Ingredients
- 7 g sachet dried yeast
- ¼ cup reserved warm pumpkin cooking liquid or water
- 4–4½ cups unbleached plain flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup mashed pumpkin (300 g uncooked)
- ¼–½ cup reserved warm pumpkin cooking liquid or water, extra
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 teaspoons water, extra
- pumpkin seeds (pepitas), to sprinkle
Method
1. Brush a deep 20 cm cake tin with melted butter or oil; line base with baking paper. Dissolve yeast in reserved pumpkin liquid or water; cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place 5 minutes or until frothy. Sift 4 cups of the flour and salt into a large bowl. Add pumpkin, yeast mixture and ¼ cup of the extra liquid. Mix thoroughly using a wooden spoon, then your hands, until well combined. The dough will form a rough, slightly sticky ball. Add more liquid if mixture is too dry—the amount of liquid will depend on moistness of pumpkin.
2. Turn onto a floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Incorporate remaining ½ cup of flour as necessary to form a smooth dough. Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl, brush surface of dough with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until well risen.
3. Punch down dough and knead for 1 minute. Pull away a golf ball-sized piece of dough. Shape the remaining large piece of dough into a smooth round ball and place into prepared tin. Roll smaller ball into a rope 35 cm long. Tie into a loose knot; place across top of dough and seal with a little water to hold in place. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until well risen to top of tin.
4. Preheat oven to 210°C (Gas 190°C). Brush dough with combined beaten egg and extra water. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. Bake 20 minutes, and then reduce oven to 180°C. Bake a further 20 minutes or until cooked. Cover with foil during last 10 minutes of cooking if bread is browning too much. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Pumpkin bread is delicious served just plain with butter
