Pumpkin Yeast Bread

So today our car had a seizure while I was on my way home from Spokane. While I was sitting in my car on the side of the freeway, I couldn't get a hold of Kalvin because he didn't have his phone on him. I knew he was at home though. So I used my resources and called a nice neighbor friend and asked them to go find Kalvin and have him call me. Although Kalvin probably thought I had died when he got the message, it worked out and I was able to talk to him about what to do with the car. So this afternoon I had time and I wanted to make something to say thanks to the nice neighbor friend that helped me out. I often end up making something I've never made before to give to someone or to serve to friends coming for dinner. It's a real risk, but I like making new recipes, so I just hope for the best!

I decided to try out this pumpkin bread to give to our neighbor friend. I liked the fact that it was a real bread, not a sweet quick bread like pumpkin bread usually is. It kind of reminds me of a pumpkin bread I got at the Moscow food co-op, when my family was in Pullman for graduation a month ago.

This bread was amazing. It had spice that you taste first and then the hint of sweet and pumpkin. I used the pumpkin puree I made here.

Pumpkin Yeast Bread
                                                           
Annie's Eats

 
Ingredients:
½ cup warm water
1½ tbsp. instant yeast
2/3 cup warm milk
2 large eggs
1½ cups pumpkin puree
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
½ cup brown sugar
2 tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground ginger
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
Dash of ground cloves
Dash of Allspice
6½ cups bread flour (approximately) -I substituted about 1 1/2 cups with whole wheat flour

Directions:
First proof the yeast by dissolving the yeast in the warm water and adding a little sugar. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, pour yeast mixture, milk, eggs, pumpkin, oil, brown sugar, salt, and spices.  Mix briefly to combine.  Add 4 cups of the bread flour to the bowl, and mix until a sticky dough has formed.  Switch to the dough hook.  Knead and add flour until the dough has a good consistency and is not sticky. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray and let the dough rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour - I usually let mine rise as long as I have time for until it's doubled.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface - I don't use flour for this I just use cooking spray to spray the surface and my hands.  Divide in half.  Press or roll with a rolling pin each piece into a rectangle about 1 inch thick and no longer than 9 inches long - just roll it out in to a longish rectangle making sure the short side is about the length of the pan you will use.  With the long side of the dough facing you, roll the dough firmly into a cylinder, pressing down to make sure the dough sticks to itself.  Turn the loaf seam-side up and pinch the seam closed.  Place the loaves in two well-oiled 9 x 5-inch loaf pans and press down gently so the dough touches all four sides of the pan.  Cover with a towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375° F.  Bake the loaves for about 30 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the loaf reads 190° F.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

Ready to switch to the dough hook

Too thin and sticky. Spatula slides thru instead of cutting

Dough is thicker now, spatula can cut thru the dough

Another way to tell the dough has enough flour is the slap test. Here the dough is thick enough. If you push the spatula in the dough and pull it out slowly the dough will stick.

But if you slap the dough with the spatula it will not stick and the spatula will come away clean.

Rolling out the dough after it's risen once. Roll it out with the pan near so you can make sure the short side is about the length of the pan.

Squish the dough down in the pan.

Rising

The tops originally came out with a very light colored top. I rubbed a stick of butter on the top and it made it golden and beautiful. The only thing is if the butter melts a lot on the top when the bread is really hot it will get bubbly and look weird. So I just took a paper towel and soaked up some of the excess butter. It turned out amazing!