This recipe is one of my all-time favorite fall/winter recipes. It is the best right out of the oven with butter on it, but it is also a great stew or soup bread.
The bread is an enriched dough, with butter and eggs in it, making it very soft and rich. The butternut squash does not add a strong flavor, but just lightly drifts on top. I love that it has a crispy crust, while still maintaining a gorgeously soft interior.
The dough rises pretty fast, so it is okay to cut the rise time a little bit. When you shape the dough, it is tough to roll out the strands. If you squeeze the dough into a strand first it makes it easier to roll out longer strands.
You can use butternut squash or pumpkin inside of the bread. I am partial to butternut squash as I am one of the shameful pumpkin pie haters, but canned pumpkin works just fine in this recipe.
Time: 2 1/2 hrs Serves: 6-12
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked and pureed butternut squash
- 1 pkg instant yeast
- 2 T warm water
- 1/3 cup warm milk
- 1/4 cup salted butter, softened or melted
- 1 egg
- 3 T sugar
- 3 c flour
For top: 1 egg and 1 T of water
Directions
- In a bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water for 10 min.
- Add milk, butter, squash, 1 egg, sugar, and 2 cups of flour. Stir to combine. Add remaining cup of flour.
- Once mixture is gathered, place on lightly floured counter and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and stretchy. Place in lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise for an hour.
- Divide dough into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 18 in long. Pinch 3 ropes together on one end and braid and pinch end. Repeat with for the other loaf.
- Place on a lightly greased pan. Cover and let rise for 30 min. Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Mix egg and water together throughly. Brush on top of loaves. Bake for 20-25 min.