Are you already in autumn mood? After three years of tropical summer in Singapore, I am really enjoying the change of season.
We have plenty of fresh and regional pumpkins. And what do you do with pumpkins? Bread, right!? I want to share with you a recipe that is the perfect pairing for a creamy pumpkin soup: pumpkin bread with spinach and feta cheese!
Ok, first things first: I got this recipe from Dean Brettschneider‘s book “Bread”. I had the pleasure to meet him during one of his baking classes and it was amazing to see him in action. He not only has the best bread in Singapore but is also extremely passionate about his work.
Ingredients:
* 500 g of (bread) flour
* 8 g of salt
* 40 g of baking powder
* 65 g of room temperature butter
* 350 ml of milk, room temperature
* 100 g of feta cheese
* 100 g of spinach, chopped
* 100 g of cubed and cooked pumpkin
* a handful of pumpkin seeds (optional)
Instructions:
1. Warm up the oven at 200° C if using a fan and 220° C if using a conventional oven.
2. I used my kitchen aid with the dough attachment to mix the dough, but you can of course also do it by hand.
3. Start by pouring the flour (500g), salt (8g) and baking powder (40g) into your bowl, mix them slightly.
4. Pour in the butter (65g) in chunks and at room temperature and mix shortly.
5. Add a pinch of pepper to it and mix.
6. At slow speed pour in the milk (350ml room temperature) slowly and stop mixing once you’re done the pouring. No overmixing!
7. Now add the chopped spinach (100g, you can use frozen ones but do cook them first as to get rid of all the water and let them come back to room temperature), feta (100g) roughly crumbled with your fingers, and pumpkin (100g, cooked) and gently mix. You may have to use your hands to fold everything in nicely at this point.
8. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts, make a round shape out of each one and place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
9. Flatten them down slightly and gently as to make a huge bun, lightly dust with flour and decorate with pumpkin seeds if you like (I forgot, as you can see..).
10. Let them rest, covered, for 15 minutes.
11. Before baking them, cut them with a knife into quarters, but don’t cut through, just go halfway.
12. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from the oven and let them cool down on a wire.
13. Enjoy with your favorite soup!
This is a delicious quick bread, better consumed straight away. If you wish to store it, I recommend you freeze your pumpkin and spinach bread. You can then let it defrost at room temperature and heat it up for 5-10 minutes in the oven once you need it.
If you are looking for another type of delicious and gorgeous bread, go have a look at mine Pull-apart Bread with Walnuts and Pumpkin SeedsPull Apart Bread – it’s perfect for parties and to share. Totally flexible, you can fill it with savory or sweet ingredients.
No time to bake right now, but you don’t want to forget the recipe? You can pin the pictures on your Pinterest Boards to save them for later.