This is a dense, savoury bread – earthy and sweet from the pumpkin, with rosemary and caraway enhancing those attributes. Such a good way to use up a leftover chunk of pumpkin or squash or make this the reason you buy one. Excellent with cheese (especially blue cheese), ham, butter, slices of apple… I’m thinking an autumn picnic.
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
- 150g (5oz) pumpkin or squash, peeled and de-seeded (prepared weight)
- 250g (9oz) wholemeal plain (all-purpose) flour
- 175g (6oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 ½ tbsp finely chopped rosemary leaves
- 1 tbsp caraway seeds
- 200–250ml (7–8 ½ fl oz) buttermilk
- 1 tsp rapeseed oil
Method
Preheat the oven to 175°C fan/375°F/gas 5.
Grate the pumpkin flesh into a bowl. Set aside, keeping the pumpkin seeds for later.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix together, then add the grated pumpkin, using a fork to work it all in. Add the buttermilk in stages, working it into the mix to achieve a soft but not sticky dough. You may not need all the buttermilk. Don’t knead, just bring it together into a round dome or more of an oval.
Brush a baking tray or large casserole with the oil. Sit the dough in. If it’s a round shape, score a deep cross in the top; for more of an oval, just make 3 slashes across.
Clean a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds, removing the stringy fibres. Brush a little of the remaining buttermilk over the top of the loaf and scatter the seeds over.
Bake for 40–50 minutes until golden and risen. The base should sound hollow when you tap it and a skewer inserted come out clean. Cool the loaf on a wire rack for 30 minutes before cutting into it. Note that this bread is not really a keeper – best eaten the same day or the next.
Images and text from Seasoning by Angela Clutton, photography by Patricia Niven, illustrations by Georgina Luck. Murdoch Books. RRP $59.99
