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The nice part about this bread is that you can use a variety of dough recipes to achieve the same look. I used my bread machine to make the dough – which made it even easier – and then shaped and baked it in my oven.

Using the Bread Machine to Make Pumpkin Shaped Bread

In case you’ve never used a bread machine I’ll give you a very brief summary of how it works: You simply dump everything into the pan (in the proper order – wet ingredients first, followed by dry), pop it in the machine, press start, and several hours later you have fresh bread! It’s super convenient. I’ve had my Zojirushi bread machine for nearly 7 years and I’ve made dozens of delightful loaves of bread in it.

Another nice feature is that you can set it to make just the dough if you would prefer to shape and bake it yourself. During the dough cycle the machine will mix, knead, and do the first rise for you. After that it’s just a matter of shaping, doing a second rise, and baking.

For this pumpkin shaped bread I used the “Franksbrød” recipe out of my favorite bread machine cookbook (page 74 in the cookbook).

I like to make little notes in my cookbooks as I try recipes: whether or not we liked it, what I would change, what other foods it compliments, and so on. The Franksbrød I described in my notes as “light and fluffy with a crisp crust – a good dinner bread.”

As I said before, you can certainly use a traditional dough recipe for this pumpkin shaped bread. Read on below for how to shape and bake it!

How to Make Pumpkin Shaped Bread

Supplies Needed

1 Batch of bread dough (see step 1 below)
Natural cotton kitchen twine
Scissors
Cinnamon stick
Baking sheet
Cooling rack
Parchment paper
Cotton/Linen tea towel
Oven
Digital food thermometer (optional)

Tutorial for Pumpkin Shaped Bread:

Step 1

Make your dough. You can do this in a bread machine using the dough cycle or use a traditional recipe and pick up here when you get done with the first rise.

Step 2

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut 4 long lengths of kitchen twine and lay them out on top of the parchment in a snowflake/star shape so that they all cross in the center.

Step 3

Flour your work surface and form your dough into a round. Set the dough in the middle of your twine “snowflake.”

Step 4

Loosely join each strand of twine with the one opposite it using a double knot. Do not make this too tight or your twine will get lost inside of your bread when it rises! Keep it super loose – almost just laying on the dough. Trim any excess.

Step 5

Cover your shaped dough with a slightly damp cotton tea towel and set it in a warm location. Let rise for 1 hour. Around the 45 minute mark begin preheating your oven.

Step 6

Around the 45-minute mark of the rising step, set your oven rack to the middle position and preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Step 7

Remove tea towel and bake.
Baking time will vary depending on the dough recipe, size of your loaf, and your oven. I begin checking after about 30 minutes. Bread is done when the bottom sounds hollow when tapped or when the internal temperature registers about 190 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the loaf. Lean-dough breads are typically done when internal temperature is 190-210 degrees Fahrenheit while rich-dough breads are typically done at around 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit.
Use a digital food thermometer, such as the one I have by Oxo.

Step 8

Gently cut twine out of bread. The bread may tear just a little bit, but that’s okay! Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool.

Step 9

Once cool, poke a little hole in the middle of the bread and insert the cinnamon stick as the stem to your pumpkin!

Enjoy your pumpkin shaped bread alongside a cozy soup or stew this Fall!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I’d love to know if you give it a try!

Thanks for reading!

Blessings,
Melissa

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