Last week, I went to a steak house with some work colleagues. This was not an ideal situation for me, only because I’m a vegetarian. The meatless main course options were severely limited. There was literally one choice, a roast vegetable dish.
It was a really delicious mix of roasted sweet potato, butternut squash, walnuts and pumpkin seeds topped with a generous amount of goat’s cheese, rocket and a sundried tomato vinaigrette/sauce/puree. To make it all even better, there was really great sourdough bread on the table!
The next day, I saw Ian’s butternut squash loaf which inspired me to try adding butternut squash to my next loaf and the meal I had the day before inspired the other two additions.
I wasn’t sure how much liquid the squash would add to the dough. So after getting some advice from Ian, I treated the squash in the same as I had the sweet potato in a sweet potato, pecan and walnut SD I made a few weeks ago. I basically just took that formula and replaced the sweet potato with butternut squash and the pecans with pumpkin seeds.
Formula:
Ingredients | Final dough | % in final dough | |
Levain (80% hydration) | 130 | ||
Water | 215 | 273 | 70% |
Flour | 320 | 392 | 100% |
Unbleached white bread flour | 305 | 305 | 78% |
Whole wheat flour | 15 | 85 | 21% |
Rye flour [from 6g of starter in the levain] |
| 2 | 1% |
Salt | 10 | 10 | 2.55% |
Add ins | 195 | 195 | 50% |
Pumpkin seeds (toasted) | 40 | 40 | 10% |
Walnuts (toasted) | 40 | 40 | 10% |
Butternut squash (mashed) | 115 | 115 | 30% |
Total dough weight (g) | 870 | 870 |
Method:
- 3 stage levain build using 6g of NMNF rye starter (all builds with whole wheat flour). Refrigerate overnight after the 3rd build doubles.
- Roast butternut squash (I didn’t add anything to it) and mash it up once it’s cooled.
- Toast seeds and nuts and mix into the squash (I like doing this, because it stops the seeds sucking to much moisture out of the dough).
4. Make autolyse the night before mixing and leave in the fridge.
5. 2 hours before mixing, remove levain and dough from fridge and allow to come to room temp.
6.Mix all ingredients (don’t forget the salt) and leave to rest for 30 mins.
7. 4 stretch and folds at 30mins intervals.
8.Bulk ferment for 2 hours and 50mins (I was aiming for 2 hours and 30mins but I got distracted)
9. Pre shape dough and rest for 25mins
10. Shape dough and place in basket. Leave at room temp for 45mins before putting it in the fridge overnight.
11. Bake straight from the fridge. 20mins at 240dC with steam, then 25mins at 220dC, then turn the oven off and leave the loaf in there for another 5mins.
12. Cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.
The loaf sprang fairly well, not hugely though. Probably let it go a bit too long during the bulk fermentation.
The crumb is very soft and moist. Its great for sandwiches and toast.
The taste is great, I love it. There is a strong nutty and toasty flavor because of the walnuts and the toasted seeds. The butternut squash is a subtle taste, it mostly comes through as a background sweetness.
This is a recipe i'll try again.
Happy baking.
- Ru007's Blog
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I adore butternut squash and this is the time of year for that. Also, the nuts / seed additions seem perfect. looks superb. I might try this w some dried cranberries (soaked to inflate). Looks delicious.
Gosh, the breads today on the TFL blog are taking my breath away.
Great job, Ru and good luck on your upcoming exams.
hester
I appreciate your kind words.
I like the idea of cranberries. Ian made a cranberry and walnut loaf that i'm still meaning to try. Why not throw some squash in there too!
Glad you liked the post :)
Happy baking
I love butternut squash so I am book marking this. This looks absolutely delicious!
Thanks Danni :)
I hope you get to try this sometime. I'm sure you'll like it.
Happy baking.
Wow! What a great bake Ru. I'm so happy I was able to inspire you to take it to the next level. I love the addition of the nuts and seeds. Love that soft crumb too.
Regards,
Ian
I'm so glad you liked the post. I really liked the look of your loaf so I tried to put my own spin on it.
I certainly enjoyed making and eating this loaf.
Thanks for the inspiration and the encouragement!
Ru
any thanksgiving table. Nutty, seedy, squashy is the new holiday It bread. Would make some fine fools too I bet. Beautiful inside and out. Well done and happy baking Ru
Glad you liked the post :) thanks for the compliment.
I'm really enjoying trying all these new combinations, I think Lucy's creativity is rubbing off on me :)
It's funny, I wasn't even trying for a thanks giving loaf (thanks giving isnt really a thing here). I do have a few American friends hosting a thanks giving dinner in a couple of weeks so I may try this out on them.
Happy baking :)
well done, and I wholeheartedly agree that the breads take your breath away! :)
Leslie
Thanks for the compliment Leslie :)
Have a great week !
Ru
Honestly speaking when you mentioned that your bread is something like mine I was expecting a bread that has a similar outlook. But it's totally different and looks awesome. Different procedure but somehow similar ingredients yield a unique bread which looks just great. I bet the taste is also great and I am sure it doesn't taste like mine. I really like this fact. We all are baking bread but we can make our distinct bread according to our ideas and taste although we are using same or almost the same ingredients. That's just amazing.
Thanks for posting your recipe and I will definitely try it once. I am really curious what kind of taste I will get.
Happy baking Ru!
Joze
I know right, I definitely want to try you're loaf too!
I saw some really bright orange pumpkin in the grocery store the other day. Although i'm not big fan of pumpkin, bread seems to make things better :) I thought i didn't like figs but when i made a pecan a figs loaf, i changed my mind!
Its very interesting how similar ingredients can yield such different results!
Happy baking to you to.
Ru
This looks so scrumptious! We alike often get inspirations from non-bread items. :D I think some goat or blue cheese will go well with this.
As a vegetarian, are meats and fishes the only food you don't eat but you eat dairy and eggs?
I prefer goats cheese to blue cheese though, but i think both would be a great accompaniment. I went to look for some goats cheese but i didn't find anything :(
thanks for the compliment Pal!
Yes, i do eat dairy and eggs. I don't have anything against the idea of eating meat, i just don't like it!
Hope you're doing well?
After thinking about it for ages, today I made this bread with a few tweaks. Built levain using Higrade flour only and refrigerated it overnight. Roasted buttersquash, mashed and refrigerated overnight. When I went to actually bake I didn't have Macadamia nuts (instead of walnuts) or pumpkin seed. So this morning dashed to the store, back home to toast sunflower and pumpkin seed and mix with squash while everything warmed up. (Seed/nut mix was equal amounts toasted sunflower seed, and pumpkin seed, and chopped macadamia nut (raw)). Basically followed your method Ru but final proof was done on bench. The last 1 hour in the fridge before baking.
Can't wait to see the crumb and try it, maybe before I go to bed!
It was interesting bake, with dough comming together more and more during stretch and fold and BF.
Leslie
PS I chickened out on the spices, I wanted to try the basic before I jazz it up a bit:)
Your loaf is beautiful!
I'm super happy right now!! I'm so glad it worked out for you.
It took me a while to muster up the courage to add the spices, lots of mental preparation was involved! LOL!!
Great bake Leslie :)
I have some frozen pumpkin that wants using. MIght try this with pumpkin tomorrow. Thanks for the post.