When most people read the words”pumpkin” and “bread” in the same sentence, a mélange (pun intended) of strong spices—cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove—and sweet concoctions come rushing to mind. But this recipe doesn’t quite follow the usual connection between our beloved fall-time squash and those pungent spices. Instead, this pumpkin cinnamon sourdough bread is lofty and light, tender, a touch sweet, and deeply colored by the addition of smooth pumpkin puree. And while the cinnamon is just a small hint, but that, in combination with the creamlike pumpkin and sweet raisins, is enough to ensure you’re ushering in fall with the right spices and the right flavors.
I’m not really a sweets person—except for that personal batch of cinnamon rolls on the weekend (I know you’ve at least thought about it)—but this sweet-ish bread really hits the cool-weather spot. The falling leaves and shorter days awaken that urgency for something a little sweet, and this tall, stunning loaf of pumpkin bread on the cutting board feels right. And if you’re like me, you might still have that stash of canned pumpkin puree ready to go already in your pantry.
If you’re a diehard pumpkin spice fan, you could add nutmeg, ginger, and clove to taste.
If you’re a diehard pumpkin spice fan, you could adapt this recipe to include a touch of nutmeg, ginger, and clove—but I’d recommend keeping it light (perhaps only 0.25% of each?). These are powerful spices indeed, and can quickly overwhelm.
This pumpkin cinnamon sourdough bread is drastically different than a typical pumpkin quick bread. To me, the latter is closer to a banana bread, which is dense, ultra-moist, and typically sweeter. This is lofty, airy, and light, but still has the same warmth with a subtly sweet slant.
Using a Sweet Starter
This bread uses what’s sometimes called a “sweet starter.” I first heard about this technique a while ago from the extremely knowledgeable baker Ian Lowe (check out his Instagram feed and get ready for an immeasurable amount of baking inspiration), and have been using it in a variety of sourdough bakes here in testing.
A sweet starter (or levain, as I optionally call it), is a preferment with added sugar. To me, it’s similar to how naturally leavened panettone is made. Panettone is made with a series of builds (primo impasto, secondo impasto, etc.) that gradually increase sugar and other enrichments before making the final dough.
For this pumpkin cinnamon sourdough bread, a sweet starter helps to reduce the sourness in the final loaf and lets the flavors of pumpkin and cinnamon really shine through. Additionally, I also find it helps keep the fermentation on schedule with a bonus of increased yeast activity for a strong rise.
Flour Selection
After testing many iterations on this formula, I eventually settled on half medium-protein bread flour and half high-protein bread flour. The added pumpkin puree and enrichments (butter and sugar) make the dough especially soft and almost mousse-like. Using 50% higher protein flour helps the dough develop strength early, making for an easier dough to handle with no discernable side effects in the end.
King Arthur Baking Bread Flour will work well for the high-protein bread flour in this pumpkin cinnamon sourdough bread recipe. Any medium-protein bread flour (around 11% protein) or all-purpose flour will work well for the medium-protein bread flour. I’ve made this with King Arthur Baking All-purpose and Central Milling Artisan Baker’s Craft Plus with equally great results.
I considered using the tangzhong technique with this bread, but I don’t believe the added step would bring many benefits. Why? The dough is already incredibly soft with the added puree. Adding any more tenderness to this bread might be too much.
Preparing the Pumpkin
Me being who I am, I was tempted to roast my own pumpkin for this bread. But, I pretty quickly dismissed the idea. I’ve done this many times when making pumpkin pie, and while it’s totally an option, I find buying canned pumpkin puree to be just as good and a heck of a lot easier. That said, if you want to roast your own pumpkin (or you have some leftover from pumpkin pie), it will work well with this recipe. Just be sure to let the puree cool thoroughly before mixing it into your dough.
I ended up using the classic Libby’s Canned Pumpkin, and to me, it’s a wonderful puree for this bread. It’s always my go-to for pumpkin pie, and now, this pumpkin cinnamon sourdough bread is no different.
Baking Schedule
This pan bread is a direct bake, meaning it’s baked the same day you mix (except for the levain, which is created the night before).
Be sure to use your levain when it’s very ripe: it should be extremely bubbly, frothy, and well-risen. The dough might move a little slow in proof, give it extra time if necessary.
Overnight proof option: while I don’t call for this dough to be retarded (cold proof overnight), this can be done if it’s better for your schedule. Simply place it in the fridge after it’s shaped and in the Pullman pan, then bake first thing in the morning once fully proofed.
Pumpkin Cinnamon Sourdough Bread Formula
If you want to bake two loaves instead of one, double all the ingredients. For tips on how to calculate baker’s percentages or how to modify this formula, see my post on baker’s percentages (baker’s math).
| Total Dough Weight | 950 grams |
| Pre-fermented Flour | 11.50% |
| Levain in final dough | 33.79% |
| Yield | 1 x 950g pan loaf |
I used my 9x4x4″ USA Pan Pullman pan (without the lid) for this square loaf. The silicone liner on the inside ensures no sticking, and the straight sides make for nice slices.
But, if you’re looking for how to make this recipe work in a different pan, see my post on shaping a sandwich loaf.
Total Formula
Desired dough temperature: 77°F (25°C). See my post on the importance of dough temperature for more information on dough temperatures.
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 199g | Medium-protein bread flour or All-purpose flour (~11% protein, Central Milling Artisan Baker’s Craft or King Arthur Baking All-Purpose) | 50.00% |
| 199g | High-protein bread flour (~12-13% protein, King Arthur Flour Bread Flour) | 50.00% |
| 120g | Pumpkin puree | 30.00% |
| 80g | Raisins (golden or Thompson) | 20.00% |
| 64g | Butter, unsalted | 16.00% |
| 40g | Sugar, caster | 10.00% |
| 3g | Cinnamon, ground | 0.75% |
| 140g | Water | 35.00% |
| 80g | Milk, whole | 20.00% |
| 8g | Fine sea salt | 1.90% |
| 18g | Sourdough starter | 4.60% |
Total Yield: 238.25%, 950.0 grams.
NOTE: You’ll also need one egg and a splash of milk for the egg wash right before baking.
Pumpkin Cinnamon Sourdough Bread Method
1. Prepare Levain – Night before mixing, 9:00 p.m. (Day one)
Mix the following ingredients in a container and leave covered to ripen at about 77°F (25°C) for 12 hours overnight.
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 46g | Medium protein bread flour or all-purpose flour | 100.00% |
| 46g | Water | 100.00% |
| 9g | Sugar, caster | 20.00% |
| 18g | Ripe sourdough starter | 40.00% |
Total Yield: 260%, 119.2 grams.
2. Mix – 9:00 a.m. (Day two)
There is no autolyse step for this dough. Because I’m mixing the dough in a mechanical mixer with cold ingredients, it’s easy enough to develop the dough sufficiently without overshooting the final dough temperature. An autolyse would also be tricky here with the pumpkin puree, milk, and how everything is added during mixing. See my guide to the autolyse technique for more information.
I used my KitchenAid stand mixer to mix this dough, which I highly recommend. The pumpkin puree and butter makes for a very soft dough with lengthy mix times.
Because most of the ingredients are cold from the refrigerator, you might need to expect to warm the water slightly to hit the final dough temperature listed above.
| Weight | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 154g | Medium-protein bread flour or All-purpose flour (~11% protein, Central Milling Artisan Baker’s Craft or King Arthur Baking All-Purpose) |
| 199g | High-protein bread flour (~12-13% protein, King Arthur Flour Bread Flour) |
| 120g | Pumpkin puree |
| 80g | Raisins (sultana or Thompson) |
| 64g | Butter, unsalted |
| 31g | Sugar, caster |
| 3g | Cinnamon, ground |
| 94g | Water |
| 79.7g | Milk, whole |
| 7.6g | Fine sea salt |
| 119.2g | Ripe levain (see above) |
First, take out your butter and cut it into 1/2″ pats. Set the butter on a plate to warm to room temperature and reserve until the end of mixing.
Use the paddle attachment to develop this dough efficiently.
To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the water, milk, flour, ripe levain, sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin puree, and salt. Mix on speed 1 (STIR on a KitchenAid) for 1 to 2 minutes until the ingredients come together and no dry bits remain. Increase the mixer speed to medium (2 on a KitchenAid) and mix for 8 minutes until the dough starts to strengthen and clump around the paddle. It won’t completely remove from the bottom of the bowl, and it will still be shaggy.
Let the dough rest in the mixing bowl for 10 minutes.
If your dough is cohesive and elastic enough, you could now switch to using the dough hook (I did). Your butter should now also be at room temperature; a finger will easily slide in and leave a depression. Turn the mixer on to speed 1 and add the butter, one pat at a time, waiting to add each pat until the previous one is fully absorbed. Adding all the butter might take 5 to 8 minutes. In the end, the dough should be glossy and soft, but cohesive and showing some strength.
Finally, add the raisins to the dough and mix on low until just incorporated. It’s unnecessary to mix aggressively here; just get them mostly distributed.
Transfer your dough to a bulk fermentation container and cover.
Don’t be alarmed if your dough is softer than you’re used to—this is a very soft dough! It’ll gain significant strength through bulk fermentation.
3. Bulk Fermentation – 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
At room temperature, around 77°F (25°C), bulk should take about 3 1/2 hours. If your kitchen is cooler, place the pan to rise in a small proofer, or extend bulk fermentation as necessary. If your kitchen is around 74°F (23°C), I’d say closer to 4 hour or 4 hours and 15 minutes.
Give this dough three sets of stretch and folds during bulk fermentation (first rise) at 30-minute intervals. The first set starts after 30 minutes from the start of bulk fermentation. For each set, wet your hands, grab one side and stretch it up and over the dough to the other side. Rotate the bowl 180° and perform another stretch and fold (this forms a long rectangle in the bowl). Then, rotate the bowl 90° and do another stretch and fold. Finally, turn the bowl 180° and do one last stretch and fold. You should have the dough neatly folded up in the bowl.
After the third set, let the dough rest, covered, for the remainder of bulk fermentation.
4. Chill Dough – 1:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Your dough should be puffy and light at the end of bulk fermentation (as seen below), but still elastic and not overly gassy. If your final dough temperature was lower than the 77°F (25°C) for this recipe or your dough is still tight, dense, and not smoother, give it another 15 to 30 minutes and check again.
Uncover your bulk fermentation container and place the dough in the refrigerator for 15 to 25 minutes. This time will help firm up the dough to make shaping and transferring to the pan much easier.
5. Shape – 1:15 p.m.
First, lightly oil your Pullman pan with butter. While this isn’t strictly necessary when using a USA Pan Pullman pan, it’s a little insurance just in case.
I shaped this dough in my typical method for shaping a pan loaf. Check out my guide to shaping pan loaves for detailed instructions.
Remove your bulk fermentation container from the fridge and gently scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a floured work surface. Fold the dough’s left side over to the middle, the right side up and over to meet the left. Finally, roll the entire rectangle down to form a taut tube.
Once the dough is shaped into a long tube, transfer it to the pan, seam-side-down.
6. Proof – 1:30 p.m. 3:30 p.m. (2 hours at room temperature)
Cover the pan with a large, reusable plastic bag and seal it shut. Let the dough proof at a warm temperature, around 77°F (25°C), for 2 hours.
Overnight proof option: before the 2-hour counter proof, cover the pan with an airtight bag and place it in your refrigerator to proof overnight. Bake the loaf the next morning, as indicated below.
7. Bake – 3:30 p.m. (pre-heat oven at 3:00 p.m.)
Check on your dough: it should have risen just above the top of the Pullman pan and be extremely light and airy to the touch (see image below). If it’s not quite there, give it another 15 minutes and check again.
There’s no need to steam the oven for this bake because we’ll use an egg wash to top the dough. In a small bowl, whisk together a whole egg and a splash (about 1 tbsp) of whole milk.
Preheat your oven, with rack in the middle, to 400°F (205°C).
Once your oven is preheated, remove your pan from its bag, evenly brush on the egg wash, and slide the pan into the oven.
Bake at 400°F (205°C) for 20 minutes. After this time, rotate the pan 180° in the oven and reduce the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Bake for an additional 30 minutes until the top is well-colored. Remove the pan from the oven and gently knock the loaf out to a wire rack. Return the loaf (without pan) to the oven to bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes to add extra color to the bottom and sides. The loaf is done when the internal temperature is around 205°F (96°C)—check with a discrete poke with your instant-read thermometer.
Let the loaf cool for 2 hours before slicing to ensure the interior is fully set. This bread keeps well for about a week if stored according to my post on how to store bread.
Conclusion
This pumpkin cinnamon sourdough bread is tender, light, sweet, and just spicy enough. The deep coloring from the pumpkin puree is showy and gives the crust and undeniable charm. The egg wash on top takes this further with intense caramelization and a delicious sheen. Finally, the flavor of this loaf is seductively warm, and the pop of sweetness when you snag a juicy raisin makes the mouth tingle—a seductively charming bread from every angle.
I think the perfect treatment for this pumpkin cinnamon sourdough bread might be to toast it and spread on some homemade apple butter. Let’s go all-in on fall. But frankly, a simple adornment of salted butter is always in season, isn’t it?
Buon appetito! 🎃
If you’re looking for more ways to use up that pumpkin puree, check out my sourdough starter discard pumpkin pancakes or my super soft and chewy pumpkin dinner rolls.
Pumpkin Cinnamon Sourdough Bread Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 hours
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 15 hours 50 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Sweet, Sourdough
- Cuisine: American
Description
This pumpkin cinnamon sourdough bread is tender, light, sweet, and just spicy enough. The deep coloring from the pumpkin puree is gorgeous and gives the crust this undeniable charm. The egg wash on top takes this further with intense caramelization and a delicious sheen. The flavor of this loaf is seductively warm, and the pop of sweetness when you snag a juicy raisin makes the mouth tingle with joy.
Ingredients
- 199g medium-protein bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 199g high-protein bread flour
- 120g pumpkin puree
- 80g raisins (sultana or Thompson)
- 64g butter, unsalted
- 39g sugar, caster
- 3g cinnamon, ground
- 140g water
- 80g milk, whole
- 8g fine sea salt
- 18g sourdough starter
Instructions
Prepare levain (the night before mixing, 9:00 p.m.)
In a small container, mix together the following and keep at 77°F (25°C) for 12 hours.
46g medium protein bread flour
9g sugar
46g water
18g ripe sourdough starter
Mix (9:00 a.m.)
Cut butter it into 1/2″ pats and let warm to room temperature. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add:
154g medium-protein bread flour
199g high-protein bread flour
120g pumpkin puree
31g sugar
3g cinnamon
94g water
80g milk
8g salt
119g ripe levain (from step 1)
Mix speed 1 (STIR for KitchenAid) for 1 to 2 minutes until homogenous. Then, mix speed 2 for 8 minutes until dough clumps around the paddle.
Let the dough rest in the mixing bowl for 10 minutes.
Next, add the 64g butter, one pat at a time, while the mixer is running on speed 1 (STIR). Continue this for 5 to 8 minutes until all the butter is added to the dough and it’s glossy and soft.
Finally, add the 80g raisins at the very end of mixing and mix on low just to incorporate.
Transfer your dough to a bulk fermentation container and cover.
Bulk Fermentation (9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.)
Give the dough 3 sets of stretch and folds at 30-minute intervals, where the first set starts 30 minutes after the start of bulk fermentation.
Chill dough (1:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.)
Place the bulk fermentation container, uncovered, in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to make shaping easier.
Shape (1:15 p.m.)
Butter or grease the baking pan. Scrape the dough out of the bulk fermentation container to a floured surface and shape the dough as a tube. Place into baking pan and cover.
Proof (1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.)
Proof the dough at 77°F (25°C) for 2 hours.
Bake (3:30 p.m.)
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). For the egg wash, whisk together one egg and a splash of whole milk. When the oven is preheated, brush on the egg wash and bake for 20 minutes. Then, rotate the pan 180° in the oven and reduce the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Bake for an additional 30 minutes until the top is well-colored. Remove the pan from the oven and gently knock the loaf out to a wire rack. Return the loaf (without pan) to the oven to bake for 5 to 10 minutes. The internal temperature should reach around 205°F (96°C). Let the loaf cool for 2 hours on a wire rack before slicing.
Notes
I used Libby’s canned pumpkin puree for the pumpkin, but you could also roast your own. If you want this loaf to have a more “pumpkin pie” flavor, add a small percentage of nutmeg, ginger, and clove.
If you use this recipe, tag @maurizio on Instagram so I can take a look!
283 Comments
Hi Maurizio! I usually have great success with your bread but this one didn’t turn out and I’m wondering what I did wrong.
I doubled the recipe to make 2 loaves. Maybe xed ingredients together and did 3 sets of stretch and folds and put the dough in the oven with the light on for proofing. The dough was SO soft, and broke apart very easily, even after my stretch and folds. After 4 hours of bulk fermentation, the dough really hadn’t changed much, but I decided to divide and shape anyways at 8:30pm. I left the dough out on the counter overnight (colder kitchen) and in the morning at 6am it had risen to the top. I baked it afterwards and it didn’t rise in the oven… Like at all.
What happened? I used a scale, my starter is 4 years old and was recently fed. I’ve never baked with squash before so I felt very unsure with the soft dough.
Hmmm.. It sounds like the hydration was too high for your flour. That and adding in the pumpkin may have pushed it too far. Definitely use a white bread flour for this recipe and see how it goes!
When baking two loaves simultaneously in the same oven do any adjustments need to be made to oven time, temperature, or process?
I have two options for ovens: I can bake the loaves side by side in a large oven or on top of each other in a smaller oven. In the smaller oven I would rotate top position at the same time as I rotated the loaves.
Super excited to give this recipe a shot!
It should be fine to do both!
Hello, I made this recipe and it came out really well. Sliced/toasted and topped with honey cinnamon butter.
Glad you enjoyed it, Stef! That’s exactly how I eat it 🙂
You teased us with a mention of naturally leavened panettone! I’ve been making a yeasted version for years, but would love to see a panettone recipe from you 🙂
Working on it 🙂
Almost a panettone ! So beautiful and it has “une belle mie filante” ! You are the best !
Thanks, Joanne! 🙂
I used bakers math to scale the dough up to 1150 grams to do one loaf in a large Pullman pan. My dough is rising sooooo slowly… It should be nearing the top of the pan but it’s nowhere near. I’m using the proof setting on my oven. Hoping it picks up soon and I can bake it before midnight haha. Smells delightful! Thank you for the recipe. Looking forward to your book coming soon!
Ahh, yes this can be a slow dough, especially if it comes in a little cool… You can always toss it into the fridge, then take out the next morning to finish proofing and bake it then! Hope you love the book, almost here now—excited!!
Hi Maurizio! I wonder how can I replace milk? more water? or oat mil or soy milk would work? GRACIAS! looking forward to receiving your book ! 🙂
You can absolutely do a nut milk or soy milk! I would choose one of those. Hope you love the book, Anabella!
Hi Maurizio! Thanks so much for your quick reply. So what does the milk do in this dough?
Secondly, I have been proofing the dough controlling internal temps at 25-27C but is still slowly growing…why? It’s been more than 3 hs. How do I know it’s not over proof? Many thanks again ! 🙏🏻
I baked it and it looks more dense to yours. Smells great and taste good. But I want to get more elasticity. I wonder what can I do to get better results? I use King Arthur flours …. Many thanks again!
The milk brings lots of tenderness to this dough. My feeling is your loaf was probably under proofed. This is a slow moving dough and yours might need more time!
I prefer to use pie pumpkins when I bake. I plan to buy and roast a couple tomorrow. Would it be possible to use dried cranberries in place of the raisins? I love to experiment with flavors but haven’t quite figured out how a change in sugar content/moisture in dried fruits affects the final results of the bake.
Hi I’ve used the golden berry blend from Trader Joe’s with great success. It’s a blend of cranberries, blueberries, cherries, and golden raisins.
Yes, dried cranberries will work very well with this bread!
Hello! I would love to make this but I don’t have a stand mixer – should I abandon the plan or has anyone had any success hand-mixing this? I do have a Danish dough whisk and a reasonable amount of determination.
I’ve used the golden berry blend from Trader Joe’s with great success. It’s a blend of cranberries, blueberries, cherries, and golden raisins.
You can mix this by hand!
Wowie! This is delicious! The raisins really shine In this pillowy soft bread when toasted. I subbed the milk with buttermilk because I had it leftover from making your pumpkin waffles (pancake recipe). Yeah! Will make again.
Awesome, Cindy! Happy you liked this one. The pancake waffles and this loaf are the best twins for the fall 🙂
Greetings Maurizio – and thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I made it this weekend and it’s clearly going to become a family favorite. My only changes were the following:
– Used pumpkin pie spice in place of the cinnamon (same amount)
– Used 40g of honey in place of the 31g of sugar in the dough
– Did the final proof in a banneton in the fridge overnight, then scored it and baked it the following morning in my Romertopf cloche
The smell of that bread baking in the oven was eclipsed only by its lovely, subtle flavors and moist, tender crumb – wow. And what a gorgeous looking loaf! I’ll join your membership so I can post a couple of pics. Thanks again for all of the hard work you invest in this website, your recipes, your videos, your emails, your responses – and everything else we don’t even see. So grateful for your passion and generosity. Cheers! 🙂
So glad to hear that, Patrick! I love your mods, too, sounds fantastic. I thought about using honey in this recipe… Glad to hear it worked well!
Looking forward to chatting with you in the community chat, thanks for becoming a member! Happy to help and happy baking 🙂
I’ve been baking your recipes since I started my sourdough journey couple of years ago. It’s always a challenge with hydration and bulk timing since I live in hot (normal kitchen temp 30-33 degC) and humid Singapore. The clear explanation and now videos, clearly empowered me to make the adjustments accordingly, and not follow the proportions blindly. As an engineer by training, I truly appreciate your site!
So glad to hear all this, Serene! Happy all this info has helped. And yes, baking in a hot + humid climate can be challenging, but adjust as necessary (cooler mixing water, maybe less levain…). Happy baking 🙂
Pan problem! I did read your post about different pan sizes, but I’m a wee confused. I don’t have the ‘pullman’ pan that is high sided, just the ‘typical’ bread pan that one would make banana bread in. On your chart it appears I can still ‘make it fit’ but I’m afraid it will poof out and spill over. Do I need to make a foil guard or something or just go for it? I was also figuring if I was going to go through the trouble of making the loaf I might as well double it. Do I have to mix and bulk proof separately, or can I do like regular sourdough and divide later before the final shape? Thanks!!
I would probably drop the total dough weight if you’re afraid it’ll spill over!
I’ve made this awesome bread now about 6 times. LOVE IT. It’s our favorite. One question when you overnight proof do you also proof on counter 2hours before baking? I haven’t and it turns out great.
So glad to hear you like it, Lynda! You don’t have to, no, it all depends on your dough and how well fermented it is in the morning when you go to bake!
Thank you..have 4 loaves ready to bake today..can’t seem to bake any other bread because this is so GOOD. also I use butternut squash and montmorency cherries..or Fran raisins..thank you for sharing your knowledge. Everything turns out just like you instruct..PERFECT. Some authors are vague..like Tartine..made that bread also but had several Jaba the huts..blobs..got it down now but very frustrating. Again thank you..oh also your Banana walnut bread is also incredible!
You’e very welcome, Lynda!
Thank you for this great recipe! I’ve had pretty good results but a few times I’ve noticed a dense line of dough at the bottom of the loaf, even though the rest of the texture seems great, any ideas of what might cause this? Many thanks!
Glad to hear you like it, Naomi! That might be from how you’re shaping the dough and placing it into the pan. If you’re compressing the dough at the bottom (by pushing down at all) it might be the cause!
Oh! I think you may be right, thanks for the suggestion I will try that the next time ( as I am now making this dough weekly and have also tried it as cinnamon rolls and also love those 🙂 )
I can’t wait to make this one starting tonight!
Let me know how it turns out, Thien! Happy baking 🙂
Hello, Maurizio! I just made the bread today, it was so delicious! I increased ingredients by 30% to fit my large pullman pan. The dough was very soft after 20 minute refrigeration before shaping. I think I will increase it to 30 minutes next time. I divided the dough into 5 portions with ~250g each and shaped them into logs and put them into the pan. The baking time is about the same as in your recipe. I posted in in insta and tagged you 🙂 Definitely will make it again. Thank you for sharing! And I just started the process of making your pumpkin dinner rolls 🙂
Sabrina
Oh, I love that shaping idea! Great suggestion. Will take a look on IG, thanks for the comments 🙂
Hello Maurizio, I’m not to sure about what you are saying, can I use the same about of starter instead of levain??🤔🙏
that’s correct!
Thank you so much Maurizio for getting back to me..🤗👍😎
Hi Maurizio! Would this bread adapt well to a wholegrain/semi-wholegrain version? If so, could you suggest suitable ingredient ratios? Thanks!
You could work in some whole grains, but know that doing so might increase the sour flavor in this loaf. I’d start somewhere small, perhaps 10% whole wheat, and see how the flavor changes for you. If you like that, increase again to 20%. I probably wouldn’t go more than 30%, but that’s me!
Just stirred this up and it is rising now. I used raisin yeast water instead of plain water to make the levain to insure the enriched dough and cinnamon would not be a problem and to make sure no sour in the finished bread. I also drained the canned pumpkin and got 1/2 c of liquid off of it. The dough batter without the flour is easy to whisk and then I added the flour liittle by little using the dough hook as I do with all bread doughs and finished by adding the soft butter. A lot less mess than using the paddle . The dough is still very very wet so when I make it again I plan to decrease the water. The fragrance of the dough is lovely and the raw dough tastes wonderful. Will post back tomorrow after retarding and baking. c
Sounds like some fantastic modifications, Caroline! Eager to hear how it turns out 🙂
Outstanding. Next time I will definitely lower the water and add as/ if needed. Also I will proof in the Pullman and then bake without retarding in the fridge. The dough rises really quickly and is so puffy and tender! But a lot of that is lost by deflating in order to get it into the pan and since YW loves warmth it doesn’t recover that puffiness cloud like texture in the fridge. All that though doesn’t take away from the incredible flavor and texture. I posted a slice and the loaf on The Fresh Loaf this morning ( Trailrunner). I made a pumpkin quick bread “ my way” with YW levain and a 1-2-3 30% semolina YW as well. All are delicious. Thank you for a great blog.
Ah, yes, makes sense. Glad it turned out well for the most part, though! I’ve never played with YW, though it’s something I’ve wanted to do–too many baking experiments with what I have, for now, though! You’re very welcome and thank you for all the comments! Enjoy.
Hello and greetings from Tanzania! I made this bread yesterday with all AP flour (bread flour is hard to find here) and the taste is everything I dreamed of but it’s predictably SOFT. No regrets and it will definitely get eaten but in case anyone is curious about using all AP. The shape of mine got sort of messed up when I took it out of the pan for the last few mins, I assume because it was still on the soft side. I will try it again, thanks for the recipe!
Awesome, Sarah! Yes, I’ve made it with AP as well and it works fine 🙂 Enjoy and thank you for reporting back!
Hi Maurizio, thank you for all the wonderful recipes with all the detailed explanations. This is the 4th recipe I have made from your blog, all the others with varying rates of success.
When I baked this, it split at one seam during the first 20mins. Could you please troubleshoot this for me? I didn’t face this while making your pain de mie loaf, that baked out beautifully.
Thanks for any help. 🙂
UPDATE: WOW! The bread tastes amazing. First time working with a sweet starter and it blows my mind how it really worked – the bread didn’t even have a hint of sourness. Thanks for the good work you do 🙂
So glad it worked out well for you Aashna!
One of my favorites in the fall. I have to supplement with yeast , only 0.2%, when I make this however. My starter is exquisitely sensitive to cinnamon. I have learned this painfully with sourdough cinnamon buns as well. If I don’t do this, my times double your times even at 80 degrees. I forgot to do this yesterday. My bulk took 7 hours and proof took 6 hours yesterday in the proofer. Normally my bulk/proof times are on only 20% longer than yours. do you hear this from others?
Wow, that is quite the difference! I do fine that here at my altitude, and with my starter, I get stronger fermentation activity than some others, but the reports are always mixed. It really depends on your local situation! My stater works well with cinnamon, but like I mention, it can cause issues. The important thing here is that you’re adjusting correctly! Another thing you can do is increase the levain percentage in the dough, I’d start with 5% and see how that helps (it will).
Thanks for the advice! I am very new to this magic with the sourdough and now I am baking the first pumpkin bread in my life. However, I wasn’t so wise to read the comments first and was doing everything step-by-step, so my bulk didn’t grow at all…so I need to adjust better 😉 Now, when I read your reply I guess that I will increase the starter percentage first and if this doesn’t work I will go back to the yeast.
OMG, Maurizo this is an absolutely delicious bite! All went well accept for the fact that i was short on the levain this time too. Why would that happen? For the first time i followed your recipe till the T! Also, can one just use only one type of bread flour in the same ratio? Have you ever tried sweet potato in a bread?
So glad to hear you like this one! It’s common for the levain to come in a little short. In some of my newer recipes I add a small buffer to try and avoid this. I’ve not tried sweet potato, but it’ll work just as well! Thanks for reporting back and enjoy!
Maurizio, I made this recipe last year; it was outstanding and I’ll definitely make again. ALSO, I’ve been wanting to make sourdough banana bread, but NOT a typical sweet quickbread. Could the pumpkin be replaced with mashed overripe bananas? I’m guessing the consistency/hydration is similar?
Awesome, Patricia! I’ve not tried this with banana, but yes, it could be done in just the same way (in fact, any puree should work just fine).