Kalabasa Bread – Bahay Kubo Cooking Series
This Kalabasa Bread or Squash Bread is almost brioche like, but colored and flavored with kalabasa. Served with Salted Malunggay Butter, it makes for a nice hearty snack.
Servings: 18 Slices of Bread
Ingredients
- 3 Cups Bread Flour
- 1 Cup Cooked and Mashed Kalabasa winter squash
- 2 Tablespoons Milk Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
- 2 Tablespoons Coconut Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Salt
- 2 Cups Water
- ¼ Cup Butter
- Vegetable Oil For Spraying
Salted Malunggay Butter
- ½ Cup Salted Butter at Room Temperature
- 2 Tablespoons Crushed Dried Malunggay Leaves (or 1 Tablespoon Malunggay Powder)
Instructions
Make The Bread
- First combine the flour, milk powder, yeast, salt and coconut sugar together in a large bowl. Then in a small pot melt the butter and water together on the stove top. Leave it to cool until it’s just warm, like body temperature. While the butter and water is cooling down mash up the squash. I like some flakes of it to come through the bread, but if you want it to be fully incorporated into the dough mash it up super smooth.
- Once you have the squash all mashed add it to the dry ingredient bowl and mix well.
- Then add in the melted water and butter mixture.
- Mix it until it’s shaggy and leave to rest for 10 minutes. This will help hydrate the flour into the wet ingredients. Then using a dough hook mix for 10 minutes until the dough starts pulling off the sides of the bowl. Grease another clean bowl with vegetable oil and leave to rise for an hour until doubled in size.
- While the dough is rising, prepare a loaf pan by greasing it with vegetable oil.
- Once the dough has risen, punch it down and place on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Take each piece and roll out into a ball and place in the loaf pan. Leave it to rest covered lightly with some greased cling film.
- While it is in it’s second rise heat up the oven to 350F.
- It’s ready to bake when it has risen up to a half and inch above the loaf pan. Place it in the oven to cook for 40 minutes.
- Once baked leave in the tin to cool for 10 minutes and then un-mold and leave to cool fully on a wire rack.
How to Make Salted Maluggay Butter
- To make the Salted Malunggay Butter all you need is ½ cup of slightly softened salted butter and 2 tablespoons of dried malunggay leaves. Mix them together until smooth and incorporated. Taste to see if you need more salt then transfer to a small shallow container and put in the refrigerator to set.