Pumpkin Walnut Bread.

Can you believe it ? That Thanksgiving is tomorrow ?? I most certainly cannot. The closest I've gotten to this seasons holiday spirit is making multiple loaves of this pumpkin walnut bread. Multiple loaves for multiple thank yous I've had piling up. And I'm still not through them all. Thinking now, it's sort of this holiday's spirit twofold. Pumpkins and Thanks : two of my favorite aspects of this month and next.

I hope for everyone traveling today it is safe and painless, and you make it to your loved ones arms in the blink of an eye. And I hope if it's not painless, you don't let it get to you knowing how worth it every step of that journey is (remind me of this when I'm on the turnpike at a standstill). If you haven't left, and you need a last minute hostess gift, or way of saying thanks, this bread couldn't be easier to bake. It has been a staple of my bread making for quite a few years now.

Pumpkin Walnut bread :
Ingredients -
2 cups (10 oz) unbleached Flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temp
1/3 cup water
1.5 cups sugar
1 cup (9oz) canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup neutral flavored vegetable oil (canola)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (4 oz) chopped toasted walnuts

1. preheat over to 350 degrees and position oven rack in the center. Lightly coat a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan w/melted butter or high heat canola oil spray and line it with a piece of parchment paper that extends 1 inch beyond the edge of both sides of the pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, and salt until thoroughly blended. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and water. Add the sugar and blend well. Add the pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Mix well.
2. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Add the walnuts and stir until they are evenly distributed. Use a spatula to scrape the batter into prepared loaf pan and level the top.
3. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until the bread is firm to the touch. and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a rack and cool completely. To serve, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices by sawing gently with serrated knife.

Healthy + Mini Version 2010

We all know at this point that I'm often a banana bread factory. My grandmother's recipe has kept me chopping and mixing in the kitchen on many occasions. The other night I decided to try a healthier version. I didn't make it vegan because I'm not so opposed to an egg or two, but yesterday I noticed a note on my Flaxseed Meal bag ( that's what you all do on Tuesday nights too, right ? Read the back of your Flaxseed Meal bags ? ) that said they were a great egg replacement. Say wha ? Who knew ? If my first health improvements prove to be yummy ( my judgment of a spoon lick is yes, but all the loaves were sent out -- I'll have to wait for a report back ), maybe I'll try replacing the eggs with Flaxseed and the white sugar with natural, and it would be vegan ! In the meantime , check out the recipe below. If nothing else, the batter is delish .

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce (to replace the 1/2 cup of Canola oil )
3/4 cup sugar (usually it's one cup, but I read that you can usually take the sugar down by a quarter without a taste difference... plus I figured even unsweetened apple sauce is sweet )
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana ( 3 to 5 )
3/4 cup carrots
1 cup sifted all purpose flour
1 cup sifted whole wheat all purpose flour (usually both are white )
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup chopped prunes
1 tsp lemon juice
(I usually take the nuts out, but 2/3 a cup of chopped nuts is also an option )

Preheat your over to 350 and butter ( I sprayed for the health kick! ) a 2 quart loaf pan ( I went with a few minis ).
Cream apple sauce + sugar together. Mix in eggs + vanilla. Mix in bananas, carrots + prunes. Mix in flour, soda and salt. Mix in (nuts) lemon juice. Cook for an hour and fifteen minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Adjust cooking time if you've adjusted your pan size !

Fougasse

"In French cuisine, fougasse is a type of bread typically associated with Provence but found (with variations) in other regions. Some versions are sculpted or slashed into a pattern resembling an ear of Wheat,"(thanks Wikipedia). Ive seen this type of bread before, but I never knew the name until reading through my November Bon Appetit. I was sold as soon as I saw that it required design, and involved sun dried tomatoes, olives, and had origins in Provence. The writer who waxed poetic on this savory baked good compared his reaction to Fougasse to Christian Petrossian's words on Cavier, "En fin, all you really need to know is that Caviar makes you dream." So too, does fragrant hand shaped bread from the French Countryside. So I decided to give it a shot. Above you see the finished product, after I gave it as a gift, being eaten for dinner tonight (snapped on an iphone). No text could have made me happier ;)
I was thinking about it tonight and this could obviously be great in other varieties--I think oil-packed is key (think Italian antipasta), so why not artichokes and lemon, or just a lavender? Roasted red pepper perhaps?

And so it began. The recipe calls for 1 3/4 cups + 2 teaspoons warm water (105 to 115 F) divided, 1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, 5 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil divided, plus more for brushing, 4 Cups all purpose flour, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1/2 cup oil cured black olives--pitted and quartered, 1/2 cup drained oil packed sun dried tomatoes, 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary, 2 teaspoons grated fresh lemon peel, coarse kosher salt.

Pour 2/3 cup warm water into a 2-cup measuring cup. Sprinkle yeast, then sugar, over; stir to blend. Let stand until yeast dissolves and mixture bubbles, 5 to 7 minutes. Add 1 cup warm water and 4 1/2 tablespoons oil.
Mix flour and 1 3/4 teaspoons salt in heavy-duty mixture (not so sure about heavy duty?! I think mine is pretty average). Pour in Yeast mixture. Attach dough hook (yessss, I only ever get to use the paddle attachment): beat at a medium-low speed until flour is moistened but looks shaggy (hm.. Not sure how flour looks shaggy but I went with it), about 3 minutes. Increase speed to medium; beat until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and climbs hook, about 1o minutes (dough will be like sticky batter).
Mix olives, tomatoes, rosemary, and lemon peel in a medium bowl. Add to dough and beat one minute. Using sturdy spatula, stir dough by hand to blend.
Lightly oil large bowl. Brush top of bowl with oil. Brush plastic wrap with oil; cover bowl oil side down (I hope you guessed as much). Let dough rise in warm draft free area until doubled, about 1 to 2 hours (I really don't think mine doubled).
Gently turn dough several times with spatula to deflate. Re-cover bowl with oiled plastic; chill overnight (dough will rise).

Sprinkle two large baking sheets with flour. Using spatula (somehow I don't own a spatula?! I used my hand), deflate dough by stirring or folding over several times. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Place 1 piece on floured work surface; sprinkle with flour. Roll out dough to 12x8- to 12x9-inch rectangle, sprinkling with flour to keep from sticking. Transfer dough to sheet.
Using very sharp small knife, cut 4 2-inch long slashes just to the right of center of rectangle and 4 more just to left to create pattern resembling leaf veins. Pull slashes apart with fingertips to make 3/4 to 1-inch wide openings.
Repeat with remaining dough. Cover dough with towel. Let rest 20 minutes. Beat 2 teaspoons water and 1 tablespoon oil in small bowl to blend for glaze.
position 1 rack in top third and one rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 450F. Brush fougasse with glaze; sprinkle with coarse salt and pierce all over with fork.
Bake fougasse 10 minutes. Revere position of baking sheets and turn around. Bake fougasse until golden--about 10 minutes. Transfer to racks; cool 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
I will say I'm not sure mine ever doubled or deflated. Seemed to work in the end regardless, but it did have me nervous there. Now you don't have to be.

I wrapped my still warm fougasse in parchment paper and ribbon to tote along as a gift. It tastes like yummy pizza crust with olive and tomato. Great for pulling apart at the dinner table with a simple meal. Enjoy ;)
*Dan Greenspan shared this recipe in Bon Appetit. His latest cookbook is "Baking: From My Home to Yours.

When in Doubt: Bake Bread.

It's something I can't get enough of. Baking in general is a love of mine. At the risk of sounding Type A, I like feeling productive, I like to see finish products, I like detail, and I like perfection ;). That doesn't sound type A, does it? Anyway, this has lead to lots of baking of the years. Lots of chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, Christmas cookies, Thanksgiving cobblers and pies, Birthday cakes galore, and breads. The bread obsession started with my grandmother's banana bread. When I go through Banana bread phases (totally normal for a 27 year old single girl in Manhattan, right?) I'm a mini factory. Basically if you've ever said hi to me on the street you get a loaf. Breads are perfect because they can be sent so easily. They don't break, crumble or smush. So when I had repeat recipients to bestow a gift on I had to expand my bread horizons. I now have a favorite curry zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, and apple bread. If I know you and your sad, sick or passed a test you get a loaf of bread. This week My grandmother fell, my younger sister is getting close to her marathon and a best friend had celebratory news. So guess what I decided it was time for? BREAD. And I turned to my blogging friends for something new and fall-ish like my pumpkin. I found this Pear Bread care of Bakeorbreak.com. I wish I could tell you if its a success or not but it is baking away in my oven as we speak (err.. I write). We'll have to ask Grandmom next week :).

The Print above is care of my very favorite fruit and vegetable artist Patricia Curtan. In fact, its thanks to the beauties on her website that I drool over often AND the beautiful one on my wall (best Christmas present ever), that I'm debating a botany drawing class at the Bronx Botanical Garden. You might recognize her from the fabulous Alice Waters and her Chez Panisse cookbooks.