Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice English Muffin Bread with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Butter

One of my favorite things to do is bake. I can think of nothing that makes me happier than a Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the kitchen. A few weeks ago, I ran across a recipe for pumpkin spice english muffin bread on one my favorite blogs, How Sweet Eats. Anyone with a pinterest account knows that pumpkin recipes are all the rage once September rolls around. Unfortunately, I've never been a huge fan of pumpkin. When I saw that the recipe only included a small amount of pumpkin and a touch of pumpkin spice, I thought it was worth a shot. I was right! It's absolutely delicious.

For those of you who count your calories, I took the liberty of calculating the nutritional information. One slice (one-tenth of one loaf of bread) contains 122 calories, 1 gram of fat, 23.8 grams carbohydrates, 2.4 grams of dietary fiber, 1.7 grams of sugar and 4 grams of protein. Is it the most nutritious thing you've ever eaten? Probably not but swimsuit season is over. Eat some butter and be happy.

Image from How Sweet Eats

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice English Muffin Bread with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Butter (Howsweeteats.com)

Yield: 2 loaves
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: about 2 hours (with cooling time)

 

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages (4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup pureed pumpkin
2 cups warm milk, 120-130 degrees
1/2 cup warm water, 120-130 degrees
cornmeal for loaf pans

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

 

Directions:

Grease or spray two loaf pans with non-stick spray and sprinkle with cornmeal, shuffling the pan around so the cornmeal coats all the sides. Dump the excess.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (fitted with the beater attachment), combine whole wheat flour, yeast, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda. Add in milk, pumpkin, honey, olive oil and water, beating on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 3 minutes, scraping down the sides if necessary. Decrease speed to low and add in remaining flour and salt, mixing until just combined - do not overmix, do not knead. The dough will be sticky.

Divide batter equally into two loaf pans and sprinkle the tops with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes.

After about 30 minutes of the dough rising, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake loaves for 35 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven and immediately remove from pans, setting aside to cool.

butter
Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and stir until well combined. Spread on warm toast. Store at room temperature for a day or two, or store in the fridge for a few weeks.