I seldom take the time to toast the seeds, so I use a simplified method. I agree that baking the pumpkin is the best way to go. I simply pierce the pumpkin shell a few times, place it on a cookie sheet, and (if you have a big enough oven or a small enough pumpkin) bake it whole until it "collapses." Then the pumpkin is easily cut apart. I find that the strings and the seeds scrape out much more easily this way.