Golden Pumpkin Bread

A good everyday bread, though a little on the plain side. By that comment, I mean the pumpkin taste/flavour was very light and subtitle. Other than the obvious orange colour, it could probably pass as a plain bread. Don't get me wrong, the bread was nice but don't expect a 'strong' pumpkin taste/flavour, ok.

Good with any sweet spreads or condiments of your preference.

Ingredients

Adapted from J.Shapter

150g pumpkin puree
90g milk
60g water
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
325g bread flour
50g cornmeal (note I used wholemeal flour instead and had to add a few extra tbsp of water to make the dough more pliable)
1 tbsp maple syrup
3/4 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp pumpkin or sunflower seeds

Kneading

Except for pumpkin puree and seeds, mix and knead all ingredients into a smooth dough.

Resting

50 min – 1 hour.

Turn out dough and gently knead in pumpkin puree and seeds. Note that the dough will be very sticky. I nearly gave up here and thought I had a disaster on my hand. Decided to use Bertinet’s way of folding the dough and after a couple of minutes, I had much smoother dough. Cover and leave to rest for another 1 hour.

Final proofing

Turn dough out, should be very pliable and smooth. Shape and proof for 1 hour or until almost double in bulk.

Baking

180C for about 30 min or until base of bread sounds hollow. Turn out onto wire rack to cool.

Side note - Clearest way of understanding the folding method the Bertinet's way is getting a hold of his DVD which comes with both his bread books. Alternatively, fellow blogger Bakingsoda gives a good step by step picture illustration.