My 118th experiment: Calabasa bread again

Success has a tendency to encourage more success. After receiving a few positive feedbacks on the KAF recipe of pumpkin bread, I am going to do it again for my work. This time, I just reduce the amount of sugar a little, from 1+1/3 cup to 1 cup. The result is just as spectacular. At work, this loaf is gone in less than no time!

Recipe: Pumpkin chocolate chip bread (1 large loaf)

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup melted butter (about 1 stick)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup cooked mashed calabasa pumpkin
- 1+2/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
- 1/4 tp baking powder
- 1 tp baking soda
- 3/4 tp kosher salt
- 1/2 tp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tp ground cinnamon
- 1 tp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup walnuts chopped
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Procedure:
1. Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
2. Melt butter. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. Mix together melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract and eggs. Beat on low speed using electric beater.
4. Add mashed calabasa to wet ingredients. Beat to mix well.
5. Add dry ingredients, in 3 batches, into the wet ingredients. Mix well each time before adding the next batch.
6. Add walnuts and chocolate chips to batter. Mix well.
7. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan with crisco shortening. Pour batter into pan. Flatten top with a spatula.
8. Bake at 350F for about 1 hour or until internal temperature reaches 190F. After the first 30-40 minutes, if the top of loaf has nicely browned, cover top with foil.
9. Allow to cool in pan for about 15 minutes. Then turn out on rack. Continue to cool.
10. When fully cooled, wrap and let sit overnight before serving.

Results:
12:20pm, all ingredients:

12:43pm, dry ingredients sieved, butter melted, nuts chopped, calabasa and sugar measured:

3:24pm, rested 2.5 hours, resuming preparation (calabasa chilled while resting):

3:32pm, eggs, butter and sugar mixed:

3:37pm, mashed calabasa and vanilla added and beaten on low speed to integrate; observe the small lumps in the batter; it may be due to the butter instead of oil:

3:40pm, dry ingredients adding to wet ingredients in 3 batches:

3:43pm, final batter:

3:44pm, walnuts and chocolate chips added to batter:

3:48pm, batter in pan:

3:48pm, batter height in pan:

3:48pm, batter to bake at 350F:

4:19pm, loaf baked 30 minutes:

4:32pm, loaf baked 40 minutes:

4:32pm, thermometer coming out sticky:

4:47pm, loaf baked 55 minutes, internal temperature reaching 190F:

4:47pm, thermometer coming out clean:

4:47pm, loaf's height when just out of oven:

5:21pm, loaf cooled 30 minutes height:

5:21pm, loaf's top in pan:

5:21pm, loaf turned out:

5:21pm, loaf's bottom:

5:22pm, loaf's side:

5:22pm, loaf's heel:

6:39pm, loaf cooled 1 hour:

6:39pm, corner:

Day 2, 10:37am, loaf left overnight on counter top, wrapped in wax paper:

Day 2, 10:38am, slicing, chocolate melted, crumb in good shape:

Day 2, 10:42am, loaf yielding 12 slices:

Day 2, 10:43am, crust of loaf:

Day 2, 10:44am, interior of loaf:

Day 2, 10:45am, wrapped for delivery:

Observations:
1. This time my batter is slightly thicker than my first attempt. The result however is not too different.
2. A little crisco goes a long way to make the loaf pan non-sticky.
3. The great thing about this loaf is that it does not collapse!
4. The taste and the look of it are both excellent after sitting overnight.