This sourdough bread is is bursting with a beautiful orange color and a mild pumpkin flavor. Without any additional spices added, pumpkin is truly the star of the show. Grab a can of pumpkin puree (or puree your own) and enjoy making this Pumpkin Sourdough Bread.
This recipe has everything I want in an fall-themed bread. It’s naturally leavened with sourdough starter and packed with nutrition and orange color from a heaping scoop of pumpkin puree. Plus, it has a warm nuttiness from the addition of whole grain flour.
So, skip the Pumpkin Spice Lattes this year and celebrate the fall season by making giant loaves of pumpkin sourdough bread!
Starter Ingredients
- Leftover Sourdough Starter – 25 grams
- Bread Flour – 25 grams
- Whole Wheat Flour – 25 grams
Main Dough Ingredients
- Bread Flour – 400 grams
- Whole Wheat Flour – 50 grams
- Water – 250 grams
- Sourdough Starter (Active) – 100 grams
- Pumpkin Puree (not pumpkin pie filling) – 200 grams
- Salt – 10 grams
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Step-by-Step Instructions: Pumpkin Sourdough Bread
Feeding Your Starter
- The night before you want to make this bread, feed 10 grams of leftover sourdough starter with 50 grams of water and 50 grams of flour. You can use any type of flour or mix of flours that you want. I usually use 25g whole wheat and 25g bread flour. This will give you enough starter for 100 grams that you will use in the morning, plus a little bit leftover to save for your next bake.
Mixing The Dough
- In the morning, when your starter is bubbly and active, mix together the water, sourdough starter, and pumpkin puree in a large mixing bowl. Stir until you thoroughly combine these ingredients into an orange-ish liquid.
- Next, add all of the flour and salt to the wet ingredients and mix everything with a bowl scraper or wooden spoon until everything is pretty well mixed and there aren’t very many dry bits of flour left. You officially have your dough.
- Now, cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Bulk Fermentation (The First Rise)
- Once your dough has rested, stretch and fold each edge of the dough in over the center. Do this until you’ve gone around the bowl twice pulling each edge over the center and forming a semi-smooth ball of dough. Then let the dough rest, covered, for another 30 minutes.
- After the second rest period, do another set of stretch and folds, then cover and rest the dough again.
- Now that you’ve rested the dough a third time, do your final set of stretch and folds, but a little bit more gently this time, since the dough should be starting to puff up with air. Then cover the dough up and let it rest for another 3.5 hours.
- After three and a half hours of resting, your dough should be done with bulk fermentation. If you have a colder kitchen this might take a few more hours and if you have a warmer kitchen it might go a little faster. Most importantly, you’re looking for your dough to have increased in volume (to almost double) and to be a little bit jiggly when you shake the bowl. Tip your dough out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured surface.
Shaping The Dough
- When your dough is on the floured counter, pre-shape it into a ball, cover it, and let it rest for 30 minutes. (You can watch me do this pre-shaping step in the video below.)
- After the 30 minute bench rest, sprinkle your dough with flour and shape it into a ball again. Then transfer the dough seam-side-up into a banneton proofing basket or a bowl lined with a floured kitchen towel. Now it’s time to proof the dough.
Proofing The Dough
- Move the dough to the fridge and let it proof overnight or for at least eight hours in the cold environment. If you want to make this bread the same day, you could let it proof for 2-3 hours at room temperature, but I believe the flavor is better with a longer cold-proof in the fridge.
Baking
- The next day, pre-heat your oven to 500°F / 260°C with your dutch oven or baking vessel on one of the middle to lower racks. Let it come up to temperature for at least 30 minutes.
- When your oven is up to temperature, take your dough out of the fridge and transfer it onto a sheet of parchment paper. Score the dough in a cross patter with a sharp knife or a dough lame.
- Transfer the dough to your dutch oven and bake for 20 minutes with the dutch oven lid on.
- When 20 minutes is up, remove the lid from the dutch oven and continue baking for 15-20 minutes, or until the bread has a nice brown-but-not-burnt color that you like.
Serving
- Transfer the bread to your kitchen counter and let it cool for at least an hour.
- Slice and enjoy! This bread is great toasted and topped with butter and cinnamon or with cream cheese. You could even sprinkle a little pumpkin pie spice on top of the spread to use instead of cinnamon.
Yield: 1 loaf
Pumpkin Sourdough Bread
This sourdough bread is is bursting with a beautiful orange color and a mild pumpkin flavor. Without any additional spices added, pumpkin is truly the star of the show for this seasonal Pumpkin Sourdough Bread.
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Additional Time
14 hours
Total Time
14 hours 50 minutes
Ingredients
Sourdough Starter Feeding
- Sourdough Starter - 25 grams
- Bread Flour - 25 grams
- Whole Wheat Flour - 25 grams
Main Dough
- Bread Flour - 400 grams
- Whole Wheat Flour - 50 grams
- Water - 250 grams
- Pumpkin Puree (not pumpkin pie filling) - 200 grams
- Sourdough Starter (Active) - 100 grams
- Salt - 10 grams
Instructions
Feeding the Starter
- The night before you want to make this bread, feed 10 grams of leftover sourdough starter with 50 grams of water and 50 grams of flour. You can use any type of flour or mix of flours that you want. I usually use 25g whole wheat and 25g bread flour. This will give you enough starter for 100 grams that you will use in the morning, plus a little bit leftover to save for your next bake.
Mixing The Dough
- In the morning, when your starter is bubbly and active, mix together the water, sourdough starter, and pumpkin puree in a large mixing bowl. Stir until you thoroughly combine these ingredients into an orange-ish liquid.
- Next, add all of the flour and salt to the wet ingredients and mix everything with a bowl scraper or wooden spoon until everything is pretty well mixed and there aren’t very many dry bits of flour left. You officially have your dough.
- Now, cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Bulk Fermentation (The First Rise)
- Once your dough has rested, stretch and fold each edge of the dough in over the center. Do this until you’ve gone around the bowl twice pulling each edge over the center and forming a semi-smooth ball of dough. Then let the dough rest, covered, for another 30 minutes.
After the second rest period, do another set of stretch and folds, then cover and rest the dough again. - Now that you’ve rested the dough a third time, do your final set of stretch and folds, but a little bit more gently this time, since the dough should be starting to puff up with air. Then cover the dough up and let it rest for another 3.5 hours.
- After three and a half hours of resting, your dough should be done with bulk fermentation. If you have a colder kitchen this might take a few more hours and if you have a warmer kitchen it might go a little faster. Most importantly, you’re looking for your dough to have increased in volume (to almost double) and to be a little bit jiggly when you shake the bowl. Tip your dough out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured surface.
Shaping The Dough
- When your dough is on the floured counter, pre-shape it into a ball, cover it, and let it rest for 30 minutes. (You can watch me do this pre-shaping step in the video below.)
- After the 30 minute bench rest, sprinkle your dough with flour and shape it into a ball again. Then transfer the dough seam-side-up into a banneton proofing basket or a bowl lined with a floured kitchen towel. Now it’s time to proof the dough.
Proofing The Dough
- Move the dough to the fridge and let it proof overnight or for at least eight hours in the cold environment. If you want to make this bread the same day, you could let it proof for 2-3 hours at room temperature, but I believe the flavor is better with a longer cold-proof in the fridge.
Baking
- The next day, pre-heat your oven to 500°F / 260°C with your dutch oven or baking vessel on one of the middle to lower racks. Let it come up to temperature for at least 30 minutes.
When your oven is up to temperature, take your dough out of the fridge and transfer it onto a sheet of parchment paper. Score the dough in a cross patter with a sharp knife or a dough lame. - Transfer the dough to your dutch oven and bake for 20 minutes with the dutch oven lid on.
When 20 minutes is up, remove the lid from the dutch oven and continue baking for 15-20 minutes, or until the bread has a nice brown-but-not-burnt color that you like.
Serving
- Transfer the bread to your kitchen counter and let it cool for at least an hour.
Slice and enjoy! This bread is great toasted and topped with butter and cinnamon or with cream cheese. You could even sprinkle a little pumpkin pie spice on top of the spread to use instead of cinnamon.