Bread is the chief part of our diet. It can be eaten as a meal or a dessert. There are many ways to prepare bread and you can use almost all of your favorite ingredients to make different kinds of pumpkin bread recipe at home. You can add fruit, nuts, spices, meat etc. to the bread to get a variation of flavors. Given below is a healthy pumpkin bread recipe that you can prepare at home and enjoy.

What you will need:

- Light brown sugar – 1 cup

- Egg whites – 3

- Fresh mashed pumpkin – 1 cup

- Canola oil – 1/4 cup

- Yogurt – 1/3 cup (you can use non-cream low-fat yogurt for the fat conscious)

- Vanilla essence – 1 teaspoon

- All-purpose flour – 1 cup

- Wheat flour – 3/4 cup

- Baking powder – 1 1/2 teaspoons

- Ground cinnamon – 1 teaspoon

- Ground nutmeg – 1/2 teaspoon

- Baking soda – 1/2 teaspoon

- Salt – 1/2 teaspoon

To prepare:

- You will need an 8-inch meat loaf pan for this recipe. Grease the pan and dust the insides with a little flour to prevent the bread from sticking to the sides.

- Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.

- In a mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and sugar together.

- Add the yogurt and oil to this and whip some more to blend all the ingredients.

- Add the mashed pumpkin and mix lightly.

- In a separate bowl, sift the all-purpose flour, wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon.

- Add this mixture to the pumpkin mixture, one spoon at a time, and mix after each addition. Do not over-mix the ingredients.

- Pour the prepared batter in the greased pan and smooth the tops.

- Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes. Check by inserting a knife in the center of the loaf; if it comes out clean then the bread is done.

- Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before taking the bread out and cooling on a wire rack.

Variations:

- Add a handful of roasted walnuts in the bread batter to add some extra crunch.

- Instead of all-purpose flour you can use a whole wheat flour and oat flour combination.

- Sprinkle a handful of roasted flax seeds on top of the batter before baking for a more crunchy texture.

- You can also use some applesauce in the batter instead of oil.

Pumpkin bread is nice and moist and can be stored in the freezer for up to two weeks: Once the bread is completely cooled, wrap it in foil and store in a zip lock bag in the freezer. Thaw to room temperature before using.