Greetings all! I hope everyone had a wonderful, safe, and happy Eid. It’s been crazy with work, weddings, and family so I’ve been a little behind on posting. But no worries, I have a stockpile of things I made the past two weeks so I’ll share with you slowly so as not to put you in shock haha..just kidding.
This post is dedicated to my maternal Teta (grandmother) and how she taught me how to make “happy” things. I bake for a lot of reasons, sometimes to think, sometimes to make me feel better, sometimes to reflect, and sometimes I bake when I’m stressed and sad. My teta taught me always to make my things “happy” (or rather “habbee” with her accent). Teta is one of the heroine’s of my life. She came to America not knowing a lick of english and raised 7 children mostly on her own while my grandfather was off studying in Irving, Texas. She is probably one of the strongest women I know and in turn gave me the strength to face the world. I consider her my second mother and I love her so much. When I was a kid she would let me help her bake cakes, she taught me how to sew, knit, crochet, cross stitch and embroider. I always took them for granted until I got older and I started to use them for various things and I learned how useful those skills were to have. My teta was always there when I was upset and needed someone to vent to–and she always steered me in the right direction. She told me never to speak in vain, hate, or hold grudges. I am ashamed to cry in front of people, but never in front of her because I know there is always comfort in her arms. She is one of the most beautiful women I have met in my life, her skin is the softest and she always smells like gardenias. The most comfortable place to lay my head is always in her lap, I don’t care how old I get–she is my comfort. So this happy bread is dedicated to her =).
What you need:
1 1/2 cups of pureed pumpkin
approx 6 1/2 cups of flour
2 tbsp of active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2/3 cup milk
2 tbsp oil
2 eggs
1/2 tsp of salt
First mix the yeast and the warm water and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Once that is done mix in the milk, eggs, pureed pumpkin, and oil. Make sure the mixture is smooth and then slowly start adding the flour about 1 1/2 cups at a time and mix in each time. Keep adding until you have about 5 cups in there and at that point it will be tacky but not completely solidified. Then add the last cup and start kneading with your hands, the point where you can knead the and the dough no longer sticks to your hand (as if it was going to eat you) is the point wehre you can turn it out on the floured surface. Add the last 1/2 cup of flour to that as you knead. Knead until your bread is smooth and “happy.” At this point, oil a clean bowl and turn the dough around in it, saran wrap it or cover it with a warm damp towel.
After about 45 min-1 hr or whenever the dough doubles in size you can take it out on a well oiled surface and knead it one more time into a happy lump. Then split it in half, line a loaf pan with parchment paper or oil it well. I prefer parchment paper because it usually means I don’t have to wash dishes afterwards. Roll out one half into almost a sub roll that will fit the loaf pan and then place in the loaf pan and wrap again for the second rise. The other half you can divide up into equal pieces and roll into little buns or rolls, place in a flat pan also lined with parchment paper. I used a pizza pan so that the bottoms baked evenly, but any flat pan will work. Wrap them like you did the loaf and let the loaf and roll rise again for about 45 minutes. In this time, heat up the oven to 350F.
Once the second rise is complete place in the oven and keep a close eye, I would say between 30-40 minutes until the tops of the bread rolls and loaf are golden brown and have risen. I wish I actually timed this but honestly I was goofing around the house with my siblings and/or talking to my mom until I remembered I had bread in the oven and ran downstairs like a mad woman =).
Enjoy with some butter and jam! The blackberry preserves in the picture are homemade by yours truly and will be featured sometime this week, God willing. =)
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adapted from http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/pumpkin-yeast-bread-recipe
