Butternut Squash and Sunflower Seed Loaf 南瓜葵花籽包

After the success of my White Toast, I thought I'd try another of Kin's recipes from her book "Natural Breads Made Easy".  (天然麵包香 ~ 獨角仙@藍色大門.) 

It's supposed to be pumpkin but I have a butternut squash sitting in the kitchen waiting to be peeled chopped and something done with it.  In all honesty, it's probably been sitting there for at least two months when I had the intention of turning it into a butternut squash soup.  Butternut squash does keep well - I guess due to it's hard exterior but I do think the longer you leave it, the more dehydrated the flesh becomes.


Pumpkin and Sunflower Seed Loaf 南瓜葵花籽包
Pre-ferment Dough
bread flour                   70%          411g
water                           40%          235g
fresh yeast                    2%           12g
sea salt                         1%           6g
skim milk powder         2%          12g

Dissolve the yeast in water.  Add bread flour, sea salt, skim milk powder and knead until soft.  Cover the dough in cling wrap.  Refrigerate to let it prove for 17 hours.

Dough
bread flour                    30%         176g
skim milk powder          3%            18g
sea salt                          1%              6g
sugar                             10%          59g
egg                                3%            18g
fresh yeast                     1%              6g
water                             7%           41g
unsalted butter                7%           41g
cooked pumpkin puree   23%       135g
julienne pumpkin            15%          88g
roasted sunflower seeds 10%          59g

• Steam half a pumpkin with skin on until tender.  Then peel seed and mash.  Julienne the remaining half of the pumpkin.

• Roast the sunflower seeds in an oven briefly.  Leave them to cool.

• Cut the pre-ferment dough into small pieces.

• Knead all ingredients together (except the butter, sunflower seeds and the pumpkin julienne).  Add pre-ferment dough piece by piece and knead after each addition until smooth.  Add butter, sunflower seeds and the pumpkin julienne.  Knead until stretchable consistency.

• Put the dough into a big bowl.  Cover with cling wrap and let it prove for about 25-30 minutes.

• Divide the dough into two equal parts and hand square each.  Set aside to rest for about 20 minutes.

• Flatten the dough with your hands to drive the air out.  Roll the dough out with a rolling pin into a rectangle.  Fold both ends inwards (the two long sides) and roll it out once more.  Roll the dough up to about the same width of the loaf tin.  Spray water on it and coat the dough with sunflower seeds.  Place the dough into a loaf tin.  Cover with cling wrap.

 

• Let it to prove for about 45 minutes or until the dough has risen up to 80% of the depth of the mould.  Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170-180 deg C for about 30-35 minutes.

I substituted pumpkin for butternut squash as that is what I had at home.  I also found the dough mix very wet and sticky and I ended up adding a further 250 g of strong bread flour just so I could work with it.  I was anxious not to add too much as it will result in a tougher and drier loaf and may not keep as well.  As my dough had increased I ended up making 3 loaves from this batch each weighing just over 500 g each.  I gave each of the loaves away to friends and family so didn't get to sample my hard work!