twist with icing

Another Cast Iron Baking Recipe – Pumpkin Cinnamon Twist

Following up on the previous post, I made the Pumpkin Cinnamon Twist from Cast Iron Baking scratch recipes for your favorite skillet .  Another great recipe from Brooke Bell.  It’s easy to form, but looks oh so impressive.  And, best of all, I get to use one of my cast iron skillets to make it!

Getting yeast dough to rise in the fall and winter

A couple things about helping yeast breads rise.   Our house is not always warm enough to just let yeast bread dough sit out and rise.  it would be a long slow rise, and  I am not that patient. Although I have a warming /rising drawer in my current stove, I have several other tricks to help bread dough rise.

The first is something I did when I was young in our drafty old farm house.  Turn the oven on to preheat at 200F.  Don’t leave it on – just let it heat long enough to warm up to 80-90F.  Turn off the oven – leave the door open if it got too hot for a few minutes –  then put your bowl of dough inside and close the oven door.

The second tip my late brother taught me.  Use a heating pad. Yes, the thing Grandma ( and I ) used on her knees and back.  Turn it on low, and set your bowl (or skillet in today’s case) right on top.  it produces a low gentle heat.  With a cast iron skillet once it’s warm, it holds heat for quite a while, and dough rises wonderfully.

how to get dough to rise

Dough rising using a heating pad

I also cover with plastic wrapped sprayed with baking spray to keep it from sticking.  I hate it when the plastic or towel gets stuck to the dough, and the dough starts to deflate when you pull the cover off.  In fact, I often give an extra spritz of spray directly on the ball or formed dough to make sure it stays soft as it rises.

And lastly, if I have the oven on anyway, I put the skillet in the drawer under the oven, and it will warm up from adjacent heated oven.

dough stuffed with filling, and rolled into a log

 

Pumpkin Cinnamon Twist

The  pumpkin part goes into the dough in this twist recipe.  I am thinking a good variation might be to cook down some pumpkin puree to almost a jam consistency,  put the nuts and spices in it, and then spread that on the dough.  Maybe next time.

I tend to cook and freeze a lot of squash in the fall, so butternut squash, which is actually what I used, doesn’t develop quite the yellow dough as in the book.  By all means, use pumpkin out of a can if that’s what you’ve got in the pantry.

I made up my own spice mix with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice, rather than buy prepared pumpkin pie mix.  And when I cut the log to twist, I cut it in half all the way, rather  than leaving 2″ intact at one end as the author suggests.  I found it easier to twist and wrap into a spiral that way.

log cut in half, and twisted together

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

after rising

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, I can’t stress enough how much I love this book.  So many cast iron books,  I like some recipes, but many not so much.  I can’t wait to bake EVERYTHING in Cast Iron Baking .

the twist is baked, and ready for icing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

twist with icing

Pumpkin Cinnamon Twist – ready to eat!

So, from page 97 of Brook Bells book:

Print

Pumpkin-Cinnamon Twist

it's almost like a giant cinnamon roll, with pumpkin in the bread dough. And wonderful spice aromas that circulate in the kitchen as it bakes.

Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

Dough

  • 1/2 cup wrm water, 105-110F
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin canned or thawed frozen
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 pkg yeast (or about 2.5 tsp)
  • 2 1/2 cups flour or half bread flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted

Filling

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup` packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup finely ground pecans or walnuts
  • 2 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 pince salt

glaze

  • 1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
  • 1/4 cup orange juice

Instructions

Dough

  1. In a medium bowl, mix together the water, pumpkin, sugar, spices and yeast.  Let stand 5 minutes or until bubbly and foaming.

  2. in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle, combine the flour and salt.  Mix a few times, and then on slow speed, add in the yeast mix and butter. Beat until combined. Switch to the dough hook attachment, and beat at medium speed until dough is smooth and elastic, about 7 minutes.

  3. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top.  (this is where I spray it a bit more). Let rise until doubled, about an hour.

  4. Spray a 10 inch cast iron skillet with baking spray. Punch down dough. On a floured surface, roll out to a 12 x 16" rectangle.

Filling

  1. Spread the butter onto the dough. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, nuts, salt and cinnamon.  Sprinkle over the batter.   Starting with a long side, roll up tightly into a log. Pinch the seam to seal. Cut in half lengthwise, and twist pieces together into a log, making sure the cut sides face up. roll into a spiral/circle.

  2. Place in prepared skillet. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, another 45- 60 minutes.

  3. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake, uncovered, until golden brown, 30 minutes.  Let cool 15 minutes.

Glaze

  1. in a small bowl, mix the sugar and orange juice until smooth. Drizzle over warm bread.  Serve immediately.