Roasting “Sugar” Pumpkins for Bread Recipe

oatmeal pumpkin bread ingredients

It is nearly Thanksgiving and there are pumpkins in everyone’s shopping cart, generally in a can. If you want a real treat, that is easy and will have you wanting to skip the canned isle in the grocery store, try roasting your own pumpkin. Baking the pumpkin caramelizes the sugars and makes for a sweeter puree than boiling. You’ll want to start with a “pie” or “sugar” variety and avoid the BIG Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins which are great for carving but are too watery to eat their flesh. Once you have roasted your pumpkin you can use 1 cup for Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread on p. 100 of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, the rest is for your favorite pie recipe.

Roasting the pumpkin:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Split the pumpkin in half starting at the stem.

cutting pumpkin

cut pumpkin

2. Place cut end down on a piece of parchment paper or silpat.

baked pumpkin

3. Bake for 45 minutes, until the flesh is soft to the touch.

baked pumpkin

4. Cool and scoop out the seeds.

scoop out seeds

5. Scoop out the flesh of pumpkin and puree it in a food processor.

scoop out flesh and puree

6. Set aside 1 cup to use in the Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread recipe on page 100 of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day! Use the rest for a great pie or double the bread recipe.

1 cup puree for Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread p.100

19 thoughts to “Roasting “Sugar” Pumpkins for Bread Recipe”

  1. These pictures are great! When I cut open my pie pumpkin last night I was a bit alarmed at the large cavity. I thought maybe I’d gotten a dud! Seeing your pictures was a great reassurance.
    Love your book — can’t wait to try the bialys!
    lamsi522

  2. Laura, I’m so glad to hear you roasted your own pumpkin and that the pictures were helpful!

    Enjoy the bread you bake and let me know how your bialys turn out.

    Best, Zoe

  3. Can you just use 1 cup of canned pumpkin for the Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread?

    Roasting a pumpkin doesn’t really fit my schedule these days.

  4. Hi Jill,

    YES, you can use canned pumpkin and it will be great. Depending on where you live it may be hard to find a sugar pumpkin for roasting this time of year anyway?

    Let me know how it comes out!

    Thanks, Zoe

  5. I have used your recipe from Mother Earth News magazine. It is wonderful. Does your book have all the recipes from this website in it? If so I must have this book.
    Thanks for these wonderful breads!!!

  6. I do not have the sugar variety, but I do have the jack-o-lanterns and another kind (which I cannot remember right now). How do I deal with the watery issue?

    David

    1. David: Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins just won’t work– it has to be sugar pumpkin (sometimes called pie pumpkin).

      They’re watery, not flavorful– wouldn’t do it. Jeff

  7. I have used the jack o lantern variety cut up and cooked as like a squash. (sauteed w/onions, butter) and roasted the seeds for eating. Why waste a perfectly good squash.

  8. Trying this today and I’m really curious to know why you leave the seeds in for roasting and remove afterwards?

    1. Funny you should bring that up, I actually scoop them out in advance! It’s mainly habit. Cooking the seeds and connective membranes probably softens it up, and I bet it’s easier to scoop it out when cooked. But it doesn’t matter.

  9. This hd a youras nothing to do with pumpkins. I checked out your recipe for English granary-style bread. You have malt powder as an ingredient. I went to King Arthur Flour website and they have two types of malt powder, one being “non….. and the other being dia…….. malt. I’m sorry but I can’t remember the word, hopefully you know what I’m talking about. I’m wondering which type to get? It seems like what was in a jar and the other in a bag.
    Thanks for your help.

    1. From a flavor standpoint it just doesn’t matter. The diastatic product, as opposed to non-diastatic, supposedly gives a better rise. I’m not sure that I can tell the difference.

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