Pumpkin Brioche
Every year, in the fall, we take the kids to one of the local pumpkin patches. We spend a fun day participating in the various activities and usually finish off the day picking fresh pumpkins to bring home. The kids choose theirs with an eye to decoration or carving, but I choose mine specifically to make pumpkin purée.
In particular, I love the Fairytale variety of heirloom pumpkins for baking. They have a dense, creamy, sweet, bright orange flesh and a small seed cavity (meaning there is a lot of flesh). I usually pick up two good sized Fairytale pumpkins and process one just before Thanksgiving and the other just before Christmas so I have plenty of purée for my Caramel Toffee Pumpkin Pie and for my Eggnog Pumpkin Pie (we’ll get to that recipe, too!).
Since these pumpkins have so much flesh and each one yields significantly more pumpkin purée than I need for just two pies, I’m always on the lookout for more ways to use up the purée after the holidays (it is just possible that this is by design 😉). Of course, my Double Pumpkin Pancakes, Maple Pecan Double Pumpkin Muffins and Scotchkin Cupcakes are tried and true favorites that I frequently return to, but can you really have too many pumpkin recipes? Over the next few weeks we’ll explore a few new pumpkin recipes starting with this pillowy soft, golden-hued, decadently tender, award winning pumpkin brioche bread.
Brioche is a rich, tender, buttery, almost pastry-like bread of French origin. It is made with an enriched yeasted dough – meaning that the dough has butter, eggs, milk and sometimes sugar added to it. The crust typically has a deep golden color and a glossy sheen from an egg wash applied just before baking. Brioche refers to the dough content and preparation methods rather than the shape or size of the loaf so you can find brioche buns, sandwich loaves, braids, rings, you name it! This particular brioche has a healthy dose of pumpkin and some brown sugar. Both the pumpkin and brown sugar add a subtle sweetness to the bread and the pumpkin also brings a bit of earthiness and a lends a beautiful golden color to the interior of the loaf.
I’ve been making (and tinkering) with a yeasted, enriched, pumpkin bread for probably about 15 years or so. When I was growing up, pumpkin bread always meant the sweet, cake-like, quick bread loaves my mom made (which were absolutely wonderful) but I wanted a bread that could be used in sweet or savory applications and that lets the pumpkin shine on its own (without all the spices that typically accompany pumpkin).
The very first incarnation of this recipe used a combination of butter and oil for the fat, less fat overall, far less pumpkin and more milk. As for the method, it essentially had you dump all the ingredients into the bowl, then mix and knead until it was a silky smooth dough. It worked – it was a soft, rich, slightly pumpkin-y, yeasted bread – but it wasn’t brioche. Over the years, I refined the ingredient proportions and the method to more closely match a traditional brioche dough preparation. The time and effort eventually paid off with my pumpkin brioche landing a second place ribbon in the local fair about six years ago.
When I’m baking this brioche into loaves, my preferred shape is a tight braid resulting in a bubbled appearance on the top of the loaf, but you can really shape it however you like. I wouldn’t recommend doing a single large loaf as the additional bake time needed can result in a very dark exterior, but smaller pull apart loaves, individual buns, rings, knots or the traditional brioche à tête would all work. My family loves this bread on its own, as the base for leftover ham or turkey sandwiches, or slathered with pumpkin butter, but I think their favorite way to enjoy pumpkin brioche is probably in the pumpkin breakfast rolls I make with dough – fluffy, perfectly spiced, and generously glazed. But more on that next week!
Equipment
Ingredients
Method
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, yeast and salt until well combined.500 g (4 cups) flour, 100 g (½ cup) brown sugar, 18 g (2 tbsp) yeast, 5 g (¾ tsp) salt
- Add the pumpkin, milk and eggs. Using the dough hook attachment, mix/knead on low until it comes together as a cohesive dough. There should not be any dry ingredients visible and, while the dough may be a bit loose and sticky, it will ball up on and climb the dough hook.200 g (7 oz) pumpkin puree, 110 g (3 ¾ floz) whole milk, 2 eggs
- Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, mixing/kneading on low after each addition util the butter disappears fully into the dough.120 g (8 ½ tbsp) butter
- After all the butter is incorporated, knead until the dough is silky smooth, stretchy and pulling away from the sides of the bowl (15-20 minutes)
- Shape the dough into a ball, place in a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow it to rest on the counter for about 20 – 30 minutes, then transfer the bowl to the refrigerator to continue rising overnight.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and shape into 2 equal sized loaves (I like to braid the dough and tuck the ends under) and put the shaped loaves into two 9″x5″ loaf pans).
- Cover the loaves loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise until nearly doubled in size. The dough should be very puffy and soft with an almost marshmallow like texture. (The time this takes can vary widely depending on the temperature and humidity in your kitchen but will typically take around 1 1/2 to 2 hours)
- When the dough is almost done rising, preheat the oven to 350°F
- Make an egg wash by beating the egg and water (or milk) together well until it is a homogenous liquid.1 egg, 15 ml (1 tbsp) water
- Using a soft pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the loaves with the egg wash being careful not to deflate the dough.
- Bake the loaves in the pre-heated oven for about 35 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and the bread is baked through (or to an internal temperature of ~185°-195°F). If the top starts to brown too quickly/get too dark, loosely tent foil over the loaves.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, remove from the pans and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Private Notes
Nutrition
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