Pumpkin Knots

Hi again friends!

I've been wanting to make these since I saw them posted on Handle the Heat.

Garlic Pumpkin Knots

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1-1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
• 3-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• salt & freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1. For the dough: Pour the warm water into a medium bowl and whisk in the yeast. Let sit until frothy, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the agave nectar, olive oil, and pumpkin puree. (First problem...when I followed the directions the first  time and combined the yeast and water...........NOTHING HAPPENED! So I pondered...and stared at it for a while...and I realized it was because the yeast was HUNGRY! Duh...it had no food. So I poured the first batch out and started over. But THIS time, I added some sugar. And once the little yeast granules had some food in their bellies, they bubbled away like they're supposed to! So I then added the honey, olive oil and pumpkin. When you add the honey, you can drizzle it around and make nice little squiggles in the yeast foam. Or you can refrain from doing that if you're more mature than me!)

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients then pour in your wet ingredients.
3. Using a rubber spatula, pull all the ingredients together. When you can no longer mix, use your hands to start kneading the dough. Knead the dough until it comes together in a smooth and elastic ball, adding flour as necessary to prevent sticking.(It took me about 5 minutes of kneading)

4. Lightly oil another large bowl and put your dough ball inside it -- flipping over once to coat both sides lightly with oil. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let rise for about 2 hours; or until nearly doubled in size. (Problem 2: This seems excessively long. Mine only took an hour)

5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F, put in a pizza stone (you may use a pan, too, but it works best with a stone), and divide the dough into two equal pieces. If you're planning to use the other half the next day, just put it in a large zip-lock bag and store in the fridge. You may also freeze the dough for up to three weeks. (I cooked all of mine tonight and used a baking pan since my oven was already hot so I couldn't put the pizza stone it)

6. To create the garlic knots: tear off sections of dough (2 tablespoons at a time) and roll them into a long snake shape. Tie that snake in a knot. Set aside and continue with the rest of the dough.

7. Once you've made all your knots, put them on your stone (or on your pan) and let bake until golden brown on the tops, about 10-15 minutes depending on size of knots. 

 

 

 

8. While the knots are baking, in a bowl mix together the olive oil with minced garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano. When the knots are done, toss in the olive oil mixture to coat. (Some recipes I've read said you can either toss to coat or brush the mixture on. I'm not so much a fan of raw garlic, so I opted to skip it all together and just use a little butter, but Brett dunked his in the mixture and enjoyed it!)

 

The verdict? These are good rolls, but they're not good PUMPKIN rolls. There's not enough pumpkin in them to taste it :( I will still enjoy the rest of the rolls, but I'm on the search for a true pumpkin roll :) I'll keep you posted!

Lindsay's Lunchbox:

Here's a few things that were in my lunchbox this week!

And finally, I came home to find a package on the front steps. My mom bought me a new cookbook! It's from London  so it's all in grams and degrees Celcius, but that's ok...I'll deal. I  LOVE the cover!

 

 

Enjoy!

--Lindsay--