This month's challenge was pumpkin. There are a LOT of pumpkin recipes out there to choose from, many of which I've saved to make "one day." To add to the fun, I saw this at the checkout stand and made the spontaneous purchase (setting me back $13, I might add. Seriously?) I even marked a few recipes to try.
Then I remembered I had this little booklet, at least 20 years old, from the experts themselves...
I looked through that and found this curious recipe for fruit bread made with yeast, yet prepared more like a quick bread. So many pumpkin recipes are just iterations of the same three or four recipes -- this was completely different, so I wanted to try it.
I cut the original recipe in half, using the ingredients exactly as the original, but I simplified the preparation. I hesitated about using cardamom because, although I love it, I find it's wasted when paired with any competing flavors. I should have followed my instinct, as I couldn't detect it in the final product (and I'm not sure it would have been a good pairing anyway.) The changes shown in the recipe below (in italics and strikeout) are suggestions for future use.
1¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons warm water
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup uncooked rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom ginger or cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
3/8 cup (6 tablespoons) chopped dates (and/or cranberries or tart cherries)
3/8 cup golden raisins
3/8 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
Proof the yeast in the water along with 1/2 teaspoon of the honey (or just use sugar). In the main mixing bowl, combine the flours, oats, spice, and salt; set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the rest of the honey, pumpkin, brown sugar, and orange juice concentrate and heat until very warm, but not hot. (It shouldn’t scald your finger.) Add it to the flour mixture, along with the yeast mixture, and mix well. Add the fruits and the nuts and stir to combine. Spoon into a greased loaf pan. (Original recipe calls for an 8 x 4-inch pan.) Cover and let rise for 30-50 minutes, or until doubled. Bake at 325F for 35-40 minutes (original recipe is 50-60 minutes), or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Recommended: serve toasted with a cream cheese spread.
Since this isn't like anything I've ever made before, I'm not sure if my results were what they were supposed to be, but I suspect they were a little off. The "dough" was actually a thick batter -- very unusual for a yeast bread -- but since the instructions were to "spoon" it into the pan, I expected that. With all the moisture and the sugar and the fruit, I'm surprised this rose at all. It did, barely, but didn't puff up like a yeast dough. It retained every dent and peak as when it started out, and with no skin I certainly couldn't do the finger-dent test to see if it was proofed enough. As it was, I let it rise well over an hour and hoped for some oven spring, but that didn't happen either.
Since I was using a smaller pan (I used a Wilton 4-ounce round baking pan), I wasn't sure about the baking time, and to be honest, now I can't quite remember how long I let it bake. I think I checked it around 35 minutes and, although it seemed firm and probably would have passed the toothpick test, it felt so heavy and dense that I put it in for another 5 or so. (I even rapped on the bottom, but I'm never confident about what a "hollow" bread loaf would sound like.)
The final bread appears to have risen enough, but the texture still seems off. (By appearance more than feel.) It looks to me as though the dough was too wet, and I don't like the way the oats leave little dry-looking white marks. (With all that moisture, I'm surprised they didn't just dissolve into the batter.) I'm thinking maybe adding the oats to the wet ingredients and letting them soak up some of that moisture might help. Mostly, though, the flavor needs help; there were too many dull, anti-umami flavors. Everything was earthy: the pumpkin, the cardamom, the whole wheat, the raisins, the walnuts, and especially the dates! (Every time I bake with dates, they get a slightly unpleasant taste to them, almost bitter, even though the dates themselves were fine.) I would use ginger as the spice, or cinnamon (but only if absolutely necessary) and add some tart fruits. I'd also chop the dates into smaller pieces, about 1/4 inch, so no bite had too much. I think this would add a nice contrast to the other earthy flavors.
Toasting this bread made all the difference in the world, and adding the cream cheese spread also really improved it. I just mixed cream cheese with a tiny bit of orange juice concentrate and some sugar, but here's the suggested recipe in the booklet, halved:
Cream Cheese Pumpkin Spread
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1½ tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon orange zest
Conclusion: I enjoyed this, but I'm not sure I'd make it again. I was disappointed at first, but toasted and eaten with the sweetened cream cheese spread, it was very nice, with a crackly crust and a good bite. It reminded me a lot of this Chocolate Cherry Pecan Bread. But I would definitely make changes to the ingredients to brighten up the flavor a bit. As it's an easy bread to make, it's worth trying again for that experiment alone. This is not a very sweet bread, so it might also be good with a semi-firm cheese.
Recipe: Oats 'n Fruit Wheat Bread via Libby's Favorite Pumpkin Recipes
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