Pumpkin Bread Rolls
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 45 minutes plus 1 hour rising time
Cooking time: 30 minutes
- 30g/1oz flour
- 125ml/4flozs. milk
- 30g/1oz. butter
- 200g/7ozs. pumpkin puree
- 100ml/3.5flozs. milk
- 3 teaspoons turmeric powder
- A few drops of electric orange food colouring
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 1 egg
- 50g/1.7ozs sugar
- 500g/1.1lbs flour
- 2 teaspoons instant dried yeast
- 600g/21ozs flavoured cream cheese (spring onion or sweet chilli)
- 1 egg, beaten for eggwash
- Kitchen string
- Non stick oil spray
- 6 pecans, halved vertically
Step 1 - Whisk the 30g/1oz flour and 125ml/4flozs milk in a small saucepan and heat gently to 65C/149F and then whisk in the butter and melt. Then whisk in pumpkin puree, milk, turmeric, orange colouring, salt, egg and sugar until smooth. Place in a bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook and add the flour and yeast and knead for 10 minutes or until you get the window pane effect (where you can gently pull the dough apart and you can see through it without it breaking).
Thermomix directions: Place the 30g/1oz. flour and 125ml/4flozs. milk in the bowl and set to 5 seconds speed 4. Heat to 65C on speed 0.5 for 5 minutes. Add the butter, pumpkin puree, milk, turmeric, orange colouring, salt, egg and sugar. Set to 15 seconds speed 4. Add in the flour and yeast and use knead function for 5-7 minutes until you get the window pane effect (where you can gently pull the dough apart and you can see through it without it breaking).
Step 2 - Grease a bowl and place the dough in it and cover and allow to triple in size in a warm place (approximately 1 hour). In the meantime take an ice cream scoop and scoop 12 balls of the cream cheese mixture and keep chilled in the fridge.
Step 3 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F and line two baking trays with parchment. Punch down the dough and divide into 12 even balls (mine were 90g/3ozs. or so each). Press out each ball into a circle with your palms. Place one cream cheese ball in the centre and seal up the sides making sure that there aren't any gaps (I roll any cracked areas against the counter and this buffs them out).
Step 4 -Take some string and spray it with oil spray. Wrap it around the dough ball to create ridges up and around three times. This takes practice. My first one was terrible and then after the third one I got the hang of it. Make sure that there is a big tie at the bottom (this will make it easier to take the string off once baked) and snip off the excess string. Repeat with the rest of the dough and cream cheese balls. You don't have to let these rise again for a long time, I find that the time taken to wrap them all in the string is sufficient.
Step 5 - Brush the rolls with eggwash and bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool for 20 minutes. Then cut and remove the string carefully. Place half a pecan in the centre as the "stem".