Ingredients: A V Df Ef
500 g. bread flour
400 g. raw kabocha squash (cleaned)
100 g. water at 100F
4 g. instant yeast
5 g. malt
20 g. Evoo
15 g. pumpkin seeds
10 g. marine salt
2 sprigs of rosemary
Peel and cube the squash. Kabocha squash has a very hard skin and it’s easier to peel if you first cut it into slices, remove the seeds and peel it with a potato peeler.
Steam the squash together with the rosemary sprigs for 25-30 minutes, until tender but not mushy.
Squeeze the steamed squash through a potato ricer.
In a big bowl, sift the flour, mix it with the malt and the yeast, transfer into your mixer, and add the squash puree.
Start mixing at low speed for 3 minutes, adding the water a little at a time. Increase to second speed, mix for 7 minutes and, when the dough is coming together, add the salt one pinch at a time. Mix for 2 minutes to let the dough absorb the salt, then add the oil a little bit at a time. Mix for another 3 to 4 minutes, until the oil is completely absorbed.
Turn on your oven to the “proof” setting. If it doesn’t have this function, put a container full of hot water into the turned-off oven and warm it up to 80-82 degrees F.
** Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface, put some flour on your hands and fold the dough as the follows: think of a compass and grab the east side (right) of the dough with both hands, pull it gently and fold it over the center of the dough. Repeat with the north side of the dough, then the west side (left), and after doing it with the south side flip the dough upside down. Shape the dough into a ball by rolling it between your hands ** and transfer it into a big bowl. Cover with plastic, put it into the warmed-up oven, and let it the raise for about 3 hours, or until it doubles in volume.
Repeat from ** to ** and transfer onto a peel covered with parchment paper. Cover with a linen towel and let the dough raise for 1 hour.
In the meantime, warm up the oven to 400 degrees F and place a shallow oven-proof container of hot water on the bottom of the oven. This will add the necessary steam to guarantee a good ‘oven spring’ of your bread, the final burst of rising just after a loaf is put in the oven. before the crust hardens.
After the dough has completed the second raise, with a sharp knife, a baker’s knife or a shaving blade make a few cuts on the surface of the dough, starting from the center and moving outward, like the spokes of a wheel, to make it look like a real squash.
Spray some water on the dough and place the pumpkin seed inside the scores you have just made on the dough.
Bake the bread at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, then carefully remove the pan with the water from the bottom of the oven, lower the oven temperature to 370 degrees F, and bake the bread for another 30 – 35 minutes.
Let your bread cool down on a rack before enjoying it.