Perfect Pumpkin Sourdough Bread
This delicious and moist pumpkin sourdough bread combines the earthy flavors of fall with the tangy flavor of sourdough. It’s simple to make with either sourdough starter or discard!
As the leaves change color and a chill creeps into the air, there’s nothing quite like the aroma of freshly baked bread wafting through the house. Pumpkin bread is the perfect treat to ring in the fall season. Get ready to slice into a warm, homemade loaf of pumpkin sourdough bread – it’s sure to become a seasonal favorite!
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Why my pumpkin sourdough bread recipe is a favorite
The ingredients
Even though this may look like a long list of ingredients, this is really an easy, quick bread recipe:
- Flour: I use unbleached all-purpose flour
- Baking soda: This leavening agent reacts with the sourdough to give the bread a good rise
- Cinnamon: We will use a good helping of this warming spice
- Pumpkin pie spice: You can either use a store-bought pumpkin spice or make your own (more on that later)
- Salt: A little bit of sea salt brings out the sweetness
- Eggs: They add structure to the dough
- Sugar: I use regular cane sugar
- Brown sugar: You can use either dark brown sugar or light brown sugar
- Pumpkin puree: I highly recommend making your own, but canned pumpkin puree works great, too. And don’t worry if you don’t have pumpkin on hand – butternut squash or any sweet winter squash makes a delicious substitute.
- Butter: Butter makes it better, right? Homemade butter is the ultimate!
- Sourdough starter or discard: Adding sourdough to this beautiful bread gives it a nice, complex flavor and moist consistency
- Chocolate chips: A handful of dark chocolate chips is a good contrast to the sweet, earthy flavor of pumpkin
Substitutions and recipe variations
- Flour: You can easily make this sourdough pumpkin bread with whole wheat flour, spelt flour, einkorn flour, or a simple mix of flour
- Pumpkin spice mix: Feel free to adjust the spices but here is my recommendation for making your own for this recipe: ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon cloves, ¼ teaspoon ginger
- Sugar: You can adjust the amount of sugar or the ratios of white and brown sugar to your liking
- Maple syrup: You can use a liquid sweetener but then you will have to reduce butter or oil by about 1/4 cup for every cup of sugar you’re replacing with maple syrup
- Pumpkin puree: While I call it pumpkin, you can easily make this recipe with butternut squash or another winter squash
- Butter: You can easily use any vegetable oil or other neutral oil in this recipe
- Chocolate chips: Not a fan of dark chocolate? Leave them out or use milk chocolate or your favorite type of chocolate chips
- Pumpkin pie filling: If you’re not making your own pumpkin puree, you can also use pumpkin pie filling. But then the pumpkin puree, sugar, and spices
Fun recipe idea: bread in a jar
You can also make mini pumpkin loaves by baking the batter in canning jars. I show you exactly how to bake a cake in a jar in this post.
Use a different pan
This recipe calls for a rectangular loaf pan. However, you can use a 10-cup bundt pan, a small Dutch oven, or even a muffin pan to make sourdough pumpkin muffins.
Long fermentation option
If you’d like to make a healthy sourdough pumpkin spice bread, mix all the ingredients EXCEPT the baking soda and let the dough rest at room temperature for about one hour. Then do the bulk fermentation in the refrigerator overnight or about 8 hours.
Shortly before baking, gently add the baking soda and transfer the final dough to the prepared loaf pan.
To make pumpkin sourdough bread gluten-free
As written, this is not a gluten-free recipe. However, to make the pumpkin bread gluten-free, simply use a gluten-free sourdough starter, and substitute a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour for the regular AP flour.
Useful tools and equipment
Here are some helpful tools:
- Large bowl: I like keeping things simple and making the entire dough in one bowl
- Handheld electric mixer: I prefer using a hand mixer, but a simple wire whisk works, too
- 9″ x 5″ loaf pan: This glass loaf pan is the ideal size for this pumpkin bread recipe
- Pastry brush: Brushing your loaf pan with some oil before baking ensures that your pumpkin bread comes out easily
- Blender or food processor: Either one will come in handy for making pumpkin puree from scratch
- Steamer basket: While you can roast pumpkin in the oven, steaming it is a lot faster
How to make pumpkin sourdough bread
Before you start making this recipe, be sure that you have an active sourdough starter or sourdough discard. You should also preheat your oven to 375°F.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Measure and whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices, salt, and sugars
- Add in the wet ingredients. Add the pumpkin puree, melted eggs, butter, and your sourdough starter or discard.
- Blend the wet and dry ingredients together.
- Pour the pumpkin bread batter into a greased loaf pan.
- Bake the pumpkin bread in the preheated oven. The bread is ready to remove from the oven when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Helpful Recipe Tips
- Be sure to let the loaf cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
- Don’t worry if the top of your pumpkin bread develops a few cracks – that’s totally normal for quick breads, and it won’t affect the taste at all.
- To make your own pumpkin puree, either roast a halved and seeded pumpkin in the oven at 375˚F until soft, or steam it in a steamer basket for 15 minutes, or until soft.
- To make your own pumpkin spice, combine 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon cloves, and ¼ teaspoon ground ginger.
Pumpkin sourdough bread recipe FAQs
If you keep your pumpkin sourdough bread covered and stored at room temperature, it will stay good for about 5 days.
Yes! For longer storage, you can freeze the loaf and/or individual slices. Simply double wrap it tightly in plastic wrap with an outer layer of aluminum foil, and keep it in your freezer for up to 3 months. Let the slices come to room temperature for the best flavor.
How to serve
Since this recipe contains dark chocolate chips, I recommend waiting until the pumpkin bread has completely cooled down. This also allows all the flavors to develop.
You can simply cut the loaf into slices and eat it on its own. However, it is especially delicious with a dollop of whipped cream or some vanilla ice cream.
Pumpkin Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 2 whole eggs
- 1 ½ cups pumpkin puree
- ½ cup butter melted
- 1 cup sourdough starter or recently fed discard
- ⅔ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375˚ Fahrenheit.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, spices, salt, and sugars. Mix well.
- To the dry ingredients add eggs, pumpkin puree, melted butter, and sourdough starter or discard. Mix until well combined.
- Grease and flour a 9" x 5" loaf pan.
- Pour the dough into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake the pumpkin bread for about 60 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cool for 10 minutes. Turn the loaf out from the pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
Notes
- You can easily make your own pumpkin puree by either roasting a halved and seeded pumpkin in the oven at 375˚F until soft or steaming it in a steamer basket for about 15 minutes or until soft
- To make your own pumpkin spice, combine 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon cloves, and ¼ teaspoon ground ginger.
- This recipe is perfect for an active sourdough starter or your discard
- If you’d like to properly ferment this sweet bread, make the dough WITHOUT the baking soda and let it sit at room temperature for about one hour. Transfer to the refrigerator to ferment for about 8 hours, and gently add the baking soda right before baking.
Video
Nutrition
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Do you think the bread is better with active starter? Or would it be just as good with discard? Would I need yeast? I hadn’t thought of this with butternut squash. Have you made it this way before? Do i roast butternut squash first? Sorry for all the questions :j)
Since this recipe has baking soda, you can use discard or an active starter and doesn’t need yeast. You either want to roast the squash or steam it (it’s in the video that’s linked in the recipe card) ~ Anja