My daughter Leah is prone to raising too many squashes and gives me some at about the same time that the only vegetables worth purchasing from my CSA is, well, squashes. That is when it is time to make squash bread.
There is not precise recipe, because squashes come in different sizes and contain varying amounts of water, which will be modified again, depending upon the cooking method. I bake a butternut or similar squash, cool it, and mash it as best I can. The nice thing is you can cook the squash one day, refrigerate it, and make bread altogether later.
In a stand mixer I combine the cooked, cooled, squash mash with sourdough starter, salt, and here is where experience comes into play, as much flour as it takes to make a reasonable dough. Today’s version was half spelt, half white bread flour, and coated in sesame seeds, but not pictured here, because it wasn’t so pretty.
The loaf in these photos was a whole wheat starter, pureed squash, and some unmeasured amount of flour that corresponded to the quantity and moisture of squash I was using. It was satisfying, and delicious!, to make bread with hydration supplied only by a vegetable.
