I wanted to do something special for Halloween this year and I was looking at pumpkins. Now I confess to being the world’s worst pumpkin carver, so I thought I’d try something I’m better at: bread and soup.

I ran across a recipe for black bread that really piqued my interest. Most black bread recipes are really dark brown and I was looking for a real black bread. Here is the recipe I came up with for my experiment.

Black Bread

I decided to use my best go-to bread recipe as a base.

• 1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
• ½ cup applesauce (this replaces the oil. You could also use strained prunes in a pinch but applesauce is nicer)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
• Mix and let stand for 10 minutes.  Then add:
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons finely ground food grade activated charcoal (I ordered mine online). However if that idea is too far a reach you can combine equal amounts of red, blue and yellow food coloring.

You can use a stand mixer for this.

In a bowl combine warm water, applesauce and yeast. Mix and let stand for 10 minutes or until the yeast has bloomed. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients (including the charcoal).   Add the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

In the mixer bowl you can knead the bread (8-10 minutes is ideal). Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until it is double in size.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes.

While the bread is rising it’s time to make the soup, creamy pumpkin soup, of course. I encourage you to make this the day before.

Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Coconut Milk

You will need one smallish pie pumpkin (Sugar Pumpkins). I won’t bore you by making you watch me cut and clean the pumpkin. We all know it’s a struggle just to cut the thing in half. Save the seeds for roasting.

Place the halves face down on a silpat mat or foil or parchment paper. Roast in a 350 degree oven for 55-70 minutes or until you can pierce it easily with a fork.

Let the pumpkins cool and scrape the pulp into a bowl. I like to puree the pumpkin ahead of time using a stick blender. You can store it in the fridge overnight.

While the bread is baking, start the soup. You will need 1 cup of water or vegetable stock, 1 cup (about 3/4 can) of full fat coconut milk, spices.

In a sauce pan combine the pumpkin puree with the stock or water and heat. Pour in the coconut milk and stir. Continue heating and stirring until smooth and creamy. Seasoning are a matter of taste. I used salt, pepper, turmeric, smoked paprika and garam masala, but you can use any kind of seasoning that you like.

Considering that this is my first bread bowl, not too bad. The soup was warm, slightly spicy and just the thing after a night of trick or treating. Enjoy.