Pumpkin Yeast Bread aka Heaven in a Loaf! (Click for original recipe link)1/2 cup warm water
2 packages (2 tablespoons) active dry yeast
(I like to use three)2/3 cup warm milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups puréed pumpkin, either fresh or canned
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 1/2 cups (approximately) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
(I also add a good amount of cinnamon)In a large bowl, stir yeast into water to soften. Add milk, eggs, pumpkin, oil, 4 cups flour, brown sugar, salt, ginger and cardamom to yeast mixture. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.
Gradually add remaining flour, a little at a time, until you have a dough stiff enough to knead. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead, adding flour as necessary, until you have a smooth, elastic dough.
(At this point, I usually like to add raisins, and/or small spoonfuls of brown sugar in pockets of the dough) The brown sugar pockets, when melted are the BEST gooeyness.Put dough into an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Divide dough in half. Shape dough into loaves and place in well-greased 10 x 5-inch pans or, shape half into a loaf, and other half into 12 large dinner rolls. Cover with a towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.
Bake in a preheated 375°F oven. Loaves bake about 30 minutes, rolls about 20. Check the internal temperature of each with an instant-read thermometer; a reading of 190°F means bread or rolls are done.
Immediately remove bread or rolls from pans and cool on a wire rack to prevent crust from becoming soggy.
The recipe made about twice as much filling than needed, so I made more bread than the recipe called for since I had an extra half cup of pumpkin left over, and the result of that ended up in cupcake tins instead of the bread loaves. But really, I think those turned out better anyway....
Clearly I overloaded the loaves. It said to use three mini loaf pans, and I used 5! So one would think that there would not be this much pop outtage! I think it might have affected the cheesecake layer...
The cheesecake looks nowhere as crisp and clean as the actual recipe photo, but it never does I guess. I personally think it turned out looking a bit like canned cat food, but holy cow did it turn out absolutely delicious!
Now all I needed is my beaded dress and dancing shoes!
