Vegan Pumpkin Bread Experiment

Although a heat wave is still sweeping the southeast, it is starting to feel like fall with the additions of halloween candy, cozy fall fashion, and my absolute favorite: pumpkin-flavored delights!  Pumpkin flavored coffee holds a dear spot in my heart, however, pumpkin bread is a very close second place.  Thus, today is an experiment to make vegan pumpkin bread (or a less ridiculous sounding dairy-free pumpkin bread).  I have researched several recipes, and the substitutions range from coconut milk to coconut flakes to "egg replacement".  However, I have a pretty good base recipe for zucchini bread, that I have tried to modify to make pumpkin bread.  It is baking right now, so might be a failure, but here it is:

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c. white wheat flour
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon (or as much or little as you prefer for taste--I like strongly spiced foods)
1 tsp ground ginger (all spices are really optional--the cloves and allspice give it a bit of a winter/fall holiday taste)
1 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/3 oil (I use extra virgin olive oil, but canola, grapeseed would be fine)
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 c. granulated sugar ( again, this makes for a very bread, for less sweet i usually reduce to 3/4 c. you can also substitute honey, agave, or brown sugar, or sucant for part of the sweetener if you don't want to use refined sugar)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c. pumpkin puree (I used canned)


1: Preheat oven to 350, grease bread pan with cooking spray, coconut oil...whatever you prefer.
2: Wisk/mix or sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and all spices together in a large bowl.
3: In a smaller bowel, wisk pumpkin, applesauce, oil, sugar, and vanilla extract together unlike uniform in mixture.
4: Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until JUST COMBINED.  With breads and cakes, if you over stir, it can cause the final product to become tough and more dense. (Think bowling ball, not muffin) (Note: the batter is pretty thick, so don't be surprised...it is more like a paste than a traditional batter that is more liquid)
5: Pour the mixture into your pan and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into center is clean upon removal.
6: Let cool completely before serving... Bread will be very moist in the center, particularly, due to the nature of the recipe, so make sure it is thoroughly cooked and I recommend storing it in the 'fridge to maintain its freshness...it got a little weird tasting out on the counter after several days in the past.

Mine is baking right now, will add notes on whether it is a delicious healthy treat or a total failure!