Thanksgiving Baking Day: Bread & Pies!

🎃 Pumpkin-Shaped White Bread

A simple white bread made with just water, flour, yeast, salt, and a little butter or oil — no sugar added.
I mixed the dough in the bread machine, then shaped it like a pumpkin and baked it in the oven on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
If you don’t have a bread machine, you can easily mix and knead the dough by hand.

Ingredients:
• 1 cup (240 ml) warm water
• 2¼ tsp (7 g) active dry yeast
• 2 tbsp (30 g) butter or oil
• 1½ tsp salt
• 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose or bread flour

Bread Machine Method:
Add ingredients to the bread pan in this order: warm water, butter or oil, salt, flour, and yeast on top.
Run the Dough program until it’s doubled in size (about 1½ hours).

By Hand:
Mix yeast with warm water and let stand 5–10 minutes.
Add butter or oil, salt, and flour. Knead about 8–10 minutes until smooth.
Let rise about 1 hour, until doubled.

Shaping:
Form dough into a round ball.
Cut 6–8 pieces of kitchen string and lightly oil them so they won’t stick.
Arrange the strings evenly around the dough and tie them loosely — the dough will expand as it rises and bakes.
Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, cover, and let rise 30–40 minutes.

Baking:
Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 25–30 minutes, until golden brown.
Cool slightly, remove the strings, and add a small cinnamon stick or piece of bread crust as the stem.

Simple, rustic, and fun to make — perfect for fall! 🍂