Hello, Frugalers! I have returned from a week long hiatus in Aylesbury, a large town home to both Katherine and a world famous breed of duck – there are no prizes for guessing its name. I must admit that the time spent away from work and blogging was rather welcome, though I did miss the latter considerably. Indeed, armed with the knowledge that on my return to Aberystwyth our new kitchen would not yet be installed, my girlfriend and I set about cooking all manner of treats so that I could continue to blog following my break. Fear not, faithful readers, cooking is also a favourite pastime of my wonderful woman – I was not putting the blog ahead of our relationship, I don’t think.
This bread was one of my favourite creations of the week, and though the recipe may seem a little unorthodox, you can rest assured that it produces a wonderfully light and flavourful loaf. The recipe itself is an adapted, and slightly altered, version of that which appears in Gail Duff’s Vegetarian Cookbook, which was particularly popular during the 1980s. In fact, so impressive was this bread that I intend to recreate a few more of Ms Duff’s loaves once my kitchen is back in order.
What must also be evident to the most observant of my readership is that FrugalFeeding has finally taken the plunge and leapt onto the bandwagon known only as ‘Pumpkin’. It pains me to admit that I had my first ever taste of this delightful fruit merely a week ago, and while I remain resolute in my detestation of the scent of a raw pumpkin, it was certainly wrong of me to ever assume that things would not change once the process of cooking had been implemented. Though by no means as enjoyable as squash when eaten alone, pumpkin is perfect when either baked or turned into a soup – a contention which shall be supported in the coming days. For now, though, feel sorry for me in my kitchen-less hovel of a house – we have only a microwave with which to prepare food.
Pumpkin and Sage Bread
Makes one loaf
Ingredients:
• 225g pumpkin, chopped
• 15 ml water
• 25g butter
• 14g dried yeast, fast action is preferable
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 egg, beaten
• 225g plain wholemeal flour
• A generous pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
Method:
1. Put the pumpkin into a saucepan with the water. Put the lid on the saucepan and cook on a low heat for around 15 minutes, beat occasionally in order to form a thick puree. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter.
2. Meanwhile, mix together the yeast, honey and egg, before setting them aside to froth. Put the salt, flour and sage in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the yeast mixture, followed by the pumpkin puree and mix thoroughly. The dough will be a little wet, so knead it in the bowl – add 1 tbsp of flour if necessary. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and set it aside to rise for an hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 200C and grease a cake tin 6-7 inches in diameter. Knock the dough back and place it in the prepared tin, pressing it to the edges. Cover it once again with the tea towel and leave to prove for 15-20 minutes. Bake for 45 minutes and serve straight from the oven.
Cost: Pumpkin is an extremely cost effective ingredient; we got roughly 3.5 kilograms of flesh for £1.50. As such, this entire loaf should cost no more than 50p to recreate. When eating it, Katherine made the observation that the sort of shops that would sell bread like this would probably price it at around £2 per loaf. I think we can safely say that it is worth making it at home!
97 replies on “Pumpkin and Sage Bread”
Welcome to the world of pumpkin! Great recipe.
And what a lovely world it is.
We, on the bandwagon say, “welcome, pumpkin friend!” And also, “please bring a loaf of this exquisite looking bread with you the next time you want to ride with us…”
Ok, I shall! 😀
I’ll bet it smells wonderful!
Oh it does, it does.
What a gorgeous loaf, I love different breads. c
Thanks, Cecilia! Me too, I have a few up my sleeve.
Welcome back! Your attitude towards trying a food (even if it puts you off at first) is great! Lovely combo — pumpkin & sage!
Thanks so much – I like to think so 😀
Welcome home…and welcome to pumpkin-love!
This lloks yummy!
It was SO yummy.
This looks so lovely, Im sure it would make a great sourdough too 🙂
I have no doubt that it would.
Welcome back! As always, beautiful photos! I hope we’ll be seeing more pumpkin recipes from you.
Oh you will, you will.
I love freshly-baked, thick crusted breads. Your loaf definitely fits the description.
It does indeed – It was literally fantastic.
Wow! I’ll have me some fresh butter with that! Yumm!!
You do that 😀
Welcome back! I’ve never thought to put sage in bread! What a wonderful way to enhance pumpkin bread.
It works very, very well!
Women named Katherine are so smart! Welcome back, this bread looks wonderful.
Well, if you say so :P.
A crusty loaf of pumpkin bread, nothing says “autumn” better:)
Indeed, nothing does.
This looks insanely delightful! Happy to have found your blog 🙂
I’m happy that you have found it – please return 😀
Crusty, warm from the oven, smelling like Autumn and home! Num!
Num, Indeed. shame I don;t actually have a kitchen at the moment 😛
This bread looks amazing! I’ve been on a pumpkin kick lately, but I tell ya, once you start eating things with pumpkin it’s hard not to want to eat it all the time. Especially during this time of year!
Thanks, Nicole! Thing is, I can’t be bothered to prepare another 😀
Oh I can’t wait to try this.
It is properly delicious 😀
this looks so different from what i thought it was going to be! it looks like the perfect bread to soak up last little bits of soup with!
What did you think it was going to be? A sweet cake? I thought people might think that, but I do things outside of the box 😛
This break looks fabulous and works great for the holidays (but not my waistline!).
Thanks so much! It;s surprisingly healthy actually.
This bread looks incredible, pumpkin and sage are such a classic combination.
I’ve never heard of eating pumpkin raw, though it sounds like maybe I shouldn’t anyway!
Thanks! They are indeed. Don’t do it, I tried a little and hated it.
I love the idea of adding sage to pumpkin bread. I have never used sage in home made bread yet. That is a flaw I will need to fix soon.
It;s a great combination. Give it a go!
Oh, I have to make this tonight! Yummy!
I really hope you enjoyed it, if you made it 🙂
Frugal, this looks amazing. I have a smallish orange squash I might try this recipe with. May I suggest you try the porridge bread recipe on my blog 🙂 I think you’ll like it! A shameless plug I know! 🙂 http://alisonamazed.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/baking-bread/
Thanks. That would work perfectly. I shall check it out.
Looks incredible. I can almost smell it!
Perhaps you can?
Welcome back! And I’m glad to see pumpkin making a special guest star appearance, it’s most welcome. I also would like a plate that says ‘bread’ that’s very cool!
Thanks, Clever! It’s a chopping board not a plate 😀
Welcome back frugalmaster 😉 very nice recipe, thanks for thinking ahead and sharing.
Frugalmaster! I like it. No probs 😀
[…] 2. Remove the bay leaves once the pumpkin is tender. Blend the entire soup in a food processor until smooth. Return the blended soup to the saucepan and season to taste. Serve with my recently posted pumpkin and sage loaf. […]
This sounds so delicious! I haven’t used sage in awhile…I feel like this would be a hit at Thanksgiving!
I adore sage, so delicious.
oh my! my mouth is totally watering! going to try this with the pumpkin soup!
That’s exactly how we had it and it went SO well.
I adore thick-crusted breads with pillowy interiors. This looks like it hits those marks!
Oh it really did – it was fantastically baked.
That looks good!!! I love homemade bread!
Doesn’t everyone? 😀
This looks spectacular!
It was just that.
This looks absolutely delicious! One of my favourite looking pumpkin recipes online, I’m definitely going to try it.
Wow, a compliment indeed 😀 ~I hope you enjoy.
This looks really good, something I’d like to try along with the soup in your next post. I’m curious about the pumpkin you use. Where I am (Ontario, Canada) the most common variety of pumpkins has bright orange flesh and an orange skin. I think I’m going to do a little research about pumpkin varieties! Thanks for sharing, your blog is great! Mar
You should. If you do, I hope you enjoy it. i have no idea about pumpkin variety to be honest.
That looks like a good crust on that bread. I do love pumpkin but not so big on sage…perhaps I’ll add cinnamon instead.
Oh it was such a good crust 😀 I’d skip the cinnamon and add another type of fresh herb.
I have this dough rising right now.
Awesome – I’m so glad.
This looks really yummy! Will have to try.
You will!
Oh good, you’re back! Hope you had a lovely visit. Bread is something I have far from conquered…but this recipe looks like a lot of fun!
I am, and I did! This recipe is very simple.
Oh yum! This looks incredible!
Thanks, so much :). It was amazing.
Wow, this bread sound amazingly delicious! I really can’t wait to try it. Thanks for sharing
Thanks! It was delicious.
Maybe if I learn how to bake this bread, my boyfriend would stop spending Euro1.85 (!) for half a loaf of bread he claims to be “quality bread”. Will there be any difference if I were to bake only half the size?
It would take perhaps a little less time to cook, you’d also require a smaller tin. This really isn’t a massive loaf though.
This looks fantastic. Definitely going to give it a try. But maybe I’ll double the recipe – if one is good, two must most certainly be better!
[…] enjoy it. It’s amazing how much I’ve gotten done, between planning my next loaf of bread from my new favorite food blogger over at Frugal Feeding to catching up on my newest le […]
Baking fail. Smelled great, but in every other way it was lackluster. This is my own doing. I can’t bake to save my life–and I have conversion issues. Damn you, mathematics!
Oh no :(. Try again! There are links to conversion tables on the left hand side of my blog!
I’m definitely giving this one a try this weekend. Seems as if it would make a lovely stuffing, too. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
I hope it goes well! No problem 😀
Does anyone have conversion measurements for those of us on the other side of the pond? I would love to make this for our Thanksgiving!!
Look to the left hand column of my blog!
Welcome to the wonderful world of pumpkin!! Its amazing because you can put it in just about anything including hummus. I def agree that the smell of raw pumpkins is quite gross. But once cooked, its delicious!
It’s good to be here! 😀
Made your recipe today and it was awesome. I made a double batch with Hubbard, and tried one using the Sullivan Street method (baking in a Dutch oven), and the other on a stone. Sullivan Street had a softer crumb, but both were delicious.
Oh awesome! So glad you liked.
[…] my rather successful recipe for Pumpkin and Sage Bread, I thought I’d bring you another bread recipe from Gail Duff’s Vegetarian Cookbook. Is there, […]
[…] found the original recipe at the Frugal Feeding blog, but because I lack confidence with my measurement conversion skills, I combined the Frugal […]
I cannot even wait to try this. I’m on such a homemade bread kick at the moment, and I’ve a quarter of a pumpkin remaining (though for $2 it’s my favourite fruit ever – it’s made me two massive cakes and a pie so far).
Oh you won’t regret it! I love how far pumpkin goes too.