Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Squash Pepita Bread

Isn’t it nice how winter squashes can be stored for a while before being used? A few weeks ago, I received a couple of cute, little winter squashes in my last CSA pick up of the summer season and didn’t get around to using them until last week. They were still fine and could have waited even longer before being used. The reason they were finally used was for what is actually called pumpkin bread in the Breads from the La Brea Bakery book. Even though it’s called pumpkin bread, it was supposed to have been made with either sweet potatoes or kabosha squash. I used the squashes I had and roasted an acorn squash as well just to be sure I would have at least the 10 ounces of squash pulp that’s needed. Silverton’s reason for using sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin is because they add more flavor and color to the bread. Since my squashes’ insides were rather light, I failed to add color to my bread, but it smelled amazing as it baked and had a nice, chewy texture. Pumpkin in the name also refers to the pumpkin seeds which add a nice crunch to the crumb. I should point out that this is not a sweet type of pumpkin bread. It's made into small, savory loaves, and the squash flavor is accented by cumin in the dough.

Although this is a two-day bread, there is a six to ten hour waiting period on the first day, so I got an early start. First, the squashes were roasted, cooled, peeled, and the pulp was mashed. The dough was made from sourdough starter, water, wheat germ, cumin, bread flour, whole wheat flour, and squash pulp. Then, raw pepitas were toasted and added to the dough with salt. There was no additional commercial yeast in this dough, so, as usual when using only starter, I was nervous. The dough seemed dense, but I hoped that was just because of the squash and pepitas. The dough went into the refrigerator to ferment for about seven hours. It was then brought back to room temperature and divided into three pieces, and unfortunately, I’m not capable of dividing dough into equal pieces. They were close enough. After resting for a bit, each piece of dough was formed into a football shape, and I did a better job of football forming than last time. I’m learning. It helped that Silverton wrote that the loaves should look like sweet potatoes which I look at more often than footballs. The loaves were then covered with a cloth and wrapped in a plastic garbage bag and left in the refrigerator to proof for ten hours.

The next morning, I removed the plastic bag and brought the loaves up to room temperature. The oven was heated to 500 degrees F, and the loaves were slashed and loaded on a peel. The oven was spritzed with water, the loaves went in, the temperature was lowered to 450, and more spritzing was repeated during the first five minutes of baking. After a total baking time of 35 minutes, the pretty, little, football-sweet-potato-shaped, squash loaves were browned and crusty and delivered to the cooling rack. As noted in the recipe, this bread has a more even interior texture, and the seeds and squash give it some heft. It’s a hearty kind of bread, and it was delicious slathered with Irish butter. Next time, I’ll make it with sweet potatoes for a brighter color, but the squash worked very well otherwise.

I’m submitting this to
Yeastspotting where you’ll find some seriously well-made bread.




31 comments:

  1. What a wonderful job you did on this Lisa. Your breadbaking is inspiring me. I have been afraid of that book and have never used it. Whenever I read about something you have baked out of there, I am motivated to get over my fear.

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  2. I am so impressed how you took the time to make this bread! While I love making bread myself, I am usually the kind of person who can't wait for two days for a bread to finish... I see all these gorgeous breads popping up all over the blogs, which is very tempting to try. Looks delicious!

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  3. Awesome!!! I gotta find me that La Brea book. All the breads in there sounds so delicious. Spead on a nice dollop of butter or jam. Yummy!!

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  4. Wow, fabulous! I love bread, especially fresh from the oven. I wish i was there to eat this. I bet it had a lovely sweetness from the squash.

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  5. That bread must be very flavorful! I love squash seeds!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  6. delicious and very rustic bread with a bit of mexican flare from the pepitas.

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  7. Looks awesome! I've never tried to make bread with squah seeds. I love eating these seeds, but never used them in a recipe. A great idea!

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  8. Omg, Lisa, I want some of this bread!!!

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  9. The bread looks amazing....and that's exactly how I will eat it with lots of butter..hee

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  10. that picture with the butter made me drool so much it hurt. this sounds amazing!! what a DELICIOUS combination of flavors!

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  11. I love pepita and I can only imagine how yummy this bread is, it looks awesome as usual

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  12. delicious!! I've been making a lot of bread recently but I have't had the guts to make one without yeast - I love the idea of using squash in it though, i bet pumpkin would be really good too...oh the possibilities!! :-)

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  13. it does seem like winter squashes can last forever. what stinks (literally) is when you sort of forget you have them and they finally do turn. not pretty.
    meanwhile, awesome bread! the crunch from the seeds is just what a good loaf needs.

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  14. What a beautiful yet wholesome bread! I am inspired to make more bread now....;)

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  15. The rusty looking bread rocks! You did not do it on purpose do you?

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  16. this is awesome!! ive never baked bread with squash seeds!! i shud give a try sometime sooner!! healthy breakfast!! looove it :)
    cheers!

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  17. It turned out beautiful and I love the shape you made it into!

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  18. That looks amazingly good! :o I've made pumpkin bread before but it was more like a banana bread (cake like) so I'd be intrigued to try this as this is more a proper bread :D

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  19. What a wonderful bread! I've never had a yeasty bread with squash in it before. Love the seed too, such a nice touch.

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  20. I love that about squash too. And I really love this bread! It looks amazing!!

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  21. I bet this smelled amazing while it was baking! YUMMMMM. I love squash (and sweet potato) anything. But I have never baked it in bread.

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  22. That's a yummy slice of autumn if there ever was one.

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  23. Wow, such incredible amount of work and time went in to making this bread. It's no surprise that the result was really well worth it when I saw the 1st top picture itself. Also, I find it really interesting to learn that it was left to proof in the fridge. Well done!!

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  24. With all that fermenting time I bet this was great! It looks like you did a pretty perfect job, the crumb and crust are really nice.

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  25. I was reading the comments and laughing that other people are intimidated by the La Brea book just like I am. It has been gathering dust on my book shelf for years.

    This loaf has always peaked my interest. Thank you for showing us how wonderful it is. I may have to get over my fear of it soon!

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  26. This is definitely the perfect bread for Fall, it looks absolutely delicious!

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  27. Seriously amazing looking bread! I like the look of the interior.

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  28. Great fall bread, delicious, beautiful, and healthy!

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  29. That is one rustic looking fall bread! love the nutty feel to. Fall already...

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  30. The Bread looks great, I love this kind of fall breads so much!

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  31. Your 2 day squash bread looks awesome! Love to try too!

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