butternut squash maple flax bread.

Thanksgiving just recently passed, and of course, that calls for the use of fall produce in my baking. Butternut squash is not typically used, relative to how often we see pumpkin items. Usually, it is seen in the form of soup or roasted with spices or sugar. However, when pureed, butternut squash is a versatile vegetable that can be put to use in many different forms.

Since my favorite thing to bake is quick bread, I decided to use butternut squash in bread.

I bought pre-cut squash and boiled & pureed it. This was much easier than my last encounter with this squash; first, you have to cut the squash in half, so the bulbous round part is one half and the narrower part is the second half. Take out all the sees covered in slimy flesh. (rinse, dry, & save to roast later with some salt) Then you have to peel the thing, which requires quite a large, sturdy knife and is quite difficult, let me tell you. After your hands are raw from peeling, you have to battle the slippery naked squash to cut it into chunks. Then you have to cut those chunks into relatively uniform pieces. THEN can you boil it.

Would you go through the above torture or just buy them precut and get to the same final step? Honestly, I would buy the squash whole and peel it etc. because I enjoy the effort required to do that, but lack of time prevented me from doing that in this instance.

Regardless, this bread is quite easy to make once you have the puree. It follow the typical method: prepare the dry mix. prepare the wet mix. add dry to wet. don't overmix. put in greased loaf pan & enjoy warm fresh bread about an hour later.

Plus it's healthy, because you know how I like my bread.

Click for the recipe.