Pumpkin Yeast Bread

We love a good loaf of bread in my house, yet I struggle to find high-quality loaves at the grocery that are reasonably priced. Of course, most of my own attempts at bread baking have been a combination of frustration and impatience, fueled by the various iterations of kneading, rising, shaping and browning.

In early December, I resolved that I could save money and bring more variety into our home by baking my own bread. Conveniently, my mom was soliciting holiday gift ideas at the time, so I put a bread machine at the top of our wish list. On Christmas morning, we were thrilled to open the box to our new Cuisinart Automatic Breadmaker (CBK-100 Series) and we've been baking our own bread ever since. With a machine to do almost all of the work for you, bread baking is a *cinch* and delivers a beautifully baked and shaped loaf every time. I still treasure bread prepared the old fashioned way, but in my quest for simplicity and ease, the bread machine wins out.

Without a properly-stocked bread pantry, I opted to use what I had on hand for one of my first loaves, a pumpkin yeast bread. It required only a few ingredients and we were thrilled with the results. The center of the loaf was soft and airy, encased in a slightly crunchy and thin outer crust. The flavor was very subtle; the pumpkin puree added a slight sweetness that made this the perfect loaf for a sandwich of thinly-sliced turkey, provolone, and mayo.

*PUMPKIN YEAST BREAD*
Yields one (1) one-pound loaf

Ingredients
1/4 cup plus 1 T milk
1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
1 T vegetable oil
2 cups bread flour
1 T sugar
3/4 t salt
3/4 t yeast

Combine all ingredients, in the order listed above, in the bread machine, making sure to keep wet ingredients separate from the yeast (added last).

I used the white bread program on the lightest crust setting. Our machine allows the addition of nuts and grains during the kneading cycle so I added some raw pumpkin seeds (also called pepitas) at the designated time, which introduced a nice dimension to an already-great loaf of bread.

(Side note: we are big fans of mayo and often make our own. I know mayo elicits some strong opinions but there's nothing better on a turkey or ham sandwich. We prefer Hellman's Light Mayo, which has the flavor and texture of full-fat mayo but makes us feel a *little* better about eating it).