Gilda Claudine Karasik’s election night bake was saved by a box of rice flour.
By Gilda Claudine Karasik
I get nervous on election days. I eat. I drink. I bake bread. 
I wasn’t prepared for Election Day 2012, though. Not for what I feared would be the outcome of some political contests. Not for baking bread.
I’d forgotten to buy the ingredients I needed to bake a loaf. I stood in my kitchen, scanning the pantry like a candidate at the podium combing a crowd for followers.
And, suddenly, there it was: an unopened box of rice flour, staring back at me like a last-minute campaign donor. I’d bought it “just in case”.
So, I turned on the radio, whistled a little as I listened to political projections, and searched the shelves for a bit of this and that. In no time flat, I was whipping up a chocolate chip pumpkin loaf and working out my election day jitters.
And I spent the evening glued to the television, focused on fancy computer graphics and electoral math. I sipped tea and nibbled on the bread, savoring each triumphant bite.
PrintPost-Election Pumpkin Loaf
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 8 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups/240g rice flour (or quinoa flour)
- 1/2 cup/120g butter
- 1 teaspoon/5ml baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon/2.5ml salt
- 1/2 teaspoon/2.5ml pumpkin spice
- 3 eggs
- 15 oz/425g of pureed pumpkin
- 1 cup/240ml of milk
- 1 teaspoon/5ml vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups/270g packed brown sugar
- 1 cup/150g chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease a 1.25 quart loaf pan.
- Mix dry ingredients and set side.
- Cream the butter and add the sugar in a food processor or similar.
- Add eggs, one at a time.
- Add vanilla.
- Add pumpkin pureé.
- Slowly add the dry mixture.
- Add milk.
- Add chocolate chips.
- Add dough to the pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours or until done in the center.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 mins
