Pumpkin Bread

In the midst of some crazy deadlines to meet, I forgot to blog about this bread. Actually, I have been habouring this idea for sometime. My mom walked past BreadTalk AGAIN and bought this pumpkin bread, well, not my hideous version anyway. Since I was making pumpkin puree for Ah Boy on Sunday, I saved some to do a trial. Erm.. actually, I didn't have enough ice tray lah. I was left with 120g of the puree to be exact.

Using Florence's Golden Bread recipe as a guide, I omitted the egg and adjusted the water content in the recipe accordingly. I think what Florence provided was rather handy for my bread experiments. However, I was quite upset to know that she has taken it down because of the nasty remarks made by some inconsiderate individuals. I mean. what's wrong with these people? Here's someone sharing her experience out of kindness, making the path of learning easier for novice bakers. We should be appreciative. Sure, you are entitled to your views or even challenge the recipe but show some respect to that person. Be constructive instead of passing some snide remarks. Sure, you may be older and wiser or have tons of experience for all I care. But, don't forget; 一山还有一山高，学海无涯。 She has painstakingly experimented and written it down. It worked for her, so there must be some basis to what she wrote. Don't write it off just like that. You wanna tweak the recipe, fine. But give that lady some credit. WTF.. *Phew~~

Okay, I digress. Where were we? Oh ya.. I made some adjustment to the recipe. I used about 5, 50g of the dough to shape the above pumpkin bread. I think I cut the shape prematurely while shaping. I should have waited after 2nd proofing, then cut. The shape of the bread is kinda distorted after proofing. Anyway, could be that my shaping skills sucked. Alright, here's how I made them using Sponge Dough method. In all, it yielded 5 pcs of pumpkin bread and 1 smaller sweet bun loaf.

Ingredients (yields about 650 ~ 660g of dough)
Starter Dough
150g Bread Flour
100g Plain Flour
170g Water
1-1/4 tsp Instant Yeast

Main Dough
50g Bread Flour
4 tbsp Wholemeal
40g Water
40g Caster Sugar
1-1/2 tbsp Milk Powder
1-1/2 tbsp Soy Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
30g Corn Oil

Some flour to dust
Some butter to grease pan

Filling (yields about 80g of pumpkin paste)
120g Pumpkin Puree
2 tbsp Milk Powder

Some pumpkin kernels and some shredded pumpkin
Some milk for glazing

Method
1) Mix all ingredients for Starter Dough in a mixing bowl, use dough hook, using low speed, beat to form a dough. Increase to medium speed, beat dough till it doesn't stick to the side of the bowl and appears to be smooth. Roll the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with cling wrap, leave aside to proof for 90 minutes.

2) Meanwhile prepare the pumpkin paste. Heat up a frying pan using low heat, stir the puree and milk powder to a dry consistency. Be careful not to brown it. Cool and divide into 5 portions. Transfer to freezer.

3) After 90 minutes, transfer the Starter Dough to a bowl. In the mixing bowl, add all ingredients for Main dough, except salt and corn oil. Beat at medium speed, gradually add in Starter Dough in small batches to the Main dough until well corporated. Add in salt and corn oil slowly and beat to a smooth, elastic dough (Do the pinch test to check if it is ready).

4) Transfer the dough to a floured surface. Roll the dough into a ball and rest it for 10 minutes. The dough will be quite sticky; either dust with some flour or oil your hands. Weigh 5 pieces of dough in 50g. Roll the rest into a swiss roll and transfer into a greased loaf pan. Proof for 45 mins or till double in size.

5) Roll the 50g portion into long rectangular strips, wrap the pumpkin paste. Dab some water on 1 side of the dough and coil that side into a spiral and place on the greased pan. Leave to proof for 45 minutes or till double in size. Wet the tip of scissors with water and snip the outer part of the dough. Press down each petal slightly.

5) Apply some milk on the bread, Scatter some pumpkin kernels and shredded pumpkin on the flower-shaped bread. Bake them at 170 degree C for 15 minutes. Whereas, bake the loaf at 170 degree C for 30 minutes.

*Note : This is just a trial. Attempt at your own risk. Do read carefully that the pumpkin paste is only enough to make 5 pcs of bread, it is not the entire recipe.

**Note : Texture of the bread is really soft due to the Sponge Dough method. You won't miss the egg. And the pumpkin filling needs some improvement. It was a little wet, maybe I should add some cake flour to it next time.

Happy baking! それじゃ～～

*An update : I baked these and the loaf on last Sunday night. I had the last slice this morning and the bread is still soft. I likee~~ XD