Pumpkin Cheese Bread

How did my pumpkin cheese bread turn out? As beautiful as the picture? Or if not appealing, was it at least edible?

Well, let's take a look at the process.

Here's the dough I made a couple of nights ago, waiting for me to knead it into submission:

Forgive me for the terrible lighting since I made this later at night so that it had time to rise before I baked it the next day.

There it is the next day, all...embiggened. I was really worried that I had used too much flour, but it turned out just fine. (OR DID IT?)

Just loafin' around. I had to flip it over since the seam of the bread was supposed to be on the bottom. It had to rise in the pan too before I could bake it.

And here it is, fresh from the oven.  I was pretty pleased with how it looked since I have never baked a bread involving yeast before. I've baked dessert loaves and corn bread before, but never an actual loaf. 

The bread has a really pretty color to it. It picks up an autumnal orange from the pumpkin and the cheddar. It's also hearty.  A serious bread to sink your teeth into. 

As for taste, it was excellent. There's a hint of heat from the cayenne pepper, and the cheddar and pumpkin work really well together. I probably ate more of it than I should have, but whatever. You only bake your first loaf of bread once.

One recipe down, plenty of others to go. 

I really need a gif of Jim Gaffigan saying "delicioso" because I feel like it'd really come in handy right now. I'm just sayin'.

The recipe for this can be found in the Beekman 1802 Heirloom cookbook, or you can find it online here on Huffington Post.