If you have never made yeast bread before then I implore you to go to the market and buy some active dry yeast today and try this recipe! It is such a delicious, moist bread excellent not only for sandwiches, but great for french toast. Oh, and it also sneaks some veggies into your day. This recipe makes 2 loaves and freezes really well. I use a Kitchenaid standing mixer but by all means you don’t need one, just some arm power (this is great excercise for killer arms).
Butternut Squash Yeast Bread
3 1/2 tsp Active dry yeast
1/4 warm water (100 F degrees or very warm to the touch)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 C mashed, cooked butternut squash
1 C milk
1/3 C packed dark brown sugar
1/3 C unsalted butter, softened
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp salt
6-7 C all-purpose flour
Place the warm water,yeast and 1 Tbsp sugar in your mixing bowl, give a stir and let it sit for 10 minutes. If you are not using a standing mixer for this just use a very large mixing bowl. After 10 minutes it should look very foamy- that means your yeast is active. If it doesn’t look like this, throw it out and but new yeast to start over again
Add the squash,milk,brown sugar,egg,and salt: mix well. Using your bread hook attachment,add 6 cups of flour. Beat on medium speed (or by hand) for 3 minutes. Add in enough additional flour to make a soft dough that doesn’t stick to the sides of your bowl. You might need any more flour- it all depends on your climate.
Knead the dough in the mixer for 10 minutes or turn your dough onto a floured surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes. It should be smooth and elastic. Place it into a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on how warm your house is.
Punch down the dough and divide it into 2 portions. Shape them into loaves: I do this by rolling it into a rectangle then folding into three, like a letter. I then pinch together the bottom seam and the ends.
Place them into 2 greased loaf pans.Cover again and let rise again, about 45 minutes.
before rising...
after rising
After about 20 minutes of rising time, turn the oven on to 350 F degrees. this gives the oven time to get to the proper temperature before putting the bread in there. Bake the loaves for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pans once halfway through baking. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pans- cool completely on wire racks.
