The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Harvest Bread

PeterPiper's picture
PeterPiper

Harvest Bread

In the spirit of fall I put together a bread that tries to capture the essence of the season. It has nutmeg, cinnamon, walnuts, ground cloves, honey, molasses, pumpkin puree, and whole wheat flour. I based it off my wheat sandwich recipe but took out the water to keep the hydration roughly the same when I added the pumpkin. It smells unbelievable while baking and has a really moist crumb and subtle spice. Normally I'd make this as a pan loaf, but the boule with some fancy-dancy scoring makes it a bit more special. Here's the formula for one loaf, you can scale up for multiples. If anyone else makes this I'd love to see your results or hear any modifications.

Bread Flour 250g
Whole Wheat Flour 250g
Milk 225g
Honey 50g
Molasses 25g
Butter 2T
Pumpkin puree 2/3 can
Salt 1 ½ t
Yeast 2 ¼ t
Ground nutmeg ¼ t
Ground cloves ¼ t
Cinnamon ¼ t
Walnut pieces ½ c

Mix the dry ingredients, fold in the wet and let the dough sit for up to 30 minutes. Knead until you can windowpane the dough, proof for 1 hour, form loaf, and second proof until dough is almost doubled. Score and bake at 375 for 40 minutes. I don't steam this loaf so it's a little softer, but do as you like.

Happy baking!


-Peter

 

 

midwest baker's picture
midwest baker

I can smell it from here! I just made some pumpkin butter and I'd love to put some on that slice of bread.

BakerBen's picture
BakerBen

Peter,

This loaf looks delicious and extremely Fall like too.  I will be trying it possibly in the morning - what is the can size of the pumkin puree (probably 14 - 16 oz.)?

Ben

BakerBen's picture
BakerBen

I have been looking at the formula you provided and doing a little figuring for my bake tomorrow - is the ONE loaf weight about 2.5 # or 1150g that you baked ?

Ben

PeterPiper's picture
PeterPiper

Yeah, that's the size.  That usually makes a goodly loaf pan size or a nice boule like you see above.  Maybe I tend to make bread big, but it still gets eaten!

I think a regular can is a type 300, which is about 15 oz.  If I make this bread more I'll weigh the amount of pumpkin in metric to make things easier.

-Peter

BakerBen's picture
BakerBen

Perer,

I am baking this morning:

4 Italian loaves and

2 Harvest Bread Mod 1

Thanks for your formula - I guessed that 15-16 ounces would be a normal can and went from there.  I have made a few more changes based on a Harvest Bread I used to bake in a bakery and your formula - I have a feeling it is going to turn out ok ... I will let you know.  I scaled the formula for two 26 ounce loafs and plan to bake in pans.  Again, thanks.

Ben

PeterPiper's picture
PeterPiper

So how did it turn out?  I'd love to see pictures and hear about your results.  I've found this bread goes great with orange marmalade--the mix of citrus with the spices is tops.

-Peter

BakerBen's picture
BakerBen

Peter,

Just baked it yesterday and there is none left in the house - my wife and I had a couple of slice and then she took a few slices to some of her teacher friends today and I took the second loaf to a bakery I used to work at for them to sample.  Everyone thought it was great - the school folks (and my wife and I) really thought it was great ... my bakery friends like things that really POP with either sweetness or spice or both.  I believe this bread was too subtle to really be appreciated by them.

My dough was very soft and stickie - it baked off nice in a pan but I don't believe it would have faired so well as a loaf.  The dough was so moist that it never really reached a point where it was kneadable with just your hand.  I don't use a mixer and prefer to hand knead my dough - this dough requied constant use of a plastice scaper in one hand to keep it going on my kitchen counter.  Your dough was not this stickie consistency was it ?  I used 75% BREAD and 25% WW flour - added a couple of eggs and did not reduce the amount of milk ... I am going to bake it again and reduce the liguid in accordance with the addition of the eggs. 

I would appreciate some feedback on dough feel of your dough and I will try and post a pic on the next bake. 

Ben

PeterPiper's picture
PeterPiper

Actually I kept my dough more tacky than sticky.  It would cling to your fingers while handling but pull away cleanly.  I think the eggs might've made yours much more cakey than mine, maybe almost like gingerbread.  I used 50% whole wheat in mine, though I soak it for 8 hours with the milk beforehand so the structure is really strong, and it helps develop the flavor and soften the bran a bit.  Did you use molasses along with the honey?  I find that adds a richer flavor and color than straight honey.

-Peter

BakerBen's picture
BakerBen

Peter,

Bread is not cake-like - I used 75/25 bread flour/WW.  I was figuring - don't know what hydration to really give eggs, honey, mollasis and pumpkin so just WAGging it - and figured hydration of my first dough was 80% plus.  Just got thru making some adjustment to go to a 25 oz loaf and bring down the hydration to more in the mid sixty percent range - I believe this will yield a definitely easier dough to work with.  Don't get me wrong - the wetter dough resulted in a really delious crumb which I liked.  I am looking at this next bake as experiment #2 - I definitely saved the first formula.  I will let you know how it goes.

Ben

jackie9999's picture
jackie9999

I just made this bread and it turned out great...

I cut the recipe in half and baked in a 9x5 loaf pan but I think I would go for 2/3 of the recipe next time since it's a little small. For my 1/2 ratio bake I used 150g pumpkin puree and used my cuisinart on speed 4 / 15 minutes.

I broke my thermometer so wasn't able to test doneness by temperature - but after 25 minutes at the 375 degrees it sounded done.

My sourdough died this week so I'm trying some of the yeast doughs for a change and I quite liked this one - I will make it again. Thanks!

PeterPiper's picture
PeterPiper

Glad you liked it.  Try making this with a soaker.  I mix up my whole wheat flour and milk in the morning and let it sit all day, then mix up the dough in the evening, proof, and bake the bread.  This method works great for flavor and structure and doesn't really take that much more time.

-Peter

jackie9999's picture
jackie9999

Thanks Peter..I actually meant to ask that in my post - I am trying a soaker (poolish?) for a honey whole wheat recipe I found here..but it uses water..to go with a minestrone soup I'll make tomorrow.

You figure there is no problem leaving a milk mix out on the counter all day?

PeterPiper's picture
PeterPiper

Maybe someone else can chime in, but I've never had a problem leaving it out in a soaker.  I've done it with buttermilk too.  I'd think that even if something started to grow on it that it would be killed with the long intense heat of the oven.  Though it might affect flavor a bit.  You should probably be fine, but if you develop an eye twitch or grow an extra limb, stick to water soakers!

-Peter

BakerBen's picture
BakerBen

Peter,

Ok, have made a formula that has less hydration - I like both loaves, but the second would be the one I would make on an ongoing basis.  Here are a few photos...

 

 

I will be eating some of this for breakfast in the morning ...

Peter, thanks for sharing this formula ...

Ben