Pumpkin-shaped bread was trending on the social media bread groups last October. It may be this year as well, but I haven’t kept up because, despite some of the amazing work posted, I got turned off by the fetish for holes - sourdough bread with big alvéoles. In all fairness, until I was able to consistently achieve a well-aerated crumb, I enviously watched the parade of photos from those who had cracked the big-hole code. I doggedly researched and experimented until I too was riding the wave.
Soon after, my interest in the bread group I followed waned, and I stopped caring about the size of my alvéoles. I had bigger fish to fry. Before abandoning altogether, a newcomer to the group wrote innocently asking about the fixation with holes, gently suggesting that she found them an antagonist to butter and counterproductive as a support to sandwiches. The query met with silence initially.
The emperor is naked.
A few meek responses came in, and one woman finally said, “It’s because it is hard to do.” I looked on, bemused.
Pumpkin bread, the new frontier
Although my mission to achieve holey bread had come and gone, I admittedly got caught up in the pumpkin bread frenzy, initially proposed by one of the group’s more capable bakers. It was so festive and unique, but I found it curious that it was a simple sourdough bread and not actually made with pumpkin. The point was all in the shape, an homage to the arrival of fall. No specific recipe was given so, piqued by the challenge, I devised one myself: a brioche-style sourdough bread.
On the very first trial, it was not only cute as a button but also a rich, satisfying bread - good for breakfast, with cheese, or at teatime. I posted my creation along with pictures of my technique for achieving the pumpkin effect, which differed ever-so-slightly from the one proposed by the originator.
To my surprise, the originator chimed in, warning the others not to use my recipe because the dough would be too soft and that my technique did not follow what she had done. Full stop. Ouch.
So, as October has rolled around once again, and I have my own website, I am once again proposing my recipe for this festive bread to celebrate what may well be my favorite food season - what with truffles, apples, grapes, walnuts, mushrooms, chestnuts, pomegranates, and of course pumpkins.
This may not be suited to beginners, but for the armchair cook, it should come out like a dream.
The Fruit Seller, Vincenzo Campi (1580) Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.
Halloween brioche bread
Ingredients:
Pre-ferments:
80g sourdough starter (rye or white) - 40g water - 40g bread flour
90g bread flour - 90g water - 1/4 tsp dry active yeast
Dough:
200g King Arthur bread flour
200g high extraction flour (W400)
2 eggs
100g milk
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp salt
80g cool room temperature butter (not ‘softened')
Instructions:
Set up the pre-ferments in separate bowls. When they are both bubbly, pour them into a mixer and add all the ingredients except the butter. Mix well and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
Fold and let rest 20 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto the counter. Spread it out into a square.
Press the semi-cold butter in to flakes or sheets and put them on the dough.
Do a letter fold. Roll out and repeat three more times.
Refrigerate the dough overnight.
Cut 4 50cm lengths of linen kitchen string. Tie them together in the center.
Separate each string over a floured bannetton as shown.
Form the dough into a ball by pulling the edges up. Place the dough seam-side down on a floured counter and let it rest. Dust the smooth top with flour and place it carefully seam-side up in the bowl.
Tie the ends together so that they loosely fit over the dough. Cut the extra length off.
The rising time will depend upon the temperature of your kitchen. It should expand enough so that the strings become taut, but not cut through excessively. The dough should give easily when pressed.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Very carefully, turn the dough out onto an insulated cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 40 minutes turning after 25 minutes have elapsed.
just out of the oven
Remove the bread and allow it to cool enough to handle. Cut the strings and slide them through. Dust off a bit of the excess flour.
When it has cooled, pop a cinnamon stick in the center to create a stem.
ready to serve
ENJOY!!!