Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Pumpkin garlic knots

Posted by Kirbie / 8 comments » / Bread, Pumpkin, Recipes

Lately, I’ve seen a lot of food bloggers making garlic knots.  I love these soft, yeasty rolls, with their cute shape, but never thought to make my own. I put it on my to-do list, but as with all recipes that require yeast (and patience), it remained on my to-do list for a while.

Then I saw a post on pumpkin garlic knots, and suddenly I had to make these, even though I hadn’t even tried making regular garlic knots yet.

My pumpkin garlic knots ended up being a bit too big; I didn’t realize how much more they would rise. But they still came out a gorgeous golden yellow.  The rolls came out sweet, I think from the agave nectar called for in the recipe. When I tasted them plain, I decided not to completely douse them in garlic because of the sweet taste, but instead just painted them with the oil from my minced garlic, olive oil and parsley combination.  Then I added some fresh parsley since my cooked parsley had turned a dark green.

I think these rolls worked better as sweet rolls and I wanted to glaze them with some honey, but some of my family members don’t like the taste of honey. The pumpkin flavor is pretty subtle, but the rolls still are soft and delicious.

I’ve had trouble with yeast recipes, but these came out well. I used a recipe I found on Handle the Heat.  I was a little concerned with some of the quantities, as they seemed to vary from some of the other garlic knot recipes I’d read.  So I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, but instead changed a few of the quantities around, as well as the garlic mixture.

Pumpkin Garlic Knots (adapted from Handle the Heat)

Ingredients
1 cup warm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp agave nectar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups unbleached bread flour

Garlic coating
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tbsp fresh, chopped parsley
additional fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Directions
1. For the dough: Pour the warm water (about 75-80 degrees) into a medium bowl and whisk in the yeast. Let it sit for about 10 minutes.  It should bubble. Whisk in the agave nectar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and pumpkin puree.

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 large spoon, mix the ingredients together. Then use your hands to knead the dough until it comes together.  The dough should be elastic but it should not stick to your fingers and hand. Add additional bread flour until the dough no longer sticks.

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 and let rise for about 2 hours; or until nearly doubled in size.

5. Tear off sections of the dough, and roll them into a ball. My dough balls were about the size of a small peach, but my knots ended up being kind of big. Then roll out the balls  into a long, thin rope, trying to make the rope even in width. Tie the rope into a knot. Take the ends of the knot, and tuck them into the middle. One should go on top and the other will go on the bottom. Set aside and continue with the rest of the dough
.
6. Cover finished knots with paper towel and let rise for another 30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Bake garlic knots until golden brown on the tops, about 10-15 minutes depending on size of knots.
9. While the knots are baking, in a pan, cook together the 1/3 cup olive oil with chopped garlic and 3 tsbp of chopped parsley. When the knots are done, toss in the olive oil mixture to coat or you can brush on the olive oil mixture. Garnish with fresh parsley.
Posted by Kirbie on November 2, 2010
8 Comments »
tags: garlic knots, Pumpkin
 

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8 Responses to “Pumpkin garlic knots”

  1. 1

    shaz — November 3, 2010 @ 1:52 am

    They look so cute! What a sunny olour. I must admit I don’t really use pumpkin in bakign very much, I always think of it as a savoury thing, but very tempted to try something like this. Well done.

    • claribelle replied: — November 3rd, 2010 @ 8:23 am

      Pumpkin has a very mild taste so it really works well in sweet treats. And I love how it adds a yellow or orange color to foods, perfect for autumn!

  2. 2

    Rosa — November 3, 2010 @ 7:57 am

    I am so making this for Thanksgiving!

    And…some of your family not liking the taste of honey?!?! Does not compute! That’s crazy talk.

    • claribelle replied: — November 3rd, 2010 @ 8:25 am

      I know, seriously. I love honey. They are so picky. No honey, no “fruit” desserts, no nuts in their desserts.

  3. 3

    Faye — November 3, 2010 @ 9:17 am

    You are officially the Pumpkin Queen. This recipe looks sooo beautiful. I’m going to make this for Thanksgiving and surprise everyone.

    I have a HUGE fear of baking w/ yeast. Is this recipe easy in that department? I don’t have thermometer so is there another way to know when the water is hot enough to add the yeast?

    I’m also an un-lover of honey. Not sure why. I avoid it like the plague. Never heard of the agave nectar – can i get that at trader joes? Is there another substitution for that ingredient?

    Very well done – i can’t get over how beautiful the knots are!

    • claribelle replied: — November 3rd, 2010 @ 9:43 am

      I think this is a pretty easy yeast recipe. I’ve had a lot of failures with yeast, and this one worked out for me. I don’t use a thermometer, but I think I have a general idea of water temperature because I used to have water turtles and fish. You want the water to be warm, but no where near hot because it will kill the yeast. I don’t really know how else to describe it. I guess if it was a pool and you dipped your hand in, it should be at a temp where you think the water is warm. Room temperature water is usually close to 70 degrees, so you want it slightly warmer than that.
      You can get agave nectar at TJ and most grocery stores. It’s supposed to be a healthier sweetener. You can substitute with honey. I know you just said you don’t like honey much, but I think if it’s only the little bit in the batter, you can’t really taste the honey, you just taste that it is sweet. You could probably also substitute for maple syrup or some other type of syrup.

  4. 4

    Ju — November 3, 2010 @ 6:42 pm

    These are absolutely darling! I think it’s brilliant adding garlic to flavour the pumpkin. Beautiful!

    • claribelle replied: — November 4th, 2010 @ 8:15 am

      Thanks! Though I can’t claim credit for the idea. =)

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