TWD: Pumpkin Raisin Loaves

 You might be thinking that the slabs of bread above don't look like the picture-perfect loaves so many bakers are turning out this week. What can I say- some recipes just get mixed up. This week's Tuesdays with Dorie was one time-consuming recipe, and it left me thoroughly confused by the time I finished my first slice, over 24 hours after starting the dough. This was due to two things:
1. I made a couple of changes. I'm not a huge fan of fresh cranberries, plus I couldn't find them, so I figured I would use dried instead. When I was making the bread, I wasn't feeling the whole walnuts thing (ugh, chopping was involved, plus I'd rather not have crunchy bits in my bread), but I wanted to keep it very fall-spirited, so I decided to leave out the walnuts and raisins and go with just the cranberries. Oh, and then I dumped in a bag of what I thought was dried cranberries but turned out to be raisins. And they were hard to mix in. Whoops... and with that, Pumpkin Raisin Bread was born.

 2. I kind of misread the recipe. I didn't realize just how small the three loaves were supposed to be- I thought they were just slightly smaller than the 9x5" loaf pans I have- so I decided to bake the dough in two big loaf pans. I thought they would come out big and perfect for sandwiches, like last month's whole wheat bread, so imagine my surprise when my bread didn't rise to fill the large pans. The loaves baked up nicely, though, despite the shape.

This bread isn't light and fluffy, nor is it savory enough to be paired with meat and cheeses. It is sweet and ever-so-slightly dense, which makes it perfect for a cool fall morning. My dad ate lots of it plain, but I enjoyed it slightly toasted with jam or butter and cinnamon sugar. So maybe it's not exactly the way it was meant to be, but hey, it's a winner in my book.
The recipe can be found in Baking with Julia or on the host's blog, Rebecca of This Bountiful Backyard.
   Enjoy!