Diane Rose fights cancer bare-knuckled.

Late Monday morning in her kitchen, she is wrist deep in soupy, egg-yellow challah dough, twisting, punching and kneading. There's a mass of monstrous orange pumpkin bread rising on the counter nearby, and five loaves of multigrain bread are baking in the oven.

"Did the timer go off ?'' she asks, her hands still submerged in sticky dough.

It's another Monday at the Rose residence, tucked away on tree-lined Ziegle Avenue in Hyde Park. Working alone, Ms. Rose bakes about 40 loaves about every Monday from September until June. She has maintained the routine for the past two years, donating her time and the ingredients. She sells the bread for $5 a loaf and gives the proceeds to the American Cancer Society and Leukemia-Lymphoma Society.

A hand-painted sign in front of her brick home shouts "Bread for sale!'' But if you get close enough, no notice is needed. The bread's sweet yeasty scent greets you at the front door.

"Her bread is always warm,'' says Lori Fovel, a neighbor and regular customer. "It makes you feel like it just came out of the oven.''

Ms. Fovel's only complaint: So many people have heard about the Monday bread sales, you have to get there early to grab a loaf.

Bigger bags of flour

Ms. Rose taught chemistry for 18 years at Ursuline Academy in Blue Ash before "retiring'' in 2000. An avid runner who has lined up for every Flying Pig Marathon (she walked the race last year because an injury hindered her stride), she has been raising money for cancer causes for years. Then three years ago, she heard a presentation by a woman who baked and sold bread for charities.

"I thought: I can do that,'' says the petite Ms. Rose, who wears a baseball cap with a ponytail hanging out the back, T-shirt and jeans remarkably free of flour.

For at least 15 years, Ms. Rose had been baking bread for her husband and three children. So starting up her Monday-only home bakery wasn't difficult.

"All I had to do was scale the recipes up,'' she says.

She understates the task. Ms. Rose buys flour in 15- pound bags and dozens and dozens of eggs at a time. She mixes the dough by hand in large shallow plastic tubs. Her kitchen is modest-sized and her ordinary electric oven bakes only five loaves at a time.

"This shows anyone can do it,'' she says in a dare-devil tone. "You don't need special equipment.''

But once she mixes her first batch of dough at 7 a.m., the rest of Monday is pretty much nonstop. She slides across the tile floor in her sandals, from the challah dough to shaping the pumpkin loaves to pulling out the browned multigrain bread. Customers may begin arriving by 11:30 a.m., so she has to keep the assembly line moving.

A sign on the door directs people inside, where the bread sits on a table. Some customers stroll into the kitchen to say hello to the baker. Others only shout their arrival from the foyer.

"I know all my customers,'' Ms. Rose says. "Or I will meet them soon.''

On this day, she pulls the last bread from the oven at 5 p.m. Her final customer drops by two hours later.

For Luke and Becky

Like many, Ms. Rose has been touched by cancer. Her nephew, a freshman at Ohio State, was diagnosed with leukemia three years ago. Her 35-year-old sister-in-law in Oxford has breast cancer. She wears their names, Luke and Becky, above the bill of her cap.

But she would do this even if she didn't know anyone with the disease. It's her nature to help. In a little more than two years, Ms. Rose has baked enough bread to raise $8,000 for the cause. And now, she sells out nearly every week.

With her energy, Ms. Rose probably could do something more efficient - something that required less time and effort - to raise funds. But she loves baking bread and knows people love eating it. For that, she'll gladly spend her Mondays punching dough.

"This is about more than making money,'' she says. "This feeds my soul.''

Diane Rose adapted this recipe from Ultimate Breads (DK Publishing; $25) with help from a friend.

Diane's Spicy Pumpkin Bread
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
41/2 tablespoons sugar
4 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 15-ounce can pureed pumpkin
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds

Sprinkle yeast into lukewarm water and let it set for 5 minutes. Stir in sugar to dissolve. Mix flour with salt and spices in large bowl and make a well in the center. Pour in water with yeast and dissolved sugar, then stir in pureed pumpkin.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until very smooth, about 10 minutes. Put dough in a clean bowl and cover with dishcloth. Let rise until doubled in size, about 11/2 hours. Punch down, then let rest another 10 minutes. Shape dough into round loaf and place on an oiled baking sheet. Cover with towel and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Make egg wash by whisking together milk with egg yolk. Brush top of loaf with egg wash and sprinkle on pumpkin seeds.

Bake about 40 minutes, until golden and hollow-sounding when tapped. Cool on wire rack before slicing. Makes 1 loaf.

E-mail cmartin@enquirer.com