven to 177°C. As described above, cook the purée with 49 g of sugar and the spices down to about 375 g, then let it cool.

2. Brush the loaf pan with a thin layer of oil and line it with parchment that hangs over both long sides.

3. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk the 3 eggs with 149 g of sugar for 1 to 2 minutes, until pale, thick, and puffed.

4. Pour in the oil a little at a time and mix until glossy, then mix in the cooked purée. Add the dry ingredients, stop as soon as no dry flour shows, and fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

5. Pour the batter into the pan, level the top, and sprinkle the 12 g of coarse sugar evenly over it.

6. Bake at 177°C for 50 to 60 minutes. When a skewer in the center comes out clean and the inside reads at least 93°C, take it out and set the pan on a cooling rack. Once it is cool enough to handle, lift the loaf out by the parchment and let it cool completely on the rack.

What should you watch to avoid failure?

• Cook the purée until it sticks to the pan. Undercooked purée makes the center bake slowly.
• Take the eggs out ahead so they reach room temperature. Cold eggs puff less when whipped with sugar.
• Don't keep stirring after the flour goes in. Stop the moment the dry flour disappears.
• Don't taste raw batter with flour and raw eggs in it. Raw flour is not ready to eat until it is cooked.

What changes when you use steamed kabocha squash?

If you have no canned purée, steam a kabocha squash, remove the skin and seeds, and mash 425 g of it finely. Home-steamed squash varies in moisture with the variety and steaming time, so cooking it down can take longer than 15 minutes. Judge by its state, not the clock. It is ready when a spatula drawn across the bottom leaves a path for a moment and the purée starts to stick to the pan.

Finally, weigh it. If it is clearly heavier than 375 g, water is still left, so cook it 1 to 2 minutes more; if it is much lighter, check whether the bottom has burned. Lumps stay fibrous even after baking, so pressing the squash through a sieve once before cooking gives a smoother crumb.

What if the outside burns but the inside is underdone?

If the top is already dark around 40 minutes, lay foil loosely over it and finish the remaining time. Even then, take it out only when the skewer comes out clean and the inside reads at least 93°C. Check the rack position too. If it sits close to the top heating element, move it down to the middle.

Pan size changes the result as well. The same batter rises higher in a narrow 22×11 cm pan, so heat reaches the center later. If you use that pan and it is underdone at the 50-minute check, add 5 minutes at a time and test again with a skewer.

When should you slice it for a clean cut?

Slicing it hot melts the chocolate chips, smears the cut face, and squashes the crumb. Let it cool completely on the rack, then slice with a bread knife using a sawing motion.