Today was spent accepting the inevitable – fall has fallen. It was a beautifully sunny (if slightly cool) day here in Seattle, so Brandon and I decided to make the most of it and spend the day in the yard. We pulled tomato plants, raked leaves, and stored the deck furniture. It seems like it was about 12 minutes ago that giddily pulled all of this stuff out. I’m admittedly a little melancholy about the end of summer.
Even as I’m not super enthused about the shorter, chillier days, I *am* excited about all the squash, apples, and cinnamon-flavors foods I get to bake and snack on. At the farmer’s market this past weekend, I picked up the a 1/2 dozen of the best honeycrisp apples I’ve ever eating (which is saying something, since I live in an apple-producing, apple-proud state). I’d write them in to a recipe, but I’d prefer just to put them directly in to my face.
I did get a head start on some fall baking this morning, when I made this yeasted Cinnamon Pumpkin Bread. It’s like an autumnal version of Cinnamon Raisin Bread – the bread has a slightly sweet, mildly earthy taste of spiced pumpkin, and the swirl is a sweet-spicy punch of cinnamon. It’s delicious straight of of the oven (of course), is dreamy when it’s been toasted with butter (crispy, chewy and tender), and though this hasn’t happened in my house yet, this bread would be *amazing* for French toast.
The recipe is a slight adaptation from this recipe from King Arthur Flour, with inspiration from our favorite babka. For a bit more detail about how to roll up the dough, check out this post. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, it has visuals to help!
1 1/2 cups (340g) puréed pumpkin, either fresh or canned
2 tablespoons (25g) vegetable oil
6 1/2 cups (780g) All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup (106g) brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon each of all spice, ground cloves, ground ginger
Filling:
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup (106g) brown sugar, packed
4 teaspoons (11g) cinnamon
Egg wash:
1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon of water
Instructions
Place all of the ingredients (except filling and egg wash) into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix until the ingredients come together. Then switch to the dough hook and knead to make a smooth, soft dough, about 5 minutes.
Put the dough into a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let it rise until doubled, about 60 to 75 minutes.
Meanwhile, for the filling, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon, and set aside.
Once the dough is doubled, gently deflate it and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide in half.
Roll out 1/2 dough into a 9″ x 18″, 1/4″-thick rectangle. If the dough “fights back,” cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes to relax the gluten, then stretch it some more.
Brush the milk lightly over the dough, coming to within an inch of the edges. Evenly sprinkle the filling over the dough, leaving the 1-inch border.
Starting with a short end, roll the dough gently into a log, sealing the seam and ends.
Weave the dough into the oiled loaf pan, creating swirls.Place in lightly greased 9″ x 5″ loaf pans.
Repeat this process with the other dough and remaining half of cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Cover the pans and let the loaves rise until almost doubled, about an hour. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Brush the risen loaves with the egg white wash.
Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes, or until its crust is a deep golden brown.
Strudel and Streusel are two friends living in different cities, sharing a love of baking (and butter) through this blog. With Streusel in Denver, and Strudel in Seattle, we've found our little site to be a great way to stay in touch, share recipes we love, and talk about experiences in our respective cities.
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