Pumpkin Sun Bread

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are gray. You never know dear, how much I love you. So please don't take my sunshine away." :D Heehee, I wonder if you know this sweet little kid's song "You are my sunshine". Well, this is the song that is going on in my mind while I am making this bread. :) It's the start of school holiday here in Malaysia. And I wanted to do something fun with my girls at home, so decided to try this fun and delicious bread together with my little ones. :) For a moment my younger daughter keep saying we are shaping the bread into a lion! Come to think of it, it does look a little like a lion, haha! We had loads of fun doing it together (mostly mommy though)...excellent quality time spent with my kids.

Have been wanting to try making bread with pumpkin, and this was a great opportunity. Reason being the color that the pumpkin gives such a nice golden yellow that it really makes the bread looks like it's radiating with sunlight, haha! This excellent bread recipe actually contains no sugar nor butter but it still turned out yummy good! It is pretty similar to my Purple Sweet Potato loaf, but without the sugar & butter, sounds good huh?

Ingredients for custard sauce:
400g bread flour
230g pumpkin, peeled, sliced, steamed and mashed
70g quality honey
1 large egg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp instant active yeast
60ml fresh whipping cream
100ml fresh milk (more or less depending on the moisture left in the mashed pumpkin)

Couple of chocolate chips (for eyes)
One cranberry (for nose)

For the cream cheese filling recipe, please refer to my earlier post, Cream Cheese Custard Oat Buns.

Method:

• Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl to form a soft dough. Knead the dough till it is not sticky, about 20 minutes.
• Continue to knead till the dough is shiny and elastic. To test if the dough is ready, pull a small piece off and stretching it with your fingers. If dough is very elastic and pulls to almost see through without breaking, then it's done.
• Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof for at least 90 minutes.
• Punch out the air. Divide out 1/3 of the dough and set aside for making mini buns with dried cranberries / raisins.
• With the rest of the 2/3 dough, take half and fill it with the cream cheese filling. Seal the edges tight and press flat in to a round disc. Place it on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
  
• With the other half, divide into 10 small portions. Roll round and let rest for 10 mins before shaping.
  
• Take one of the small balls and roll into a thin log. Then curl it up like a snail shell and place it on one edge of the big disc. Repeat with four other balls but placing it such a way that there's space in between but all around the round flat disc.
  
• Take the 6th ball and mold it into a triangular shape, and also place between 2 curls and beside the big flat disc. Repeat with the remaining 4 balls.
• Using a clean kitchen sears, cut out a mouth for the sun. Place the eyes and nose using cranberries/raisins/chocolate chips. Let proof for another 30 mins.
• As for the 1/3 dough that was reserved earlier, divide it into 6 equal portions. Roll round and let rest for 10 mins before shaping.
• Take one portion of the dough and roll flat into a long oval. Place some raisins or cranberries on top and roll it up like a swiss roll and seal the edges tight. Then roll it round and place it in a 6" round cake pan. Repeat with the rest of the 5 portions. Let proof for another 30 mins.
  
• Preheat oven to 180°C.
• Brush bread surface with egg wash and bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes. If top browns too quickly, cover with foil and reduce heat to 170°C and bake till time is complete.
• Remove from bread tin immediately when done and cool on rack completely before slicing. Enjoy!

So besides the Pumpkin Sun Bread that I made, I also made mini buns using 1/3 of the dough with cranberries in it.

Either way, with sweet & tangy cranberries or creamy cream cheese, the pumpkin bread was delicious. Soft and light, good to eat on it's own. :)

Haha, seems like a sun-burnt Sun bread to me! O well...can't complain, this oven of mine is all I have...whether it has uneven heat distribution or what, I'll just have to live with it! ;-P

Personally, I like the Sun bread with the cream cheese filling better verses the cranberries one. I guess I'm a cream cheese person! My girls had fun "destroying" the Sun bread this morning during breakfast. They were going like...I'm eating the eyes now,...I'm eating the "cheeks" now, haha! Love this bread, will definitely make it again....maybe with oats again, haha!