Pumpkin Bread

By popular request, here is the latest revised recipe for Alan’s Experimental Pumpkin Bread, as first made late last year, and developed a little since.  

I made this out of my head (but you may prefer to use a normal pumpkin).

This recipe will be in my forthcoming book " The Poorly Dressed Chef".  All royalties from publication of the book will be given to the kneady. All going well, the sequel will be entitled " The Somewhat Better Dressed Chef".  

Note: I first used a breadmaker to make the dough for this bread, but not to cook it.  I thought it would not work well. 

Now that the breadmaker has gone the way of all cheap poorly made modern appliances – like most things I own – I have to use a bowl and a dough hook.. Than goodness for Mr Braun.  His appliances keep going.    At least I don’t have to knead by hand!

I found it is not so bad after all using the hand held beater with dough hooks.  You just need to knead for 8 to 12 minutes…   or until the beater overheats and cuts out. 

I have not removed all reference to the breadmaker, so if you have one, this will work, if not, you should be able to work it out… 

The Recipe:

Peel and cut a pumpkin into pieces and boil it in coconut cream with salt, a little nutmeg, and a spoon of curry powder.  What sort of spoon is entirely over to you.  They are your taste buds!  For those nieces who do not like coconut, and sisters who do not like curry, substitute ordinary boiled pumpkin and some milk.

Leave a cupful of cooked pumpkin pieces and about 100ml of the milk/spicy coconut cream to cool. Eat the rest.  Especially good with viener schnitzel, Cajun fish, roast beef, or almost anything actually.  Can also be blended and made into a nice soup.
 
In fact,  of course, this recipe originated  from my propensity to find some use for leftovers before they go mouldy and crawl unaided out of the back of the refrigerator.  You could just cook enough pumpkin in coconut cream specifically for this recipe.   But I digress. Back to the bread…

Into the breadmaker or mixing bowl, add:

• 250mls warm water 
• 1tsp salt
• 1 tsp golden syrup
• 2 tblsp olive oil 
• 2 tsp Edmonds surebake + 1 tsp Edmonds yeast.  ( Along with three cups of flour, this is my standard mix for any bread recipe – it is the additions alterations and alternatives that are the fun part).  But again – I digress.

Let the yeast start working then add;

• 1 cup wholemeal flour,
• 1 cup plain flour, high grade ,
• one cup Elfin soft bread mix.  (This is expensive stuff, and not too economical to make bread from so in all my breads I usually use one cup of soft bread mix to two cups of other flour).  You can leave the soft bread mix out and just use flour, but it does add a certain je ne sais quois (and I don’t know what it is) to the bread.

But once more I digress.  Still, while I am at it, I should mention:
Other optional additions:  A teaspoon of cumin seeds, or fenugreek seeds.  These will change the flavour a lot so be aware.  Make sure you like the flavour of these ingredients first. 

Back to the recipe:

Mash the pumpkin with a fork, but leave a few small lumps for interesting texture.   You could also throw in some pumpkin seed kernels.  Add the milk/coconut cream to the pumpkin.  Add the mixture to the dough bowl.

Start mixing with dough hooks, or set the breadmaker to "dough" and start it.  

Have another cup or so of flour on hand and once the ingredients are well mixed up (if necessary) add more flour bit by bit while the machine is kneading, until the texture looks about right – ie it looks like dough, and is not sloppy.  When you poke it, it should be soft yet firm and not so dry it starts climbing up the dough hooks or out of the breadmaker bowl.

Finish kneading and put it to prove.  If in the oven, set the warmer drawer to 55 degrees C and prove for an hour.  If in the breadmaker, the machine knows what it is doing.  Wait until it beeps.  When the dough has risen, remove it and punch it on a floured board to get the big bubbles out.  Shape it into a long wide flat loaf and put it on a baking tray that has been lightly oiled.  Or on that neat non stick baking paper on the baking tray.  Great stuff.

Put the bread on the heater or in the warmer drawer at 55 degrees C for 20 minutes or so to rise again.  The loaf should be only about 40 – 50mm thick when put in, and it will rise a bit more.

While it is rising, preheat the oven to 220 degrees C.  

When the loaf has risen, before baking spray it with a little olive oil and sprinkle/grind a little rock salt on the top.  
Pumkin seeds are nice too.

Put in the middle of the oven (not too high or the crust will be too dark).

Bake @ 220 for about 22 minutes.   Check it – you may need longer.

Other things I put into my basic bread.

• A cup of finely grated raw carrot.  (Carrot buns are the kids’ favourite).  This is the bread I make most. 
• an egg
• A cup of mashed kumara
• Sundried tomato and basil
• Substitute the plain olive oil for flavoured oil, (such as the oil that the sun dried tomato came in)
• If your milk has gone sour, use it instead of water,
• or try leftover yoghurt, or sour cream.
• cheese – and on it too.