In the Kitchen - What happened to my bread?

I found the MOST delicious recipe for pumpkin bread.  All the ingredients were wholesome and I could practically smell and taste it as I read the recipe.  I had just gotten done baking and pureeing a pretty good size pumpkin that I happened to get free at HyVee.  I was just in the store checking out with my $6.00 worth of cinnamon and bananas on sale when the over the intercom I heard "Halloween is over and these pumpkins have to go.. get your free pumpkin outside the main entrance".  I rushed out for some free pumpkin and that started this whole drama in motion.

No, I did not explode the food processor again.  It worked to puree the cooked pumpkin and I got this great notion to be hungry for pumpkin bread so I went recipe shopping.  I found this wonderful recipe I was telling you about for pumpkin bread and went to town putting it together. 

Here is the recipe for you to try... it includes bananas, pumpkin and wonderful spices.. even walnuts.

Banana Pumpkin Bread

"With lots of cinnamon and pie spices, this recipe will give you a sensational pumpkin bread with banana added for richness and even deeper flavor."

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas, mashed 2 eggs 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin puree 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup white sugar 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3/4 cup raisins (optional) 1/2 cup walnut pieces (optional)

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2.	In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, eggs, oil, pumpkin, honey and sugar. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pie spice and cinnamon, stir into the banana mixture until just combined. Fold in the raisins and walnuts if desired. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3.	Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Now doesn't that look yummy?  I was so excited and hungry for this bread when I mixed the batter in a big bowl.  It didn't even look hard.. not very many instructions and ingredients I had readily available. 

As you know I am a bit opinionated about ingredients and can get a little creative but I measured everything out as the recipe called for EXCEPT:

• it called for 2 bananas... I had three frozen ones that I thawed out, drained the juiciness and used.
• it called for all purpose flour but I used my freshly ground whole wheat flour and some acorn flour... (in hindsight, I am not sure how much of the 2 1/2 cups of flour came from acorns and how much came from wheat)
• I used turbinado sugar instead of regular sugar
• I used grapeseed oil instead of vegetable oil.

 It looked good in the baking pan ready for the oven.  I did not see a thing wrong with it.. so I began baking it at 35 (pre-heated) and set the timer for 45 minutes.

When the timer went off I used the "toothpick" test to determine that it was not even close to done.  Since I secretly think my oven is possessed by a poltergeist that messes with the temperatures, I am no stranger to undercooked or burned food...  I adapt.  So I quickly popped the bread back in the oven for 10 minutes longer and then checked it.. then 10 minutes more.. and checked.. and 10 minutes more and checked. 

Each time that toothpick went in, it came out gooey.  Has this kind of stuff ever happened to you?  But the crust of the bread was plenty cooked and getting too brown so after a total of 75 minutes in the oven I called "uncle" and removed it to set on top of the stove and cool.... getting hungrier for it by the minute.

At the end of about 10 minutes of cooling, I found the bread in the pan all sunken in the middle.. I cut off the end piece and even close to the end of the loaf, the inside was gooey (I ate that end piece anyway but clearly it was not "done")...  so in desperation to save the loaf, I removed it from the pan and wrapped it in tin foil x 2 layers and popped it BACK IN THE OVEN.  Another 45 minutes to an hour went by before I finally went in and rescued that bread.

WOULD YOU BELIEVE that when I carefully unwrapped that loaf of bread, it just "melted" down like a rotten pumpkin on the top of the foil?  It looked like it was disintegrating, totally lost all shape and the top even was splitting and caving...  but the inside was STILL GOOEY!

You can't guess what we did next... No, I did not take a picture for you but I should have.. it was the craziest loaf of bread I have ever baked.  But we didn't let the ugliness bother us.  We dished that Pumpkin Banana Bread Pudding up in bowls, topped it with a little cinnamon ice cream and ate it.  I was right.. it tasted delicious!!

It is in the refrigerator now in a lidded glass bowl.  I intend to eat pumpkin bread pudding until that darn stuff is gone and then try again but I am still pretty perplexed at what happened to my bread.  Do you have any idea?