“Soooooo delicious! Now I don’t wanna ever eat plain white bread again!” That was message I received from a colleague to whom I gave a loaf of the Pumpkin Raisin Bread I had made. The taste testers who tried it were equally excited. A couple of them especially enjoyed the rolls with the cinnamon-sugar crust. The response being so positive, I wanted to share this bread with you.
This is not the first time I have made bread with pumpkin. The first time was a few years ago when I made a pumpkin no-knead bread and some of you may recall the pumpkin-rosemary dinner rolls that I made about 3 years ago. This bread came about because last week, a friend gave me half of a large ‘belly’ pumpkin she harvested from her kitchen garden – you know, these large round pumpkins with their naturally beautiful design that seem to guide how you can cut them into wedges. I shared the pumpkin with my neighbours but there was still way too much pumpkin for me. I made soup, I made dhal and then decided to make bread. But I wanted this bread to be special, so I made an enriched bread.
An enriched bread contains other ingredients apart from the usual flour, water, salt and yeast. My Pumpkin Raisin Bread has the obvious things from the title, in addition to cinnamon, sugar, butter and egg. Apart from the beautiful colour from the pumpkin, the dough is light and delicious. This bread is good on its own (my taste testers and I just ate the rolls with some tea). However, with butter or your favourite orange marmalade or jam, this bread is even more enjoyable. Use it just as you would your regular bread. I made grilled cheese sandwiches with it and I swear, they were the best grilled cheese sandwiches I have ever made. I still have some of the bread left back so I am thinking that I will make a bread pudding this weekend. Should I make a bread and butter pudding or a more traditional bread pudding? Should I add some extra dried fruit like citrus peel that would complement it, a little ginger, you think, and then some additional raisins and dried cranberries? Ah, the decisions one must make. Another key thing – should I bake the pudding directly or in a bain marie (a water bath)? What do you think?
I hope you are still making your own bread, but even if you’re not, make this as a treat for the family or to change things up a bit.
This bread was made with homemade pumpkin puree and it’s easy to make, however, you can use canned pumpkin puree, just ensure that it does not contain too many added ingredients such as sugar.
To make the pumpkin puree you can steam or roast the pumpkin. I prefer to roast it because it concentrates the colour and flavour of the pumpkin. Peel and chop pumpkin into 2 to 3-inch pieces, toss with a little oil and roast in a 400 degrees oven, with the rack in the middle on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 15 minutes. Transfer to a jug blender and puree or add to a bowl and use an immersion blender to puree, or simply mash with a fork or a potato masher, then measure out the amount you need. Extras can be used to make pancakes, fritters, added to soups, dhal, stews, curries, stirred into cook-up Rice; there are many uses so you don’t have to worry about extra.
Make the bread and let me know what you think.
Cynthia
www.tasteslikehome.org
Recipe.docx
Pumpkin Raisin Bread
Yield: 2 (9 x 5) loaves
INGREDIENTS
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for worksurface and kneading
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons fine table salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 heaped tablespoons sugar
1 heaped cup raisins
1 large egg, room temperature, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons melted butter or shortening
1½ cups pumpkin puree
OPTIONAL TOPPINGS
Melted butter
Cinnamon sugar (2 tablespoons white/caster sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
DIRECTIONS
Mix together the flour, yeast, salt, cinnamon and sugar.
Sprinkle in and mix raisins with flour mixture.
Add the egg, melted butter/shortening and puree and mix to form a dough.
Generously flour a worksurface and your hands, and transfer dough to worksurface. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth. Sprinkle with a little flour at a time as you knead, if necessary.
Transfer dough to an oiled, large bowl, cover and place somewhere draft free and let rest for 2 hours until more than doubled in volume.
Brush two 9 x 5 loaf pans with oil and set aside.
Punch down dough and divide evenly. Shape into loaves as you please and transfer to pans. Cover loosely and let rise for 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F 25 minutes into the second rise, with the oven rack in the middle.
Transfer risen loaves to oven and bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until the top is brown and sounds hollow when tapped.
Remove and place on wire rack; let rest in pan for 10 – 12 minutes, then remove and cool completely on wire rack before slicing.
If using optional toppings:
Melted butter – brush loaves immediately upon removal from oven with melted butter and let rest in pan for 10 minutes before removing and cooling on wire rack.
Sugar crust – brush loaves immediately upon removal from oven with melted butter and then sprinkle generously with cinnamon-sugar. Let rest in pan for 12 minutes before removing and cooling on wire rack.
NOTE
The dough can be formed into rolls instead of loaves.
