Will pumpkin bread dethrone zucchini as the staple seasonal bake?

Will pumpkin become the new zucchini? All indications suggest it will! During the summer, zucchini recipes ruled, but now it's pumpkin's time. This versatile and healthy vegetable tastes great in both sweet and savoury dishes, and this bread is a nice balance between those flavours.

Homemade bread is delicious, but it requires a good deal of practice. Vegetable breads are a cross between bread and cake. They are much simpler, always turn out well, and are a great way to start your adventure with homemade bread. So don't delay and make a pumpkin bread as soon as possible.

The dough for this pumpkin bread can be prepared in less than half an hour. The main ingredient you'll need is purée from roasted pumpkin. It's good to make this purée and store it for various fall dishes ahead of time. You can keep it in the fridge for several days. If you need to store it longer, it's best to can or freeze it.

Remove all seeds from the pumpkin and cut it into smaller pieces. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and drizzle with olive oil. Put it in a preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes at 180°C (350°F). The pumpkin should be perfectly soft. Then, remove the skin and blend. The pumpkin purée is ready. It's the key ingredient of the bread. The other ingredients are likely already in your kitchen. The list is short for natural yogurt, all-purpose flour, water, olive oil, and instant yeast. However, they are so well chosen that the bread turns out soft and fluffy and stays fresh for a long time.

Ingredients:

• 450 grams of all-purpose flour,
• 110 grams of natural or Greek yogurt,
• 140 grams of pumpkin purée,
• 60 millilitres of olive oil,
• 1 teaspoon of sugar,
• 1.5 teaspoons of salt,
• 7 grams of instant yeast,
• Optional: cinnamon, ginger, finely chopped dried fruit.

Instructions:

1. Combine the pumpkin purée with water and yogurt. Mix until ingredients are well combined.
2. Sift the flour into a stand mixer bowl, add yeast, sugar, and salt (not directly on the yeast). Make a well in the flour and pour in the pumpkin yogurt mixture and 200 millilitres of lukewarm water.
3. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, gradually adding olive oil.
4. Cover the kneaded dough with a cloth and let it rise for 45 minutes.
5. Transfer the risen dough to a dough board and knead again.
6. Shape the dough into a loaf. Place it on a baking sheet, cover with a cloth, and let it rise again for 20 minutes.
7. Place it in a preheated oven at 200°C (400°F). Bake for about 45 minutes.