Whole Wheat, Pumpkin & Brown Sugar Brioche {w/th Lime and Cilantro}

Hello, friend.

  

This recipe for whole wheat pumpkin & brown sugar brioche has been a freaking journey in the making, let me just tell you. I have been actively developing this recipe and its variants for little over a week now. Failed attempt after failed attempt has left me disheartened and run-down. Thankfully, I was able to break away from my bread making disasters and spend a few days in Fort Wayne for the Breadsense summit. Getting out of dodge and spending time away from my kitchen, with the trashcan of faulty bread attempts beginning to overflow, helped inspire my creativity and boost my confidence to get back in there and finish developing the dang recipe. With my bag of Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Graham flour in hand, I started on my bread baking adventure. Eight days and four attempts later, I finally produce a loaf worthy of the blogosphere! 

Update: I was invited by Erin from Cloudy Kitchen to be apart of Sara's and Aimee's #VitrualPumpkinParty. Essentially, it's a big group of food bloggers from around the world coming together and collaborating by sharing recipes for all things pumpkin. How cool is that?! I thought it was only fitting that I would share this particular recipe for the occasion! When you're done reading this post, be sure to check out some of the other incredibly talented bloggers from the list at the end of this post. Tell them TK sent you! 

With pumpkin flavored everything on every blogger's mind, I decided to hop on this gourd-loving train before it was too late to catch. I love autumn baking, especially when it involves warm, buttery bread. There is something so visceral about the aromatic nature of cinnamon and sugar being baked in sweetened, spiced perfection. A few weeks back, Soe (of the Saveur award-winning food blog Lime & Cilantro) and I were talking back and forth via Instagram DM about doing a blog collaboration. We decided for our collab that the central ingredient we would both use was going to be squash due to it being in season and all. I knew for my recipe I wanted to make a pumpkin-based bread because...reasons. Soe is one of the most creative food bloggers I know. All his recipes are innovative and unique. When I'm in need of inspiration, I find myself going back to his blog time and time again. So when you’re done reading this, head on over to his site for his pumpkin recipe! For my recipe, I was able to snag two pumpkins (along with some other beautiful produce) from First Fruits Homestead, a local farm near the university I attend. I finally learned how to roast my own pumpkins to make pumpkin puree. I was pretty excited.

Originally, I set out to make a ‘pumpkin, whole wheat, and sage butter babka', but it just didn’t turn out right. The bread was too crumbly and the icing drizzle I made had some of the compound butter in it which gave the sauce a strange consistency. On to take number two! This time, I attempted the babka again but omitted the sage butter for regular unsalted butter. Though when making the sponge, I completely forgot to add sugar and the dough didn’t rise enough during the proofing stage, so I tossed it out and set out another attempt. I decided that I was too emotionally disheartened with babka to attempt it one more, so I decided perhaps a brioche alternative would be best. I adapted this third attempt from the brioche recipe in Huckleberry (which is amazing by the way). This trial sadly wasn’t there yet. The maple syrup/brown sugar filling was too runny, leaking out over the sides of the pan and which almost set my oven on fire. After dealing with that almost crisis moment, I cut into the loaf I was left with a sad excuse for proper cinnamon swirls. I took to the Internet once more to research another brioche recipe. I found one that looked divine from The Tart Tart and decided to give it ago. 

This time? SUCCESS!! This little bundle of joy in loaf form was warm, moist, and perfectly swirled in the brown sugar/cinnamon filling. The whole wheat flour brought a heartiness flavor to the loaf, complementing the pumpkin and cinnamon flavors beautifully. I decided to make a pumpkin icing drizzle to go over each slice for an added pumpkin flavor and sweetness. This is definitely an optional step, but the vibrant orange color was just too good not to pass up. At the end of my bread making endeavors, I found a strange sense of joy through it all. There was something about the processes of molding, shaping, re-shaping, and restarting which kept me coming back for more. Ultimately, I’ve been inspired to make more bread variations! I’m thinking of a country bread recipe with buckwheat flour and pumpkin seed meal. Only time will tell.

 

Whole Wheat Pumpkin & Brown Sugar Brioche

Original recipe adapted from The Tart Tart

Ingredients ~ yields one loaf

            For the sponge

¼ cup (60 ml) whole milk, room temperature 

1 tablespoon maple syrup 

1 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast

½ (64 g) cup all-purpose flour

           

            For the dough

1/8 cup (28 g) brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup (55 g) pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1 cup (128 g) all-purpose flour

¾ cup (96 g) whole wheat graham flour

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Pinch of nutmeg

4 tablespoons (2 oz.) butter, softened

           

            For the filling

2 tablespoons (1 oz) butter, softened

¼ cup (55 g) brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

          

  For the pumpkin icing

1 cup (128 g) confectioners’ sugar

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Zest of one lemon

¼ cup (55 g) pumpkin puree

¼ teaspoon vanilla

Directions

For the sponge. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, hand whisk the milk, maple syrup, and yeast. Allow the mixture to stand for about 10 minutes, until bubbly. Add the flour and mix until smooth. Cover and let rise until the sponge has doubled, about one hour.

For the dough. To the sponge, add the brown sugar, salt, pumpkin, and eggs and mix until incorporated. Switch out the paddle attachment for the dough hook attachment and add the flours and spices and mix until just combined. On low speed, add the butter one tablespoon at a time, allowing each piece to be fully incorporated into the dough. Increase the speed to medium/high and continue to mix until the dough in shiny and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too sticky, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time (but don’t add too much flour! Just enough for the dough to stick together).

Transfer the dough to a well-oiled, large bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and allow to proof for an hour or two (or until doubled). Deflate the dough, fold it in half (tucking the seam at the bottom), cover and place in the fridge to rise overnight.

The next day, take the dough out the fridge and turn onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out into a 9’ x 18’ rectangle.

For the filling.  In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom. Evenly spread the butter over the rolled out dough, leaving a 1-inch perimeter around the entire edge. Sprinkle the filling over the dough, pressing down lightly to evenly distribute.

Starting on the short side closest to you, roll the dough into a tightly-packed cylinder. Pinch the ends and fold them under into the bottom seam as you roll. With the bottom seam facing down, gently transfer the loaf into a buttered loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C) degrees. Once the loaf is ready, brush it with the egg wash and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the tops of the loaves are golden brown and looking super pretty.

For the icing. In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, lemon zest, pumpkin puree, vanilla. Drizzle over sliced pieces of bread. Enjoy with a cup of coffee.

  

Huge thanks to for Hodgson Mill wanting to sponsor this recipe. I really enjoyed working with their products. I’m excited to be sharing more recipes soon using their products. As always, all opinions, ramblings, stories, and recipes are my own.

be sure to look at all of the other wonderful pumpkin love happening around the web today!

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