This harvest bread is so satisfyingly delicious because it’s chock full of goodies including walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, and raisins! Made with both squash and pumpkin puree, it shouts “fall” but is a great year-round breakfast treat. If you happen to be entertaining family over the holidays, double the recipe for two loaves, or six mini loaves, which are fantastic for holiday gift-giving!
Years ago, a friend gave me her recipe for pumpkin bread with a caramel glaze, and it has a special place in my recipe box, but it really is more like pumpkin cake – delicious, but not exactly what I was craving this time around! I wanted more substance to my bread … something more like Macrina Bakery’s Squash Harvest Loaf, which we have enjoyed on many occasions while in the Seattle area. A quick online search produced the Macrina Bakery Squash Harvest Loaf recipe. Macrina Bakery supplies many of the coffee shops and retailers with baked goods in the greater Seattle area and they make their harvest bread with butternut squash.
After reading through their recipe and seeing what we had on hand, I made several changes, one of which was to add pumpkin in addition to freshly baked and puréed squash, and I used acorn squash instead because we love the taste of acorn squash … and okay … I happened to have extra acorn squash from the Roasted Acorn Squash Soup I had just made. I also added raisins to the batter. And, since I am a huge cardamom fan, I included that in the assortment of spices that make this bread so yummy! (If you have not used cardamom in your baking, you should definitely give it a try … just amazing!) I also used some white whole wheat flour in place of all white flour, to give a little healthy boost.
White whole wheat flour is made from hard white spring or winter wheat berries and has the nutritional value of whole wheat flour, but milder in color, flavor, and texture. It still includes the bran, germ, and endosperm of the berries, all ground into the flour. The flour we normally see labeled as Whole Wheat Flour is made from the red spring wheat berry and has a darker color and more robust flavor than the White Whole Wheat Flour.
If you plan on having holiday house guests, this bread is delicious and goes a long way, since it is chock full of goodies and quite dense. Double the recipe for two loaves. Also, if you make the double batch, you can make about 6 mini bread loaves, which are fantastic for holiday gift-giving!
INFO BOX
Here’s some good info on the difference between whole wheat flour and white whole wheat flour! And if want to be even more educated on the subject … here’s more!
Pumpkin-Squash Breakfast Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked and puréed squash Delicata, Acorn, or Butternut
- 1/2 cup pumpkin cooked and pureed
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 3/8 cup 6 tablespoons buttermilk
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup raisins soaked in boiling water and then squeezed dry of any excess water (I use Trader Joe’s Jumbo Raisin Medley)
- 1/2 cup walnut pieces roasted
- 1/2 cup pecan pieces roasted
- 1/2 cup pepitas green pumpkin seeds, half for bread and half for topping
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup packed, light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons raw sugar for topping
Instructions
- Preparation of the ingredients … this will make it super easy to assemble the bread if you have these steps done ahead of time.
- For the squash: *It depends upon the kind of squash you choose in order to know how many to cook, but whatever the case, cut the squash in half, and clean out seeds. Place cut side down onto greased baking sheet and cook at 400 degrees for approximately 35-40 minutes, or until a knife easily inserts and pulp is tender. Remove from oven and cool. Scoop out pulp and smash with a fork, or purée in a food processor. Use 1 cup of this purée for this recipe.
- For the pumpkin: Use a sugar pie pumpkin and follow the same directions as the squash above, or use canned pumpkin puree.
- For nuts: Place nuts and pumpkins seeds on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 10 minutes, or until just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and cool.
- For raisins: Place raisins in a small bowl, completely cover with boiling water, and allow to sit for about 15 minutes, or until soft. Drain water and squeeze any excess water from raisins. Set aside.
- MAKING THE BREAD
- In a large bowl, place all dries, including flours, sugars spices, nuts, and half of the pumpkin seeds. In a separate bowl, combine squash purée, canned pumpkin, eggs, soured milk, oil, raisins, and vanilla. Mix well. Add to dries and stir until well combined.
- Pour batter into a greased 9×6 bread loaf pan. Sprinkle the remaining half of the pumpkins seeds and the raw sugar on top. Bake for approximately 50-55 minutes, or until a knife inserted in bread comes out clean.
- *I used one large acorn squash. If you want to try Delicata squash, you will probably need 2 of them to get 2 cups of puree.