Clementine Pumpkin Cloverleafs

I miss reading Gourmet magazine. It has only been a few months since they had to close their doors, but it feels as if a year has passed since the last issue. Last February, the magazine published a recipe that I wanted to try for a couple reasons. Firstly, it uses citrus which is in season and wonderful right now. Secondly, I have very little experience using yeast to make breads. Most of my breads are quick and sweet (very cake-like). But now it's time to start working on rising techniques with this recipe for orange pumpkin cloverleafs.


I'm omitting the full recipe here because it is very long and I've provided the link above. I actually had a lot of fun making this roll. The initial kneading process was a little therapeutic. The dough slowly becomes more elastic as you work with it, which is very satisfying. After letting the dough rise, then punching it, then rising again, you divide the dough into small balls. Three balls go into each muffin tin cup, which are then baked.


The great part about this roll is that it separates into three little rolls. They are light when piping hot and become a bit more dense as they cool. You cannot taste the orange very well but the pumpkin is faintly there. But, in the end, it doesn't really matter. The point of it all is that I successfully made bread!