Skip to main content

Thanksgiving Bread


India does not have a Thanksgiving tradition. But then, tradition or not, what's the point in ignoring a festival devoted almost entirely to eating and shopping. As a vegetarian, the turkey meal at thanksgiving is not of much interest to me. But there are so many sides to pick from and so many variations on the pumpkin. So for today's thanksgiving special, I bring you a bread roll that's not only shaped like a tiny, squat pumpkin but is also chock full of pumpkin puree and flavour.

The pumpkin bread was the bread of the month at my bread baking group 'We Knead to Bake'. Every recipe I have baked with this group has been a winner and this is no exception. The rolls that come out of the oven are super soft and amazing with a pat a butter. Plus the house smells of cinnamon and ginger and nutmeg for hours. The original recipe makes 8 rolls but I halved it so the one below makes 4 tiny pumpkins, just enough for 1-2 people.

Ingredients3 tbsp. warm milk
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp active dry yeast or instant yeast
1/3 cup pureed pumpkin
20 grams butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp powdered dry ginger
2-3 walnuts or pecans sliced into thin sections

If you are using whole pumpkin rather than store bought puree, peel the pumkin, halve and remove all the seeds in the middle. Cut into cubes and steam until soft. Cool, then puree until smooth in a blender. You will get far more puree than you need for this bread even with a tiny pumpkin but you can freeze anything extra for more rolls or pies or countless other pumpkin dishes you can make.

I use my kitchenaid dough hook to make bread doughs but this is also doable by hand. First off, warm the milk to slightly higher than lukewarm. Put in the mixer bowl alongwith honey and yeast and set it aside for 5 minutes for the yeast to bloom. In the meantime, melt your butter and mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Fix the dough hook and pop everything (dry ingredients, pumpkin puree, melted butter) on top of the yeast. Knead until you get a soft, sticky dough. If you started with 1 1/4 cup of flour, you might need to add a bit more if the dough is too wet.

With wet hands, remove the dough to a bowl, cover loosely and set aside for about an hour until doubled. Divide the dough into four equal portions, taking care not to deflate it too much. Shape each portion into a ball and flatten it a little. With a scissor, make 8 cuts at equal distance from the edge towards the centre of the ball, leaving the centre uncut so you have something looking like a flower.

Place the flowers on a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving enough space between them to expand. Let them rise for about 30-40 minutes. Add the walnut or pecan sliver in the centre to make the stem and brush the rolls with milk. Bake in an oven heated to 180C for 20-25 minutes until the rolls are well risen and golden. Let cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before digging in.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kadhi Chawal

I just can't think of what to write today. That's what my absolute favorite meal does to me, I just want to stop talking and dig right in. So I won't ramble and go straight on the recipe for kadhi. First, make the pakoras that would go in the kadhi. Slice an onion lengthwise. Make a batter with 1/2 cup chickpea flour (besan), salt, red chilli powder and water. Dip onions in this batter and deep fry until crisp. Keep aside. Now blend 1 cup yogurt and 1/3 cup besan into a paste. Add 3-4 cups water to make a very thin blend. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. Add a tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, ajwain (carom seeds) and methre (fenugreek seeds). Let splutter for a few seconds. Now add a large onion, cut lengthwise into thin slices and cook until browned lightly. Pour in the yogurt/besan mix and add 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp red chilli powder. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for at least half an hour. You have to stir this occasio...
17 comments
Read more

Dukkah

Talk about myths busted. I went to Dubai planning to buy zat'ar, the fragrant herb and spice mix. And Dukkah, the interesting blend of nuts and spices. Not sumac, because I still have a pack left in my fridge. So zat'ar was easy - every Carrefour supermarket had that one. But no one had dukkah and I was like, how can they not have dukkah? It's a middle eastern thing, right! But well, they don't sell dukkah in Dubai, so I came back and armed with recipes from 10-odd blogs (all roughly the same), I set to make my own. The key to making dukkah is : line up all your ingredients, toast each of them separately in a heavy non-stick pan till they are fragrant and lightly roasted, then put everything in a blender and grind coarsely. This is your dukkah. Now dip your bread in olive oil, then dip it in dukkah and indulge. A final word of warning: this can be highly addictive. And finally, my list of ingredients: 1/4 cup almonds 2 tbsp coriander seeds 1 1/2 tbsp sesame...
14 comments
Read more

Bibimbap

This is the reason I love taking part in Taste & Create . There is so much new to learn and try when you meet new partners. This month, I am visiting Kitschow in Vancouver for a course in Asian cooking. She also tries a lot of other cuisines, but wok is her favorite way to cook. I first thought I'd find very little vegetarian choice at her place. But as luck would have it, she has recently done a lot of vegetarian cooking and eating for lent and I had a virtual rainbow to pick from. Everything looked so delicious it was tough to pick one. I picked the one with the cutest name : Bibimbap . Bibimbap is a Korean rice, usually topped with beef and vegetables but Kitschow made a vegan version for Lent. The recipe has three parts. First you cook the rice. Then, when it's almost done but is still moist, you arrange vegetables on top so it looks colorful and pretty. For the vegan version, Kitschow just put raw veggies there and let them cook in the steam. But I liked the i...
13 comments
Read more