Pumpkin Bread

We've had a bumper crop of pumpkins this year, and I've been working on ways of using it. As hard as it is to believe, there's only so much pumpkin pie one can eat! Actually, I felt a little Harry Potter-ish looking and trying pumpkin recipes. Well, not actually like Harry Potter, since he and the wizards didn't really do anything so useful as cook, being too busy saving the world, la-dee-dah! I suppose I'm more like the house elves. Hopefully you'll find this recipe magically delectable.

1½ cups mashed baked pumpkin
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
¼ cup (2oz/58gr) melted butter 
1½ cups flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.
2. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool a little. If you add it to the eggs too soon you'll get scrambled eggs!
3. In a medium sized bowl mix the pumpkin, sugar and the eggs together until you get a smooth consistency (it's ok if there are little chunks of pumpkin.
4. In a large bowl blend together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves.
5. Pour the butter into the wet ingredients, mix it in, and then dump the wet mixture into the flour, and lightly mix, only until evenly combined. Like cake, over mixing activates the gluten in the flour and makes for a tougher texture.
6. Grease a loaf pan and pour in the dough.
7. Bake for 1 hour or until a knife comes out clean.