This wonderful, aromatic and tasty bread started with a failure…
My original idea was to roast some potatoes for gnocchi, and serve them with brown butter and sage sauce. As I also bought a nice acorn squash, I decided to roast it with the potatoes.
Once this was done, I thought the gnocchi would benefit from the taste of the roasted acorn squash as well. So, I peeled and grated it, mixed it with the grated potatoes and started to work on the gnocchi dough.
However, very soon I’ve realized that even after adding 2 cups of flour, the mixture was still not holding at all, as the acorn squash was apparently too moist even after roasting.
As I prefer to use as little flour in the gnocchi as possible, so that they will not get too heavy (hence roasting the potatoes rather than cooking them), I’ve decided the gnocchi plan will not work out.
Nevertheless, I was not prepared to toss away the mixture, after all the work I’ve put into the roasting, peeling and grating.
So, it was time for plan B.
Looking at the mixture, and remembering my success with the Potatoes Rolls I’ve decided it might work well as bread. I added some yeast to it, and let it rise at room temperature. By then it was too late to start baking the bread, so I punched the dough down and placed it in the fridge.
In the morning, I punched the dough again, put it in a loaf pan, drizzled olive oil all over and baked it, hoping for the best.
The result was very pleasing: light and tasty bread, with a wonderful crust. The taste was even better after toasting.
So, it made sense to write down the recipe, as I will definitely want to make it again. I’m sure you will too, once you’ll taste it.
A few notes:
* Due to the described saga above, I added the yeast after the dough was already formed. It still worked just as well, but for next time I see no reason not add it earlier.
* Baking time is quite long here, as the the dough is so soft and contains such small amount of flour.
* As the bread texture is so moist, bear in mind that toasting the slices will take longer than with average breads.
Makes: 1 loaf (10” (25cm))
Roasting time: 45 minutes
Prep time: 30 minutes
Proofing time: 1 hour for the first, overnight for the second
Baking time: 1 ½ hours
Ingredients:
1 cup roasted, peeled and finely grated Acorn Squash (from 1 lb 9 oz (710 grams))
1½ cups roasted, peeled and finely grated Yukon Gold potatoes (from 1 lb 2oz (510 grams))
1 L egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
¼ oz (7 grams) dried active yeast
1 Tbs fresh sage, chopped
For the pan:
2 Tbs semolina
¼ cup olive oil
1. Roasting: preheat the oven to 450F (230C). Halve the acorn squash and remove the seeds. Cut into wedges and place in a baking tray, with the potatoes. Roast for 45 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Peel and grate with a fine grater.
2. The bread: measure 1 cup prepared acorn squash and 1½ cups potatoes and place in a large bowl. Add the egg, salt and flour and mix to a soft dough. Mix the yeast in a small bowl with 1/4 cup warm water and leave in a warm place for 5 minutes, until it foams. Add it to the dough and mix well. Cover and keep in a warm place for 1 hour. Punch down, add the sage, cover again and place in the fridge overnight.
3. Baking: preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Bring the dough to room temperature, punch down and knead very briefly. Oil a loaf pan with a bit of the olive oil and sprinkle the semolina over it. Place the dough in the pan and pour the olive oil on top.
4. Bake for 1 ½ hours, until the bread has a nice crust and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a rack and bring to room temperature before slicing.
Serving suggestion: toast the bread slices and serve with blue cheese and sage spread, and sliced apples.
For the spread, mix very soft butter with good quality blue cheese, season with salt, pepper and chopped sage.
You got me at “TOAST”! I loves me some toast from homemade bread. Nothing like it in the world! So simple; so satisfying – especially if there is a soft avocado waiting to be added! ;->
Virtual hugs,
Judie
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Totally agree! 🙂
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Sometimes mishaps yield us a wonderful result! Love this!
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So true! Here the result was by far better than any gnocchi I would make… 🙂
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Gnocchi another time Chef Ronit!
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No doubt! 🙂
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This is a lovely bread. I cannot wait to make it x
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Thank you Philip! I’m sure your version will take this to a higher level! 🙂
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Ah no: the wonderful flavours in this are stunning enough as they are
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Good one!
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Yes, it ended well. 🙂
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Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe 🙂 Looks great!
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Thank you Freda. It’s my pleasure to share. 🙂
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Beautiful bread and a brilliant save. The bread looks absolutely delicious, really well done.
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Thank you Suzanne! 🙂
It definitely turned out more interesting and tasty than my usual gnocchi. Win-win! 🙂
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This looks wonderful Ronit. Never seen a recipe of bread with squash. Love it! The bread looks so moist and spongy too. Wish you a wonderful new year!
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Thank you Indu! The bread is definitely different, but in a good way. 🙂
Happy New Year! 🙂
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First off, I so agree about baking potatoes for gnocchi. Boiling them just seems like a bad idea. As for your new-found recipe, how very creative! I can say with some certainly that I never would have come up with your solution. I would have walked everything out to the trash and never mentioned the ugly episode again. Even so, I do like your original idea of squash flavored gnocchi. There must be a way. It sounds too good for there not to be.
Wishing you and your loved ones the very best that 2016 has to offer, Ronit.
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Thank you John!
I can’t say the thought of tossing it didn’t come to mind, but I come from a long line of stubborn people, so… 🙂
As for adding acorn squash to gnocchi -I’ll probably experiment with it again at one point. I’m thinking maybe it would help to dry it further by cooking it in a pan after grating. I also would not use Yukon Gold potatoes again for this, as they too are too moist, even when roasted.
Happy New Year to you too, and all the best wishes for the coming year. 🙂
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Yum! I can just imagine how yummy this must taste! Happy New Year!!
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Thank you Shamim! It was very yummy indeed. Happy New Year! 🙂
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Necessity is the mother of invention! And this was a very ingenious way around a potential failure. I love that you improvised and made this beautiful bread. Well done!!
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Thank you Lindi and sorry for the late reply. Somehow your comment went under “spam” and I missed it.
The bread ended up really tasty, with a great soft and moist texture. Well worth making again. 🙂
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I would love to try your recipe because I love baking so much. I will let you know once I have done it but for sure I will do my own version. 😊
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Thank you Analiza. I’m glad to hear and I’ll be happy to read about your version. 🙂
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Your bread looks delicious! I would like to make it, but have a silly question for you 🙂 Is an acorn squash similar to a pumpkin or known by any other name?
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Thank you Lee-Anne! 🙂
It is not a silly question at all and I’m glad to answer. Acorn squash is sometimes called pepper squash or Des Moines squash. It is quite different than pumpkin, in size, water content, texture and taste. So in this case I would not recommend substituting with pumpkin.
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Plan “B” looks like a winner. 🙂
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Thank you Karen! It was indeed a small miracle to see it actually worked so well. Life’s small pleasures… 🙂
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Absolutely. 😀
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I loved reading about how this bread came to be. Good for you to turn a disappointment into a success story 🙂
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Thank you Judi. It turned out to be a fun and very tasty experiment! 🙂
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I am a big lover of potatoes! so this is right up my avenue. This bread must be very fun to make.
summerdaisy.net
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Thank you Summer, I’m glad you liked the idea. It was a fun experiment indeed. 🙂
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This bread is so cool ! I’ve never really heard of a recipe like it. I’m gonna PIN IT – of course!!! ; o )
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Thank you Cecile! Yes, it’s not the usual bread recipe, as it started with something else in mind, but it works! 🙂
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Wow, I am seriously so impressed that you could turn a failed gnocchi recipe into THIS! congrats, this looks amazing, what a delicious idea for bread!!
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Thank you and welcome, Stephanie! I wasn’t sure it would work, but I’m glad I’ve tried. 🙂
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What a perfectly wonderful idea, Ronit! The buttery smoothness of potato & sweetness of squash! Love this!
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Thank you Lana. Yes, the texture is very unique due to the potatoes and squash. I liked it a lot and will definitely make it again. 🙂
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Looking forward to trying this!! Just beautiful!
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Thank you Lana. I hope you’ll enjoy the results. I’ll be happy to hear your comments. 🙂
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Great recipe and, particularly, I love the idea for the topping! Yuumm
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Thank you Yana. I’m glad you liked the recipes. 🙂
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Reblogged this on dawns-ad-lib.com® and commented:
Oh my! YUMM!
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Thank you Dawn! 🙂
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I’m impressed. You’re more adventuresome than me. I’ve never “invented” a bread recipe.
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Thank you Sheryl! 🙂
As funny as it may sound, I usually don’t follow recipes to the letter and most of the time end up with my own version, even of my former recipes. This one here was a sort of an “extreme” case, but it ended well. 🙂
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I also almost never follow recipes to the letter–and strongly believe that cooking is an art and not a science, but you’re definitely more adventuresome than me. I’ve never started making something in one food category and ended up with something in another. 🙂
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I guess my culinary background helps. 🙂
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Bread looks delicious! I bet it was sooo good!
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Thank you Olga. It was surprisingly good and well worth sharing. 🙂
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Wow, this looks amazing!
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Thank you Sabrina! I’m glad you liked it. 🙂
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This looks great!! I usually make a potato bread…would love to add in the squash…great share!
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Thank you Shy, I’m glad you liked the idea. It definitely made me want to experiment with other vegetables in breads. 🙂
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I have to make this bread. It looks wonderful and soft and fluffy!!!!
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Thank you Liz. I’m glad you liked the idea. I hope you’ll enjoy the results. I’ll be happy to hear your comments. 🙂
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Ronit,
This bread looks amazing! What a great idea you had and that you were able to change your plan from gnocchi to this bread- true sign of an accomplished chef like you!
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Thank you Sandhya, I’m glad you liked the recipe. It was a fun experiment on the whole! 🙂
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