We have a new favorite side dish from our Thanksgiving Table! When I asked my husband what was his favorite dish from our Thanksgiving besides the Smoked Turkey, he replied without hesitation, “your Pumpkin Harvest Bread”.
Since I don’t bake very often and have never tried this bread before, I was very pleased the way it turned out!
This bread combines yummy fall flavors and is a tasty companion to the turkey, or whatever your centerpiece to your Thanksgiving table may be. In fact, it was such a big hit, I plan on serving at our Christmas meal.
You all know how much I love sourdough bread by now right? That is if you follow my blog. I can’t believe I am admitting this, but this bread is almost as good! Almost?.
If you’re a pumpkin lover, you’ll want to get busy baking this bread. This is perfect for an afternoon treat with a cup of tea, for a post-run treat, or to be honest, a late night snack. YUM!
PUMPKIN HARVEST BREAD (adapted from Bread Toast Crumbs)
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 cup pumpkin/sunflower seed mix, raw
- 1/4 cup raw, unsalted roughly chopped crispy pecans or walnuts
- 1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin
- 1/4 cup raw honey
- 1 1/2 cup boiling water
- 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons of kosher salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoon of yeast
- 8 or 9 pitted Medjool dates, chopped in 1/4 inch pieces (3/4 cup)
- Softened butter, for greasing
DIRECTIONS:
- If not using crispy nuts, toast them for a few minutes in a skillet over medium high heat. Set aside to cool.
- In a medium bowl, combine pumpkin, honey, and boiling water, Stir until smooth. Set aside until luke-warm, about 20 minutes
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour , salt, yeast. Add cooled seeds and pecans as well as chopped dates. Toss to combine. Pour in pumpkin mixture and stir with a spatula to combine ingredients into a sticky ball. Cover bowl with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for about 2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.
- Set a rack in the middle of the over and preheat to 375°F. Grease two 1 quart oven safe bowls with softened butter – be generous. Using two forks, deflate dough by releasing it from sides of bowl and pulling it toward center. Rotate bowl quarter turns as you deflate, turning mass into a rough ball.
- Using your two forks, and working from center out, separate dough into two equal pieces. Use forks to life each half of dough into prepared bowls. If dough is to wet to transfer with forks, lightly grease your hands with butter, than transfer each half to a bowl. Do not cover bowls. Let dough rise on countertop near the oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Transfer bowls to over and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden all around. Remove bowls from oven and turn loaves out onto cooling racks. If loaves look pale, return them to their bowls and bak 5 minutes longer. Let loaves cool for 20 minutes before cutting them.
[reminder]What is your favorite Thanksgiving Side Dish? Do you like to bake? [/reminder]
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