TWD & BWJ: Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Loaf

Well it's been a while since I've baked and blogged. I unexpectedly found a new career as a teaching assistant at a pre-school. Eventhough I work part time, I arrive home exhausted from running around after 10 two-year-olds.  Once a week, I cook with three and four year olds.  That is really fun.

Now that I'm used to my new schedule, I'm back with Tuesdays with Dorie.  This time:
Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin Loaf. Our host is Rebecca.  The recipe will be posted on her blog.
I have to confess to being a bit intimidated by this recipe. There is a very long set of instructions and the recipe calls for two rise times, an overnight in the fridge and  a six hour rest (okay, actually a 3 to 4 hour rest, but there was a small misunderstanding between the instructions and me.)  I then looked at the small 5.5" x  3.5" pans and thought, "All that time.... and that's what we end up with?"  I ended up having enough dough for four small loaves.

Because not everyone in my family likes raisins, I left them out and increased the amount of cranberries to one cup. As it turns out, the same someone who doesn't like raisins, also doesn't like cranberries or pumpkin. Yikes. 

I'm not sure I will make this bread again. It has a lovely texture, but the pumpkin flavor is very subtle and the frozen cranberries I used were too tart. Maybe I was just expecting something sweeter.  Given the time commitment to make this bread, I might perfer to make a cinnamon raisin loaf or a challah.  Come to think of it, a friend of mine has a recipe for pumpkin challah bread ...