frudahls: Braided Pumpkin Brioche for World Bread Day

Today is World Bread Day. The day for bread bakers around the world to showcase their breads and celebrate the staff of life.

Zorra of kochtopf started the event for bloggers in 2006 and each year, hundreds of bloggers from all around the world bake bread for this special day. This year, Zorra has a special wish to see a huge basket filled with at least 365 breads from all over the world.

I’m doing my part by submitting this Braided Pumpkin Brioche for the 8th World Bread Day. What are you baking?

I saw the formula for this Pumpkin Brioche on the San Francisco Baking Institute’s site and knew I had to try it. I’ve been thinking about it for several weeks and waiting for the perfect opportunity to make it.

The main reason I wanted to make this bread is because it’s a great bread for Autumn. I’ve always loved making pumpkin bread. For me, pumpkin bread is the ultimate comfort food for Fall and when you combine that with a buttery smooth brioche, you get an awesome treat.

The other reason I was interested in this particular bread is that the formula is in pounds instead of grams or ounces. This was an opportunity to try something different since I hadn’t yet worked with a formula that presented all of the weights in pounds.

I didn’t think this would be a big issue since my scales have settings for grams, ounces and pounds, but I’ve gotten so used to working in grams and ounces that I kept forgetting to change the setting on my scales. I ended up adding a good bit more flour so I think I need more practice.

To make the dough for this Pumpkin Brioche, click here to download the formula from the SFBI site.

I made the dough exactly by the formula (or so I thought), but as I mentioned earlier, I ended up using a good bit more flour than 3 1/4 cups (.867 lbs) because the dough was really sticky. It was still tacky but workable after adding the additional flour.

My scales don’t go low enough to measure .002 lbs of cinnamon and .001 lbs of the other spices so I added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon each of ground ginger and ground cloves. I think some new baking scales are in order, but for this experiment, the teaspoon measurements worked fine. The spices provided a warm and comforting flavor without overpowering the bread.

I’m so glad I chose to make this bread this past weekend because my favorite taste testers (aka my sons) were home. I had a good bit of dough (about 3 pounds) so I was able to use some of the dough to make rolls for dinner (which I served with roast chicken) and the rest for the braided loaf.

How to Make Pumpkin Brioche Dinner Rolls:

To make the brioche rolls, I divided the dough in half and weighed out about 2 ounces of dough for each roll. I rolled each ball tightly and let them proof for about 30 minutes before baking.

Once the rolls were baked, I brushed them with melted butter. They were delightful. My taste testers really enjoyed them. My oldest son loves rolls and he took a bite and said, “oh, these are good!”

I put the remaining dough in the refrigerator overnight and made the braided loaf the next day. Since I had a good bit of dough left, I was able to make a 4-strand braid.

How to make a 4-Strand Braided Pumpkin Brioche Loaf:

Divide the dough into 4 equal balls (by weight).

Roll each ball out to a strand of equal length.

Connect the strands at one end and spread the other ends out with the tips facing you.

Number the strands 1, 2, 3, 4 from the left. Follow the pattern: 4 over 2, 1 over 3, and 2 over 3. Repeat until you reach the ends of the strands, then pinch the tips together to seal. Transfer the braid to a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and let it proof for 30 to 45 minutes.