Pumpkin Loaf with Pumpkin Seeds

This I believe is my second post of pumpkin-related baked goods that I made this month.  Everyone else is on to their 10th pumpkin posts, I'm still working my way up, lol.  It's just my schedule this month is preventing me to bake as frequently as I want to.  But no worries, I've a few posts to write before I've to make new stuff.

Anyway, this bread--yes, it's another bread post--caught my eyes and it came from the same blog that has the sweet bread loaf.  I decided that since I had all the ingredients why not make it.  The bread barely taste like pumpkin, it's unlike a pumpkin quick-bread; this has  a very subtle pumpkin flavor but it's moist throughout and was very good with a cream cheese spread.  I bet it'll make a great pumpkin French toast.  Too bad I didn't think about it until today.

Because I like to make my dough in a bread maker, I dump all the wet ingredients first then add the dry ingredients with yeast on top.  If making this on a mixer with a dough hook, you have to make sure that it's sufficiently kneaded, do a window-pane test, proof, and then proceed to the shaping part of the recipe.


Pumpkin Loaf with Pumpkin Seeds


350g bread flour
 ½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
140g milk 
130g pumpkin puree (steamed pumpkin and mashed with a fork)
2 tablespoon honey 
26g unsalted butter, softened

Beaten egg for egg wash
Raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds -- I used about 1/3 cup or so

Additional butter for brushing, optional 


In a mixer bowl, place bread flour and salt, give it a little stir.  Add yeast, milk, pumpkin puree, honey, and butter.  With a dough hook, knead the dough until smooth and elastic.  Do a window-pane test.  Grease another large bowl, dump the dough into it, cover with plastic wrap, and let it proof for about 1 hour.

If making with a bread maker, place all the wet ingredients first then add the dry ingredients with the yeast on the very top.  Select Dough cycle.

When the dough has doubled, place it on a well-floured surface, punch one time to release the gas.  Roll the dough into a ball and let it rest, covered with towel, for 20 minutes.

Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.  

Flatten the dough into a large rectangular shape.  Roll it up like making a swiss roll, starting from the short side. Place the dough into the pan, seam side down.  Let it proof again for another hour or until the dough has doubled in size.  Preheat oven to 350 degree F.

Brush the top with beaten egg, scatter pumpkin seeds and pat them down to make them stick.  Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the bread is hollow when tap on the bottom.  Once it's done baking, brush the top with butter if desired; remove it from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

To keep the bread soft, store in plastic bag for 2-3 days at room temperature.




Source:  adapted from Cook Bake Love

Sweet Sandwich Bread

I know I really, really love bread when I would forego social gathering in order to tend my bread making session.  This happened when I made this sweet bread a few weeks ago.  I was looking forward to be home and tending my dough when my son got invited to a friend's baptism.  All I kept thinking was how I couldn't leave my overnight sponge go a little longer while my mouth was saying, I'll chat with you soon, to friends.  I had to drop my son off and raced back home to do the bread.  It was a lot of steps, making this bread that was.  Then I had to back out again to pick him up before the bread was ready to be baked.  All I had to say to my friends was, so nice to see you again, thank you for having him(my son) here; and hugged each of them.  Then I rushed back home again.  So much for wanting to chat...

I even missed the baptism part.  I hope my friends forgive me and will invite me again to a social gathering :)

Well, the bread was worth the hectic afternoon I had.  This was a soft, Asian bakery style bread which is beloved by Asians (apparently).  My mom would love this kind, she wouldn't love Dave's Killer Bread no matter how many beneficial seeds it has :D  For me, this bread is best for eating fresh and as toasts.  The recipe yields 2 loaves; one I freeze and ate a week later.  Still good, soft, and wonderful when toasted and ate with soup.

This photo below showed the loaf that was baked in a Pullman pan with the lid on.  I wasn't happy with my Pullman pan which I bought in Indonesia.  I'm thinking I need to invest in a better pan.

I made the dough using a bread maker even though the recipe showed manual method.  I think either way is fine, I like the convenient of bread maker making my dough.  If making with bread maker, you should put all the ingredients at once, choose Dough setting, and let the machine do the work.

Here's the recipe:

Sweet Sandwich Bread

Makes 2 large loaves


Overnight sponge:
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast---I used SAF Instant
60 g water
100 g bread flour

In a small bowl stir together the yeast with 20 g water.  Add the rest of the ingredients and knead to form a dough.  Let it proof for 30 minutes.  Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to 48 hours.


Bread Dough:
550 g bread flour
80 g sugar
6 g salt
20 g powdered milk
10 g instant yeast
1 cold egg
270 g cold water
75 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

Egg wash, optional

In a bowl of a mixer place bread flour, sugar, salt, powdered milk, and yeast.  Stir with paddle attachment until combined.  Add the overnight sponge, egg, and water.  Switch to hook attachment, mix it all until forms a dough.  Add butter, and continue mixing until it forms a smooth and elastic dough.  The dough will be rather sticky but should be smooth in appearance.  Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a plastic wrap and let proof for 45 minutes or until double in size.

On a floured surface, divide the dough into 6 equal round portions.  Let it rest for 10 minutes.

Roll each portion flat with a rolling pin, then roll it up like a jelly roll.  Let it rest again for 10 minutes.  Repeat this step one more time.

Preheat the oven to 375 degree F for regular loaf pans or 400 degree F for Pullman pans.

Place 3 piece of dough into two greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pans or Pullman pans.  Let it proof for 50 minutes or until it reaches 80% on the loaf pans.  Brush loaves with egg wash if desired.  Cover the Pullman pans with the lids.

Bake the regular loaf pans for about 30 minutes, and the Pullman pans for about 35 minutes.  Take the loaves out of pan right away and let cool completely on wire racks.


Source:  adapted from Cook Bake Love