Yeasted Pumpkin and Cranberry Bread

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My Yeasted Pumpkin and Cranberry Bread is made with fresh pumpkin – lightly spiced with cinnamon and studded with cranberries. It’s a real taste of Autumn and makes a perfect breakfast bread, toasted or simply buttered.

My soft Pumpkin Bread is easy to make. You can have a loaf done and dusted in just under 3 hours but given that hands on time is only about 15 minutes, you’re free to get on with something else as your dough rises and bakes.

Our pumpkin and squash harvest in France was a much anticipated event. After all the watering (pumped up from our spring) and “vine training”, I really looked forward to actually using our produce in my recipes.

Although Autumn/harvest is an extra busy time in the kitchen, I always reserved enough time to use pumpkin and squash to make jams and chutneys. Whatever the size and variety of our pumpkin harvest, I made sure to hold back enough to make my pumpkin bread recipe.

What equipment do I need ?

I use my KitchenAid stand mixer to knead the dough. Simply add the ingredients and mix on a low speed.

Don’t worry if you haven’t got a stand mixer, all you need is a bit of elbow grease and you can easily knead by hand.

A 2lb loaf tin – I use my favourite Masterclass tin.

What do I need to make Yeasted Pumpkin Bread ?

• Steamed and pureed pumpkin – Pumpkin yeast bread is a great recipe for your leftover Halloween Jack ‘O’ Lantern pumpkins. The recipe also works well with squash or canned unsweetened pumpkin puree.

Top Tip: Steam your Halloween pumpkin flesh and pack in handy amounts ready to use later.

• Bread flour – I use Marriage’s white bread flour which has a high gluten content essential for a soft and fluffy pumpkin bread.
• Yeast – I like to use Dove’s Farm instant yeast (often called fast action yeast or quick yeast) because it’s so easy to use.
• You can mix instant yeast directly in with your other ingredients whereas active dry yeast needs to be dissolved first and left to bloom.
  If you use active dry yeast, add to warm water along with a spoon of caster / extra fine sugar. Stir and leave for 10 to 15 minutes to bubble up so it’s ready to be added to the rest of the ingredients.
• Sugar – you only need two tablespoons as the pumpkin and dried cranberries bring sweetness to the bread.
• Bicarbonate of soda / baking soda – just a quarter of a teaspoon to add extra lightness to the finished pumpkin loaf. The bicarb reacts with the acid in the buttermilk to give the bread an extra lift.
• Cinnamon – one of my favourite Autumn spices and it pairs so well with pumpkin and cranberries.
• Butter – to enrich the dough and give it flavour.
• Buttermilk – I love to use buttermilk because it gives the pumpkin bread a “lift”, delivering a lovely soft loaf.
• Dried cranberries – I prefer to use dried cranberries as they are sweeter than fresh cranberries. Also, fresh cranberries tend to swell and burst, leaving small holes in the finished pumpkin bread.
• A cup of steamed and pureed pumpkin.
• Egg or milk wash – to give your loaf a lovely sheen.

Buttermilk Substitute

Use the same quantity of regular milk with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or white wine vinegar. This gives it an acidity similar to that of buttermilk.

Add the lemon juice or vinegar to your milk, give it a stir and then leave for five minutes. The milk will have become thicker and clumpy and is ready to use in your pumpkin bread.

Alternatively, you can use a 50 / 50 mixture of yoghurt and milk as a buttermilk substitute.

How to make Yeasted Pumpkin and Cranberry Bread

• Firstly, warm the buttermilk in the microwave for one minute. The liquid temperature should be tepid to warm so as to encourage the yeast to start working – too much heat will kill the yeast.
• Add all your ingredients to the mixer bowl of a free standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Knead on a low setting for up to 10 minutes until your dough is smooth and elastic. Alternatively, mix ingredients in a large bowl until they come together and then knead the dough on a work surface.
• Check your dough is ready using the window pane test.

The windowpane test is a consistently reliable way to check your dough is ready. Pinch off a small piece of dough and gently stretch it apart, pulling and rotating the dough into a thin membrane, or window pane, which is translucent when you hold it up to the light.

• Place your dough in a large greased mixing bowl and cover.
• Leave to rest in a warm place for at least one and a half hours or until doubled in size.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and divide into 3 portions.
• Roll each portion with your hands into a 35 cm long sausage shape.

• Lay the 3 dough sausages in front of you and begin plaiting from the centre, left over right, right over left etc.
• When you reach the end, turn your plait and repeat, plaiting in reverse order.
• Press the ends together and tuck them in to neaten before placing in your loaf tin.
• Cover and leave to rise for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
• Brush your loaf with egg wash.
• Bake in the oven the 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown.

How long will does it keep ?

Like most homemade bread, fresh is best but it will keep for a couple of days. Toasting is a good way to use up not so fresh bread and Pumpkin and Cranberry Bread is great when toasted.

Can it be frozen ?

Yes, it can! Freeze your pumpkin and cranberry bread whole or cut into slices and place in a food safe freezer bag.

Pumpkin bread will keep in the freezer for up to three months.

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More pumpkin recipes for you to try….

Spicy Pumpkin Chutney

Squash and Apple Soup

Pumpkin Jam

Yeasted Pumpkin & Cranberry Bread

My Yeasted Pumpkin & Cranberry Bread is made with fresh pumpkin – lightly spiced with cinnamon & studded with cranberries. It's a real taste of Autumn & makes a perfect breakfast bread, toasted or simply buttered.

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5 from 59 votes

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Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Resting Time: 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 slices

Calories: 206kcal

Author: Sarah James

slices

Equipment

• Stand Mixer
• Mixing Bowl
• 2 lb bread tin

Ingredients

• 500 g strong white bread flour
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ½ teasppon salt
• ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 50 g softened butter
• 200 ml buttermilk (or half milk & half yoghurt)
• 200 g dried cranberries
• 250 g steamed pumpkin or squash – pureed
• 2 tablespoons egg wash or milk

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

• Warm the buttermilk (or milk and yoghurt mixture) for 1 minute in a microwave on full power. The liquid temperature should be tepid to warm – enough to encourage the yeast to start working but not hot enough to kill it. If you don’t have a microwave, gently warm the liquid in a saucepan.
• Add all your ingredients to the mixer bowl of a free standing mixer fitted with dough hook.
• Mix on slow speed number 1 for approximately 1 to 2 minutes then on speed number 2 for 8 to 10 minutes. Your dough should be lovely and smooth and elastic.
• Place your dough in a large greased mixing bowl and cover.
• Leave to rest in a warm place for at least one and a half hours or until doubled in size.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and divide into 3 portions. Roll each portion with your hands into a 35 cm long sausage shape.
• Lay the 3 dough sausages in front of you and begin plaiting from the centre, left over right, right over left etc.
• When you reach the end, turn your plait and repeat, plaiting in reverse order.
• Press the ends together and tuck them in to neaten before placing in your loaf tin.
• Cover and leave to rise for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
• Brush your loaf with egg wash.
• Bake in the oven the 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown.

Notes

Mixing and kneading your dough by hand:
Combine all the dough ingredients in a large bowl, stirring them together until they form a ball.
Knead by hand for 10 to 12 minutes.

Buttermilk Substitute:
Use the same quantity of regular milk with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or white wine vinegar. This gives it an acidity similar to that of buttermilk.

How long will it keep ?
Like most homemade bread, fresh is best but it will keep for a couple of days. Toasting is a good way to use up not so fresh bread and Pumpkin and Cranberry Bread is great when toasted.

Can it be frozen ?
Yes, it can! Freeze your pumpkin and cranberry bread whole or cut into slices and place in a food safe freezer bag.
Pumpkin bread will keep in the freezer for up to three months.

Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 206kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 74mg | Potassium: 125mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 3378IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 38mg | Iron: 2mg

Pin Yeasted Pumpkin & Cranberry Bread for later:

• The Teatime Treats Challenge  hosted by Karen over at Lavender & Lovage and Janie at The Hedgecombers, hosted this month by Karen.
• Credit Crunch Munch created by Camilla from Fab Food 4 All & Helen over at Fuss Free Flavours & hosted this month by Camilla.
• The Extra Veg Challenge created by Michelle from Utterly Scrummy & Helen from Fuss Free Flavours & hosted this month by Kate at Veggie Desserts.
• The No Waste Food Challenge created by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary hosted this month by Kate at Veggie Desserts.
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And linking to: Fiesta Fridays