This Oatmeal Pumpkin Seed Bread is a delicious savory pumpkin bread that is great to use for sandwiches, and it makes delicious toast too.
This recipe comes from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook. The premise behind this cookbook is to make a refrigerated pre-mixed homemade dough ahead of time. When you’re ready to bake, you simply take some of the dough out of the fridge, shape it (thus the 5 minute part), give it time to rise, and it’s ready for the oven.
There is a ‘plain’ version of this pumpkin bread offered in the cookbook, but I turned out the more fancy version of added dried cranberries and toasted pepitas.
How to make Oatmeal Pumpkin Seed Bread:
Straight from the fridge, the make-ahead dough is rolled out slightly, sprinkled with the cranberries and toasted pepitas, and then it’s rolled up again.
The dough is then shaped into a loaf and placed into a loaf pan to rise for a couple of hours. I brush my loaf with an egg wash after rising and add some extra pepitas for decor on top.
The Oatmeal Pumpkin Seed Bread loaf turns a nice, golden brown and the top crust remains crispy. Resist cutting into it while warm as the authors of the recipe suggest that the texture of the bread improves as it cools.
I do have to say that I like the premise behind this bread baking cookbook and, believe me… I’m no bread expert. I can definitely count on one hand the number of times I’ve made a yeasted bread. But I followed the directions that these authors put forth and it all worked out great.
My family was overjoyed when I told them I had made pumpkin bread. I crushed their enthusiasm when I explained that it actually wasn’t a sweet bread, but rather more like one that would be appropriate for toast or tea. A smidge of butter and a dollop of fresh cranberry jam, and this Oatmeal Pumpkin Seed Bread makes quite the delicious breakfast. I think it would also be good bread for a turkey and cranberry sandwich.
If you’re looking for more bread loaf recipes, you might also enjoy my Honey Whole Wheat Bread or this White Sandwich Bread. Challah Bread and Ciabatta Bread are also delicious bread recipes.
Oatmeal Pumpkin Seed Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 1½ tablespoons granulated yeast (any type)
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup honey
- 1 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
- ½ cup old fashioned oats
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup rye flour
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- shortening for greasing the pan
- ½ cup toasted pepitas, plus a few more for the top
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
PREPARE THE DOUGH:
- Mix the yeast and salt with the water, melted butter and honey in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
- Mix in the oatmeal, pumpkin, and flours without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with a dough hook). If you're not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.
- Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours. (I moved mine to a clean, lightly oiled bowl and covered it with a dish towel).
- The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use within 9 days.
BAKING DAY:
- Lightly grease two 8-inch nonstick loaf pans. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and divide the dough into two equal pieces. Dust each piece with flour and quickly shape them each into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all sides, rotating the ball a quarter- turn as you go.
- Flatten each piece of dough with your hands and roll each out into a ½-inch-thick rectangles. As you roll out the dough, use enough flour to prevent it from sticking to the work surface but not so much as to make the dough dry.
- Sprinkle seeds and cranberries over each rolled out dough and roll the dough up to encase them. Fold the dough over again to work the seeds into the dough.
- Using a small amount of flour, form each dough into a loaf shape. Place the loaves in the prepared pans and allow to rest and rise for 2 hours (or just 40 minutes if you're using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).
- Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350°F., and place an empty broiler tray on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.
- Just before putting the bread loaves in the oven, brush each with egg wash (I sprinkled additional pepitas on top too), and place them on a rack near the center of the oven. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door. Bake the for 45 to 50 minutes, until deeply browned and firm. Allow to cool before slicing or eating.
Notes
- *I can find rye flour in the health food section of my regular market... Bob's Red Mill brand makes rye flour.
- *Pepitas can usually be found in the Latin food's aisle of your grocery store. To toast pepitas, put them in a dry frying pan over medium heat. Stir them often until fragrant and beginning to turn color.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Incredible, delicious recipe. I followed directions as written and it turned out awesome. I was given pumpkin seeds from a friend and went looking for a recipe, this was perfect. My entire family loved it. We made sandwiches and toasted it. I left out the cranberries because I didn’t want fruit in it, but still rolled the pumpkin seeds into loaves. I added a tablespoon of ground flaxseeds; topped the loaves with the pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, chopped raw pecans & salted sunflower seeds for a slight variation. Was completely happy with how it turned out. Thank you for this recipe!
For this recipe, you meant oats flour or just oats?
Just oats- like old-fashioned oats.
Good Morning, I am making this bread Oatmeal Pumpkin Seed Bread, it is raising now and it doing a great job of it. But when i first put this together, it was extreamly wet, I have had to add probably 1 more cup of flour, any thoughts? Is is supposed to be this wet, almost like a thick think batter. But the additional cup of flour has helped, thank you
It’s been a while since I’ve made it, so I’m not sure. How did it turn out?
This looks yummy Lori. Love the addition of pepitas but am kind of surprised to see them in your recipe. I’ll bet they make all the difference 🙂