Yeasted pumpkin bread

As I've mentioned before I'm trying to use up all my frozen pumpkin to clear some space in my freezer (thanks for all the great ideas I plan to make some soon!). Well in our house we make almost all our own bread, normally just simple loaves with maybe a few seeds in. While I was searching for things to do with my pumpkin I came across this recipe for a loaf of bread made with pumpkin purée. I like to try new and unusual things and this sounded really interesting so, I gave it a go and the results were brilliant. It rose to a huge size, much bigger than I expected, this made for a very light loaf rather than the dense bread I anticipated. The pumpkin gave it an amazing orange colour and helped to keep it really soft. I decorated the top with pumpkin seeds (what else?) and this is the result.Unfortunately I can't remember where I found the recipe, if anyone can tell me I'll gladly credit it to them, but here it is:

Ingredients (for 12 rolls or 1 loaf):

• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of good Active Dry Yeast.

• 1 Tablespoon of sugar

• 1/2 cup of 110 degree (Fahrenheit) milk

• About 4 cups of flour (add more as you need when kneading)

• 1 cup pumpkin canned or home-made

• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg

• 3/4 stick of butter

• 1 egg, beaten a bit

Instructions:

1. Mix yeast and sugar into the milk and let the yeast grow for about 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients into a bowl
3. Chop the butter into bits and mix it into the dry ingredients
4. Add the egg, pumpkin and foamy yeast mixture
5. Mix everything together until its all combined
6. Next, take the dough and knead it on a floured surface (and keep it floured on top and bottom to keep from sticking on you and the surface) for about 10 minutes.
7. If you are in a hurry you can skip this step but your rolls might not be as good. Set the dough in a bowl and cover with a tea towel for about 1 hour (or until it doubles in size). Indeed, I was in a hurry and skipped this step so please comment if you include it and let me know how it turns out.
8. Punch the dough down and separate into 12 balls.
9. Place the balls on an oiled baking tray (or use a springform pan or glass baking dish) and let them rise for another 45 minutes.
10. Bake the rolls for 30-40 minutes or until they just turn golden at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Alternatively do as I did and put all the ingredients in a bread machine on the dough setting, then continue from step 8 onwards.

Classic Pumpkin Pie

I made this pumpkin pie a few weeks ago now, in an attempt to clear some space in our freezer I have been trying to use up anything which has been lost down the back and forgotten about. These are normally either strange ingredients that no one quite knows what to do with or else they are unlabelled "mystery items" that are unidentifiable and have been there so long they are covered in a thick layer of frost!
In this case it is the former, pumpkin is an unusual ingredient in England, rarely used and hard to find in the shops (although squash is becoming more common it is still "exotic"). I happen to have a load of pumpkin that I grew myself, not knowing what to do with it I diced it and froze it, and the freezer is where it has remained ever since.I only know of one use for pumpkin and that is pumpkin pie, it is a great shame that this fantastic dessert is not more widely known in this country, I have never seen it for sale anywhere. So if you want one you have to make it yourself. The recipe I used is a photocopy from a friend of a friend and unfortunately I don't know who the original author is, needless to say it is a really good recipe that I have made a few times and it never fails.

If anyone has any other good uses for pumpkin please let me know, I still have plenty left!

Pumpkin Pie
You will need 1 9 inch pie crust and the following

• 2 Large eggs
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1 can (16 ounces) pumpkin or make your own pumpkin purée
• 1 can (12 ounces) of evaporated milk

Method

• Heat oven to 425f
• Beat the eggs in a bowl with a whisk then beat in remaining ingredients.
• Pour into pie shell and bake for 15 minutes (to prevent spilling place the pie shell on the oven rack then pour in the filling).
• After 15 minutes lower the temperature to 325f and bake for a further 45 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
• Chill in the fridge for 4 hours and serve with whipped cream.