A cinnamon swirl bread with a twist

My Beloved has been listening to a book about brain fog.  Which that type of book always makes my life very interesting.  It means that I may get asked for interesting ingredients added into our diet.  Or more of certain foods that we eat.  So far it has been easy.  More tea.  More berries.  More vegetables.  More cinnamon.  The cinnamon meant that I got asked to make a cinnamon swirl bread.

Usually when I make a cinnamon swirl bread it means that I use an enriched dough.  But there were no eggs in the house and I did not wish to go to the store.  I had seen a recipe for a simple sourdough that had added pumpkin.  I had recently roasted pumpkin in the refrigerator.  Why not?  I find adding oats or fruit or vegetable puree can take the place of eggs.  This time it worked.

I used my basic bread recipe with one cup of milk and one cup of water, one and a half cups of pumpkin, and a half cup of brown sugar.  It turned out really well.  I had one loaf with a cinnamon swirl and one without.  Life is good.

Pumpkin Sourdough

Note:  Use the best flour possible.  Heritage and/or organic if you have access or the pennies too.

sourdough starter

1 cup water

1 cup milk

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 3/4 cup blended roasted pumpkin (the smoother the better)

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons butter

5 to 6 cups all purpose flour 

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a large bowl, mix the sourdough starter, milk, water, whole wheat flour, and two cups of white flour.  Cover and let become bubbly.  It should look like pancake batter.

When it looks like pancake batter, take a scoop and refresh your sourdough starter that you kept back in the refrigerator or add 4 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of water to you jar of sourdough.  Mix well.

To the batter, add the pumpkin, the sugar, and the salt.  Mix in 2 cups of flour.  If the batter becomes a soft dough, start to knead.  If not, add another half cup of flour.  Turn the dough onto a clean floured surface and knead.  Knead until smooth.  Then, start kneading in the butter.  I smash the butter on the floured surface with my hand or rolling pin.  Fold it a few times before I start to knead.

Once the dough is a smooth bowl, I put it back into my rinsed bowl and let rise until double.  My day got away from me, so I actually flattened it back, reshaped it into a ball and let it rise again.

I took about two thirds of this dough and shaped it into a simple sandwich loaf.  Place into a parchment lined loaf pan.

The last third, I rolled out into a square.  I mixed the 1/2 cup brown sugar and cinnamon together.  Spread this mixture over the dough and roll into a log.  Place in a parchment lined loaf pan.

Let both loaves rise about another hour or until puffy and almost double.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour.

I am now wishing I had switched the larger loaf to the cinnamon swirl.  This week I will.