Halloween Pumpkin Raisin Yeast Bread

In medium bowl, mix milk and yeast. Add butter, brown sugar, salt, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, pumpkin, and raisins. Stir. Add 2 cups of flour and mix well. Slowly add in remaining flour, enough flour to make a dough that follows the spoon around the bowl. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 4 minutes, adding more flour as needed until the dough is soft and smooth to the touch. Place dough in medium greased bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so that the top is also lightly greased. Cover with clean cloth and let rise in warm, draft-free place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Punch down dough . Turn dough out onto lightly floured board and knead for 4 minutes or until the bubbles are out of the bread. Shape dough into loaf. Place in greased 8 X 4-inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise in warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Bake loaf at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. Remove loaf from sheet and let cool on rack.

Bread Baking Tips:

You can use any type of milk in this recipe: whole milk, skim, low fat, etc. Milk can also be replaced with water and nonfat dry milk .

Milk can be replaced with soy milk.

To keep bread soft, store in a plastic bag.

Spraying loaves with water while they bake will produce a crispy crust.

Brush loaves with egg white before baking to produce a shiny crust.

Brush loaves with milk before baking to produce a dark, shiny crust.

Brush loaves with butter immediately after baking to produce a soft crust.

When measuring out brown sugar, always pack it down into the measuring cup or spoon unless the recipe tells you to do otherwise.

Store brown sugar into an airtight container to keep it from becoming hard.

Keep yeast stored in an airtight container and in the refrigerator. Heat, moisture, and air kills the yeast and prevents bread dough from rising.

Bread flour has a higher amount of gluten than all-purpose flour. This means that bread made with bread flour will rise higher than bread made with all-purpose flour. You can make your own bread flour by adding 1-1/2 teaspoons gluten to each cup of all-purpose flour you use in your bread recipe.