Pumpkin Yeast Bread

I had some leftover canned pumpkin in my fridge the other day, so I decided to make some pumpkin bread with it. I wasn't in the mood for the traditional quick bread type of pumpkin bread and we were getting low on sandwich bread, so I decided to make some pumpkin yeast bread. Easy enough, I just used my regular white bread recipe and substituted one cup of the water called for in that recipe for one cup of canned pumpkin! Pumpkin is pretty moist, so I figured it would work out, and I was right! You can't really taste a difference, so it doesn't taste pumpkiny, but your adding 6 grams of fiber to the recipe! Plus you get a nice orange color that kids think is pretty cool. If you wanted to use wheat flour to make this bread you could, since my recipe calls for vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer, you'll still get a light fluffy loaf. So, if you have leftover pumpkin that you need to use up, why not try this recipe?!

Pumpkin Yeast Bread

1 cup warm water

2/3 cup sugar

1 ½ tablespoons yeast

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 ½ teaspoons salt

¼ cup oil

1 tablespoon dough enhancer

1/3 cup vital wheat gluten

5 – 6 cups all purpose flour

In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the water, sugar and yeast. Let sit until the yeast has proofed, about 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with dough hook attachment until combined. Then let the mixer knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 5 – 7 minutes. Turn dough into a greased bowl and cover with a towel, place the bowl in a warm place and let dough rise to double it's size. After it has risen, punch the dough down and divide into two portions. Form loaves with the dough and place into greased bread pans. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until the dough is about an inch above the pan. Once risen, place the bread into a preheated 350° F oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. When done baking remove from pans immediately and let cool on a wire rack. Makes 2 loaves.

With half of my dough I actually made a pan of cinnamon rolls. If you want to do that, roll out half of the dough at a time into a rectangle that is about 1/4 of an inch thick. Spread about 3 tablespoons of melted butter on the dough, followed by about 1/3 cup brown sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Spread evenly, add raisins or nuts if desired and then roll up long ways. Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces and place in a greased dish. Let them rise until doubled and then bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. I didn't frost mine, but if you want them frosted I would use a cream cheese frosting maybe about 4 ounces of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of butter, 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, a tablespoon of milk if needed and maybe some vanilla, about 1/2 teaspoon would work well. I would use that much for the whole batch of bread being turned into cinnamon rolls, so for half a batch just cut that in half. If you wanted them frosted, frost about 5 minutes after you take them out of the oven so that the frosting doesn't melt everywhere.

Now, just so you know, in my picture of the cinnamon rolls you might see some little cinnamon chips on top of them. I put cinnamon chips inside of my rolls and they made a huge mess, so I wouldn't recommend doing that. The filling melted out all over the place and was a gooey mess. So, learn from my mistake and don't do that! :)