We are a group of home bakers helping each other to achieve baking perfection. Baking partners was begun by Swathi at Zesty South Indian Kitchen. In order to achieve the best results, a perfect recipe and the right techniques are required. We are a small group of home bakers, who love to bake and want to learn more about the tips and secrets of baking and baking well. We are planning to try out recipes from books/magazines and cooking shows. Every member gets a chance to present their choice of recipe and share important points with the rest of the group. The main purpose of this group is to learn the techniques, critic procedures if there are ways to improve and to eat delicious food.
This month we are baking for Fall and pumpkin is our key ingredient. We have a choice between a sweet version – GINGER PUMPKIN BREAD with a MAPLE BROWN BUTTER GLAZE or a yeasted version OF PUMPKIN BREAD from King Arthur Flour that will be used for turkey cranberry sandwiches at our house during Thanksgiving time. I’m making both recipes, but started with the sweet version.
SWEET NON-YEAST VERSION from SIMPLY SCRATCH BLOGGINGER PUMPKIN BREAD & MAPLE BROWN BUTTER GLAZE
Delicious pumpkin bread smothered in a maple brown butter icing. Ginger Pumpkin Bread adapted from Martha Stewart.
Yield: 8-10 Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 60-70 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
12 tablespoons {1 1/2 sticks} unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree (1 3/4 cups)
3 large eggs
**2/3 cup golden raisins
**1/2 cup chopped walnuts
**these were my additions and we loved them!!!
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a 8×5 loaf pan; lightly butter or spray with baking spray and then dust wit flour (tap out any excess flour and discard), set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, ginger, and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sugars, pumpkin, melted butter, and eggs. Next add in the flour mixture, and stir until just combined.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a cake tester is inserted into the center and comes out with only a smidgen coating it, which is about 60 to 70 minutes.
- Let cool 10 minutes; invert pan and transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool completely.
FOR THE GLAZE:
1/4 cup Real Maple Syrup
1/4 teaspoon Real Vanilla Extract
2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1/3 cup Powdered Sugar, plus more if needed
1 tablespoon Heavy Cream
A pinch of Kosher Salt
- Heat a small skillet over medium/medium-high heat.
- Once the pan is hot, add in the two tablespoons of unsalted butter. The butter should instantly start to melt and turn golden.
- Once melted and a deep golden, turn off the heat and add in the maple syrup and vanilla, whisking constantly {it should bubble up}.
- Once the bubbles have subsided a bit, whisk in the powdered sugar.
- Keep whisking while adding the tablespoon of heavy creamy and a pinch of kosher salt.
- Drizzle warm icing over cooled cake. Slice and serve!
Though pumpkin is available in cans all year long, I seem to associate this bread with autumn. It makes marvelous turkey sandwiches spread with cranberry sauce. Because of the golden color, it also makes especially festive dinner rolls for the holiday table.You can make half the dough into rolls, and the other half into loaves for sandwiches.
PUMPKIN YEAST BREAD
1/2 cup warm water
2 packages (2 tablespoons) active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups puréed pumpkin, either fresh or canned
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 1/2 cups (approximately) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- In a large bowl, stir yeast into water to soften. Add milk, eggs, pumpkin, oil, 4 cups flour, brown sugar, salt, ginger and cardamom to yeast mixture. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.
- Gradually add remaining flour, a little at a time, until you have a dough stiff enough to knead. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead, adding flour as necessary, until you have a smooth, elastic dough.
- Put dough into an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Divide dough in half. Shape dough into loaves and place in well-greased 10 x 5-inch pans or, shape half into a loaf, and other half into 12 large dinner rolls. Cover with a towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.
- Bake in a preheated 375°F oven. Loaves bake about 30 minutes, rolls about 20. Check the internal temperature of each with an instant-read thermometer; a reading of 190°F means bread or rolls are done.
- Immediately remove bread or rolls from pans and cool on a wire rack to prevent crust from becoming soggy. For a shiny crust, brush tops of bread or rolls lightly with vegetable oil. Makes 2 large loaves, or 1 large loaf and 12 dinner rolls.
This recipe reprinted from The Baking Sheet Newsletter, Vol. III, No. 1, November 1991 issue.
I added a slight blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to create a marbleing. It made a little heavier bread and slightly sweet, but was very delicious.
