Tuesday, October 2, 2012

TWD Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Loaf


I'm so glad I read the P&Qs early this week.  From the recipe title I was expecting a quick bread, so I was glad for the warning that it's actually a yeast bread with an overnight rise.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed--I find quick breads so rewarding and love eating cake for breakfast and calling it "bread"--but I was still curious to give this one a shot.   I substituted half of the white bread flour for whole wheat bread flour, but otherwise followed the recipe.  This came together quickly in my stand mixer while I was finishing dinner.  


After we ate and watched the Breaking Bad Season 3 finale, the bread was done rising.  I left it in the fridge to wait for Sunday.  On Sunday it took about 3.5 hours to come to temperature, at which point I shaped it and put it into pans.  I don't have mini loaf pans and wasn't ready to buy them yet, so I decided to go ahead with my standard loaf pans.  I'll be curious to see if this worked for others.  Even after 2 hours my bread wasn't very risen at all.  I'm not sure if there wasn't enough dough for the pans, or if I just got a bad rise. If it's the latter problem, I'm guessing that the flour substitution contributed.  Oh well.  My breads were a little flat, but they still tasted surprisingly good.  I liked that they had a lot of flavor and weren't too sweet.  I enjoyed some toasted with cream cheese for breakfast this morning, but I'm not sure what to do with the rest.  I'm excited to see what everyone else does.  I'm thinking it could make excellent french toast or bread pudding.  I'll report back if I give it a try.

8 comments:

  1. Ooh, that's a great idea to use it for french toast or bread pudding.

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  2. I didn't find this to be a big riser - it was a bit of a heavy dough. But I loved the way it came out after baking.
    Bread pudding sounds good!

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  3. I like how you are thinking about other uses for the bread. I think french toast would be a winner.

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  4. A bit of cream cheese sounds delicious. French toast or bread pudding both sound yummy. Can't wait to see what you do!
    We loved this bread, but I love bread!

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  5. Cream cheese and bread pudding is the way to go with these! Good job Jora!

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  6. Jora, the color of your Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Loaves is wonderful, very autumnal, particularly with the added color of the fresh cranberries (which I could not find anywhere around here). I was considering to substitute part of the plain bread flour for whole wheat bread flour as well. We liked our loaves toasted with butter and honey or just plain - bread pudding sounds very promising to me.

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  7. I like your bread pudding idea. I did not care for this bread other than toasted. Your loaf looks great.

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  8. Funny, mine rose like mad. It's like it had a life of its own. I liked the end result a lot, especially the texture. It did take 8 hours (not 3-4) for it to come up to 64 degrees, though. I think French Toast or bread pudding are the perfect ideas for leftovers.

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