587. Italian Pumpkin Bread (Pane di Zucca)#Breadbakers

 Italian Pumpkin Bread/ Pane di Zucca#Breadbakers

   I love these monthly themes that we have in our Bread Bakers group. For the month of September Kylee of Kylee Cooks suggested we bake with pumpkin or pumpkin spices or both. I nearly skipped this round as I have already baked quick pumpkin breads and pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin pancakes didn't sound that interesting. Then I came across this interesting yeast bread on Chef Bikeski's website. Fell in love with the lovely sunshine coloured bread. Baked 2 small loaves of this bread. Gave one as a present to a family friend and the other one we enjoyed it toasted with some butter, cheese and soup. Semolina adds an extra crunch to the bread. Eating the bread without toasting makes it taste like a normal bread but toasting it makes it crunchy. I didn't have any hazelnuts so I added walnuts instead. I love pumpkin but usually use it make soups or as a curry. Here in Kenya we tend to get pumpkin mostly whole year round. The locals make a lovely stew with pumpkin, amaranth leaves and if you're at the coast, fresh coconut milk is added to it. We rarely see those huge pumpkins that are available in US or Canada. We get smaller ones and sometimes they will appear green with streaks of orange or yellow.
   So here's my yeast bread with pumpkin puree. Hope you like it and please do check out what other bakers have baked using pumpkin or pumpkin spice or both.

 ITALIAN PUMPKIN BREAD/ PANE DI ZUCCA
Makes 1 large loaf or 2 small loaves

2½ -2¾ cups all purpose flour(plain flour)
1½ cups fine semolina
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp salt
¾ -1 cup warm water
2½ tbsp butter
2½ tsp instant active dry yeast
½ cup chopped walnuts or hazelnuts
2 tbsp raisins or currants - soak them in 1 tbsp warm water for 15 minutes
2 tbsp sugar (optional) depending on how sweet the pumpkin is
extra butter or olive oil for greasing
extra flour for dusting

1. Mix flour, semolina, salt, sugar and yeast in a big bowl.
2. Add pumpkin puree, water and butter.
3. Mix the dough. I did the whole process in a machine as the dough can be sticky.
4. Knead the dough for 7-10 minutes in a machine, 10-15 minutes by hand. 
5. Add the nuts and soaked raisins(currants). Knead it into the dough.
6. Form the dough into a round ball. Grease it with some butter.
7. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover it with a tea towel or cling film and let the dough rise for 11/2 hrs or till its double the size.
8. Gently knead the dough. Divide into 2 for smaller loaves. Shape the dough into round shape.
9. Place the shaped dough on a greased baking tray.
10. Let the loaves rise for 35-45 minutes or till the dough is double in size.
11. Preheat the oven to 180°C. 
12. Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Smaller loaves will take less time about 30 minutes.
13. Cool the loaves on a wire rack.
14. Serve the bread with soup, cheese or even toast it and enjoy with some butter, jam or marmalade.

Tips:

• Use fine semolina and not the coarse one.
• To make fresh pumpkin puree at home, I cut the pumpkin into thick slices, coat it with oil and roast it in the oven for 20-30 minutes till its done. Scoop out the flesh and puree it in a food processor.
• If you happen to get a pale pumpkin, add ½ tsp turmeric powder to the pumpkin puree to give it that nice golden colour. Anyway turmeric is good for health and a natural colour.

Check out the bakes using pumpkin from my fellow bakers:

• Almost Vegan Chocolate and Pumpkin Loaf Cake by Sizzling Tastebuds
• Brown Butter & Pumpkin Seed Scones by Food Above Gold
• Cinnamon Pumpkin Quick Bread by Food Lust People Love
• Cinnamon Spice Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts and a Trio of Frosting by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Hearty Whole Wheat Bread with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Italian Pumpkin Bread by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Lal Bhoplyachya Gharge by Sneha's Recipe
• Nutella Swirl Pumpkin Bread by Plated Cravings
• Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Swirl by A Baker's House
• Pumpkin Cardamom Buns by Sara's Tasty Buds
• Pumpkin Chocolate Babka by House of Nash Eats
• Pumpkin Cornbread by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Pumpkin Dinner Rolls by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling by Cook's Hideout
• Pumpkin Pepita Muffin Tops by A Salad For All Seasons
• Pumpkin Pie Stuffed Cinnamon Rolls by Kylee Cooks
• Pumpkin Raisin Scones by Palatable Pastime
• Pumpkin Ricotta Pull Apart Buns by Food Smart Mom
• Pumpkin Sour Cherry Sourdough Bread by A Shaggy Dough Story
• Pumpkin Spice Ale Soft Pretzels by Baking Sense
• Pumpkin Spice Raisin Bread with Kinako by What Smells So Good?
• Pumpkin Spice Swirl Quickbread by Baking in Pyjamas
• Multigrain Pumpkin Bread by Herbivore Cucina
• Two Tone Pumpkin Bread by Passion Kneaded
• Whole Wheat Pumpkin Sandwich Loaf by Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Yeasted Pumpkin Bread by Veena’s Vegnation

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.
If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.