Pumpkin Sourdough Bread
This pumpkin sourdough bread is a naturally leavened artisan loaf made with pumpkin puree, active sourdough starter, pumpkin spice, brown sugar, and dried cranberries. The brown sugar-spiced cranberry mixture is folded into the dough during the final stretch and fold to create sweet, spiced swirls throughout the pumpkin loaf.
Craving The Recipe Details?
What is it: A naturally leavened sourdough loaf made with pumpkin puree and swirled with pumpkin spice, brown sugar, and dried cranberry ribbons. Baked to perfection in a dutch oven with a crisp crust and tender crumb.
Why you’ll love it: Fall flavor plus sourdough tang in every slice. Delicately sweet, spiced and savory all at once, with an adaptable make-ahead schedule to fit in your day. There’s no commercial yeast, baking powder, baking soda here – your sourdough starter does all the lifting.
How to make it: Combine active starter, water, and pumpkin puree with bread flour into a shaggy dough. Fold in salt. Add a brown sugar-cranberry-pumpkin pie spice swirl during the stretch and folds. Bulk ferment, shape, proof, and bake till golden.
It’s fall, the leaves are changing, people are pulling plaid out of the back of their closets. Starbucks line ups are getting longer, and everything.is.pumpkin.
I’m not above admitting that I can get behind a good pumpkin spice craze.
But I like my pumpkin with a side of carbs!
This pumpkin sourdough bread is dedicated to plaid!
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Key Ingredients
Sourdough Starter: use a fed and active 100% hydration starter. The sourdough starter should be very bubbly and risen at least twice its size since feeding.
Pumpkin Puree: can’t have pumpkin spice sourdough bread without the pumpkin! This recipe works using canned pumpkin puree and homemade pumpkin puree. If your homemade puree is particularly watery, either drain off a little liquid or reduce the water by 15-20g.
Bread Flour: Bread flour has a higher protein content than an all purpose flour. This higher protein content helps bring structure to support the soft crumb.
Dried Cranberries: I like to use sweetened dried cranberries for this recipe. They add a little sweetness to go along with the tart tang. Choose fresh dried cranberries that are still plump, fragrant, and delicious for the best results.
Pro Tip: Do not use pumpkin pie filling. Pure pumpkin is simply cooked and blended pumpkin while pumpkin pie filling is already seasoned, sweetened and thickened.
How To Make Pumpkin Sourdough Bread
Start The Dough:
- Step 1: Combine 100g active starter with 240g water and 200g pumpkin puree, stirring until smooth and mostly combined.
- Step 2: Add in 500g bread flour, mixing until all the flour is incorporated.
- Step 3: Use a danish dough whisk, spatula, or spoon mix until a shaggy dough forms.
- Step 4: Knead the dough with your hands until all the dry bits are incorporated. Cover and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
Stretch And Fold:
- Step 5: Prior to the first set of stretch and folds, spread the dough in the mixing bowl by poking it down like you're making sourdough focaccia, then sprinkle 10g salt over the surface of the dough.
- Step 6: Using damp hands, grab the dough and gently pull it until the flap is long enough to fold over itself, then fold the flap, rotate the bowl 90 degrees, and repeat 3 more times, this is considered a set of stretch and folds. Recover the bowl, and set it aside for 30 minutes, then repeat the stretch and fold process once more.
- Step 7: Whisk together 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup dried cranberries and 1 1/2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the dough.
- Step 8: Complete one last set of stretch and folds to incorporate the added mixture.
Note: Less folding in the sugar mixture will result in pronounced ribbons and swirls as pictured above, more folding in will result in a more homogenized dough mixture.
Bulk Ferment:
- Step 9: Cover the dough and set it aside to bulk ferment for 10-12 hours, or until it nearly doubles in size.
- Step 10: The bulk ferment is complete when the dough is domed in the bowl, and bubbles are visible beneath the surface.
Pro Tip: Watch the dough, not the clock – every baking environment is different and the timing may be different too.
Shape + Proof:
- Step 11: Uncover the dough and transfer to a lightly floured work surface or countertop.
- Step 12: Drag the dough along the work surface using your pinkies under the dough ball to create tension. Continue pulling until a nice round boule forms.
- Step 13: Transfer the boule, seam side down, on a piece of parchment paper. Using the parchment paper as a sling, place into a bowl or pot slightly smaller than your dutch oven to proof for another 60-120 minutes.
October 2024 Update: When I wrote and photographed this article, I did not have a banneton, so I used a pot as a proofing basket – If you’ve got a banneton feel free to use it, I do whenever I make this bread these days!
Bake:
- Step 14: While the dough is finishing the final rise, place a cast iron dutch oven into the cold oven and preheat together at 450°F. Once the oven is heated, score your loaf as desired.
- Step 15: Using the parchment paper as a sling, lift it from the proofing bowl and carefully lower into the pre-heated dutch oven. Cover and return to oven. Bake the pumpkin sourdough at 450°F covered for 30 minutes.
- Step 16: Remove the lid and continue to bake until the crust has darkened to a golden brown, another 15-20 minutes. For the most reliable doneness check, test your loaf with a thermometer; the center of the loaf should read 205-210f.
- Step 17: Remove the sourdough from the dutch oven and cool on a wire mesh cooling rack until room temperature (at least 2 hours) before slicing.
Seeing Liquid After The Bulk Ferment Or Proof?
Don’t panic! The brown sugar in the filling can melt and pull moisture from the dough, so you may see a little syrup collecting around your loaf. This is one of those times where sourdough baking feels alarming, but have no fear, your dough isn’t misbehaving.
If this happens: use a gentle hand when handling your boule, leave as much of the liquid behind, and continue baking as per the recipe.
To prevent this next time: take care during the shaping stage to avoid tearing the dough. This won’t prevent the sugar from becoming syrupy, but can help to keep the filling inside the loaf.
Expert Tips
- New to sourdough? Start here! Need a starter? My easy sourdough starter can be ready in as little as 24 hours, so you can get to sourdough baking without the long wait.
- Make it fit your schedule. This recipe is written with a room temperature bulk ferment, but you can easily proof your sourdough in the fridge if your day gets away from you. Sourdough is pretty flexible when you know how to work with it.
- Steal my shower cap trick. Skip the fancy dough covers, I grabbed a polka dotted shower cap at the drugstore, and now I use it a few times a week to cover my sourdough. It fits over bowls and bannetons, keeps the dough from drying out, and you can wash and reuse it!
- Out of pumpkin pie spice? You can easily make your own with 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/4 teaspoon all spice. You’ve probably got everything you need already!
Why This Recipe Works
Pumpkin puree adds moisture, tenderness, and flavor without overpowering the sourdough. Pumpkin puree gives this loaf its beautiful color, subtle flavor, and tender texture. It also contributes moisture, so the amount of water in the recipe was carefully balanced through testing to maintain proper dough hydration.
The flavored inclusions are added late to create distinct swirls. Adding the brown sugar mixture during the final stretch and fold creates ribbons and swirls of brown sugar and spice in each slice instead of making the entire dough spiced.
My kitchen is a different environment than yours. Because sourdough moves at the pace of your starter and kitchen, use the dough’s rise, bubbles, and overall appearance as your guide during bulk fermentation and proofing, rather than relying on the clock.
Tart cranberries balance the sweet-spiced filling. Dried cranberries add a bright, tangy contrast to the brown sugar and pumpkin spice, keeping the swirls from tasting one dimensional. Their chewy texture also adds contrast to the soft crumb of this bread.
Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Bread FAQs
Yes. If you’re planning to cold retard your pumpkin sourdough bread, shorten the room temperature bulk fermentation until the dough has increased in size by about 50%. Then shape the dough, place it in a covered banneton and proof at room temperature for 60 minutes before transferring to the fridge for 24-36 hours.
Yes. If you don’t want to add cranberries to your pumpkin spice swirl, simply omit them – the rest of the recipe (water, flour, pumpkin puree, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and brown sugar) stays exactly the same.
The brown sugar filling can melt during fermentation and draw moisture from the dough, leaving some liquid around the dough. This can happen with sweet sourdough inclusions, and doesn’t mean the loaf is ruined. Handle the dough gently when shaping and continue with the recipe.
Oven temperatures, rack positions, and dutch oven thicknesses can vary, causing the bottom of your loaf to burn or brown. If the bottom of your loaf is browning too quickly, placing a baking sheet on the rack below your dutch oven can help diffuse the heat more evenly around it, while moving the rack that your dutch oven sits on higher can help buffer the direct heat.
Pumpkin sourdough bread is lightly sweet, but is not a dessert bread. This artisan loaf has a tender, lightly pumpkin flavored crumb, with a crisp crust. The brown sugar, pumpkin spice, and dried cranberries add a subtle sweetness and warm spice flavor without making it a sweet bread.
Short term sourdough bread storage: Your boule can be kept cut side down on a cutting board for up to 12 hours before the crust becomes too crisp. I recommend transferring it to a bread bag once cooled. Your loaf will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Long term Storage: Your sourdough loaf can also be frozen. To freeze sourdough bread, cool the loaf to room temperature, then tightly wrap in plastic wrap, slide it into a bread bag, seal it up and stick it in the freezer for 1-2 months. To use after freezing, remove the loaf from the freezer, unwrap and allow to come to room temperature (1 -2 hours) before slicing and enjoying.
Baker’s Schedule
Here’s an example of my schedule for baking this irresistible pumpkin spice sourdough bread!
Day 1
- 12 pm: Feed my starter room temperature or cooler water. Set aside in a cooler place to activate.
- 7 pm: Mix up the dough for pumpkin sourdough bread.
- 8:30 pm: The stretching and folding process is complete, the sugar, cranberries, and pumpkin pie spice have been incorporated. Cover and set aside to bulk ferment for 10-12 hours.
Day 2
- 8 am: Turn the dough onto a floured surface, form into a boule and place seam side down on a piece of parchment paper. Place the boule into a bowl similar in size to your dutch oven. Cover and rise for 60-120 minutes.
- 9:30 am: Set my favorite small dutch oven into the cold oven and preheat both together at 450°F.
- 10 am: Uncover and carefully score the surface of your boule. Then remove the dutch oven from the oven, and using the parchment paper as a sling, lower the boule into the dutch oven. Recover then bake as per the recipe.
More Sourdough Recipes To Love
If you tried this Pumpkin Sourdough Bread recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
📖 Printable Recipe
Pumpkin Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
- 100 g active sourdough starter
- 200 g pumpkin puree
- 240 g room temperature water
- 500 g bread flour
- 10 g coarse kosher salt
- 1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries
- 1 1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
Make The Dough:
- Mix 100g active starter with 240g water and 200g pumpkin puree, stirring until smooth and mostly combined.
- Add in 500g bread flour, mixing until all the flour is incorporated. Use a danish dough whisk, spatula, or spoon mix until a shaggy dough forms.
- Knead the dough with your hands until all the dry bits are incorporated. Cover and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
Stretch And Fold:
- Prior to the first set of stretch and folds, spread the dough in the mixing bowl by poking it down like you're making sourdough focaccia, then sprinkle 10g salt over the surface of the dough.
- Using damp hands, grab the dough and gently pull it until the flap is long enough to fold over itself, then fold the flap, rotate the bowl 90 degrees, and repeat 3 more times, this is considered a set of stretch and folds. Re-cover the bowl, and set it aside for 30 minutes
- Perform another set of stretch and folds followed by a 30 minute rest.
- Before the last stretch and fold, whisk together 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup dried cranberries and 1 1/2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the dough.
- Complete one last set of stretch and folds to incorporate the added mixture.Note: Less folding in the sugar mixture will result in pronounced ribbons and swirls as pictured above, more folding in will result in a more homogenized dough mixture.
Bulk Ferment:
- Cover the dough and set it aside to bulk ferment for 10-12 hours, or until it nearly doubles in size. The bulk ferment is complete when the dough is domed in the bowl, and bubbles are visible beneath the surface.
Shape And Proof:
- Uncover the dough and transfer to a lightly floured work surface or countertop.
- Drag the dough along the work surface using your pinkies under the dough ball to create tension. Continue pulling until a nice round boule forms.
- Transfer the boule, seam side down, on a piece of parchment paper. Using the parchment paper as a sling, place into a bowl or pot slightly smaller than your dutch oven to proof for another 60-120 minutes.October 2024 Update: When I wrote and photographed this article, I did not have a banneton, so I used a pot as a proofing basket - If you've got a banneton feel free to use it, I do whenever I make this bread these days!
Bake:
- While the dough is finishing the final rise, place a cast iron dutch oven into the cold oven and preheat together at 450°F. Once the oven is heated, score your loaf as desired.
- Using the parchment paper as a sling, lift it from the proofing bowl and carefully lower into the pre-heated dutch oven.
- Bake the pumpkin sourdough at 450°F covered for 30 minutes.
- Remove the lid and continue to bake until the crust has darkened to a golden brown, another 15-20 minutes. For the most reliable doneness check, test your loaf with a thermometer; the center of the loaf should read 205-210°F.
- Remove the sourdough from the dutch oven and cool on a wire mesh cooling rack until room temperature (at least 2 hours) before slicing.
Video
Notes
Expert Tips
- New to sourdough? Start here! Need a starter? My easy sourdough starter can be ready in as little as 24 hours, so you can get to sourdough baking without the long wait.
- Make it fit your schedule. This recipe is written with a room temperature bulk ferment, but you can easily proof your sourdough in the fridge if your day gets away from you. Sourdough is pretty flexible when you know how to work with it.
- Steal my shower cap trick. Skip the fancy dough covers, I grabbed a polka dotted shower cap at the drugstore, and now I use it a few times a week to cover my sourdough. It fits over bowls and bannetons, keeps the dough from drying out, and you can wash and reuse it!
- Out of pumpkin pie spice? You can easily make your own with 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/4 teaspoon all spice. You’ve probably got everything you need already!
Why not the proofing?
Hi Rhonda, I am not sure what you’re asking, can you clarify your question? Thanks!
Got thrown off schedule and bulk ferment won’t be done until around midnight which means a 2 am bake roughly. Can I shape and put in fridge and bake in the morning or will it be over fermented by then?
Hi Carrie, sorry for the late reply, sourdough is pretty forgiving!
I don’t lose sleep over sourdough, lol, and what I mean by that is if it runs into my sleep schedule, it goes into the fridge to slow down. You can throw it in there at any point in the process, it’s just easier if you do it when it’s already in the banneton 🙂
This recipe came out perfect. I substituted chopped dates for the dried cranberries. It was amazing!
Happy to hear you loved the recipe, April!
Amazing!!! My favorite Sourdough recipe to date! I did increase the cranberries to 1/2 cup, and added 1/3 cup walnuts.
Thanks for sharing. 😋
– Jennifer
Oh love the idea of adding walnuts. I have a chocolate sourdough bread with walnuts and a cranberry walnut sourdough… just in case you get sick of the pumpkin lol
I made a double recipe last week and followed the written recipe that tells you to add the sugar mixture as a last stretch and fold. Everything in me said this will be a syrupy mess after bulk fermentation. I did as it said and in the morning, there was a ton of liquid, but I turned it out and put down some flour because it was too liquidy to hold the shape. This totally helped the shaping and then I just put them in loaf pans and covered with a top loaf pan and it took almost an hour but it was amazing!! I watched your video and you changed the point that you add the sugar mixture, and did it during lamination/shaping stage. I have to say the swirl by doing it at the last stretch and fold made the swirls so pronounced, even though it was a mess during shaping, I am going to do it that way again tonight when I make it again!!! Made French toast with this last weekend and it was so good!!! This recipe is a keeper!!
Can this be made without a Dutch oven? Unfortunately I don’t have one yet.
You could definitely try baking it on a baking stone – I have a guide for baking without a dutch oven!
I have made this twice, the first one was very very subtle flavor which is probably great for some but I tried doubling the sugar mixture & it was FANTASTIC! A mess to shape but I just did my best and plopped it in a banneton for the second rise and into the DO for baking and it turned out great!
Awe! Thanks for the feedback! Thanks for sharing your variation – that’s something I’ll have to try!
I followed the recipe exactly except I left out the cranberries because I was out of them. The bread came out a bit dense, maybe needed to prove longer on second round after shaping. The big problem was it was burned pretty bad. I cooked at 450 after reading some other reviews and I did the shorter period after removing lid. I wish I would have just taken it out after the first hr. I may try one more time but this is a lot of time and work
Hey Kate, sorry to hear it burned, I’d like to help solve that – I’m curious on the bake time you use because in your comment you said taken it out after the first hour? This recipe needs a 30 minute covered bake and then 15-20 uncovered. How are you baking? In a dutch oven? Where is the dutch oven in relation to your oven? Do other sourdough breads burn at these temps?
Its definitely possible that the bread could have used a bit longer in the proofing stage, it’s so hard to write a recipe that works for every kitchen, so please consider my timings a suggestion rather than a hard rule.
Thanks so much for this recipe. I’ve made it multiple times in the last few weeks, sometimes with a little less sugar and no fruit for a less sweet loaf, sometimes with nuts added, and today with fresh whole cranberries and dried barberries. I always add a bit of powdered whole milk to the mix, and every version I’ve made has been delicious! I hope I’m not jinxing myself here, but this is a no-fail loaf! I love it. Thank you.
That’s so great to hear, love the variations! Thanks for sharing, Beth.
This turned out so good! I gave it a pumpkin shape too. It maintained a soft texture and the flavor was amazing! I will be making many more of these. 🙂
So glad you enjoyed it! I love this recipe too!
I made this bread yesterday. I used 00 flour from Italy and it worked great. I also substituted walnuts for cranberries and truvia brown sugar to decrease the sugar. It tasted Amazing. I made them look like pumpkins. 4* instead of 5 bc it had very little pumpkin flavor. Don’t see a place to share pix.
Hi Amy, I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe – sorry you didn’t find quite as much pumpkin flavor as you expected. If you’d like to share pics, and I’d love to see, you can tag me on instagram @cravethegood <3
I’ve made this twice now using the directions exactly as listed. It’s really easy to make and turned out delicious both times. It’s definitely part of my fall bread making now.
So happy to hear you enjoy the recipe!! It is a favorite of mine too!
Literally 10/10 experience with the dough recipe but I agree with everyone else and wish I listened, 475 was insanely hot and scorched the top and bottom of my poor loaf. Gonna have to cut the whole bottom off. I know the flavor is gonna be great though
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe, sad that it got burnt. I am going to adjust the recipe – cause all of my others are at 450, I am not sure why I bake this one at 475!
I just made this. I lowered the temp to 450 for 30 min with lid on and then lid off for 15 but it come out burnt on the bottom and doughy in the middle. How do I fix?
Hey Sheena, if you find your dough burning on the bottom, you can try to put a cookie sheet on the rack beneath your dutch oven. It should have been cooked after all that time in the oven though? My guess is under fermented!
I just cut into this loaf, and my 3 girls and I literally have eaten 3/4 of it already🤣
Mine got a little too dark on top in those last 15 minutes but that was totally my fault, I know my oven runs hot most of the time. This recipe is definitely a keeper at our house!!
Oh my gosh! I love that! Thank you for sharing <3
I’m brand new to sourdough and I did everything as it was written but somehow during my proffing there’s no change in 4.5 hrs except that now there is water so I’m not sure how to fix it or what I didn’t wrong or if it normal, help please!
Hey Shannon, when adding sugar swirl, sometimes the sugar dissolves and makes water at the bottom of your fermenting bowl.
When you say that there’s no change, do you mean in volume? How does the dough look? Did the texture improve during the stretch and folds? Was the starter at its peak when you used it in the recipe?