Pumpkin Sourdough
Two weeks ago I shared a recipe for pumpkin cornbread that you could make for your Thanksgiving table. The pumpkin I roasted for that was about twice as big as others I had bought this year and I was left with several cups of pumpkin puree. I made two batches of pumpkin waffles and still had enough left over to make enough dough for four of these loaves.
This dough formula is similar to what I used for the sweet potato sourdough earlier this year. I toasted up the seeds from the pumpkin and incorporated them to create what I think is a great fall loaf. If you’re looking for even more carbs to add to your Thanksgiving table, I recommend giving this a shot!
The loaf has a wonderful natural pumpkin taste. It isn’t pumpkin spice, which doesn’t really taste like pumpkin. It’s a very earthy sort of taste that works well with the chewy crumb speckled with pumpkin seeds.
I really like using the Tartine country bread recipe (on which this is based) to make pizza dough, so I decided to also make some extra dough for some quasi pizzas. They weren’t pizzas in the sense you’d normally think of, and probably would qualify more as a flatbread or…I’m not entirely sure what you’d call them. But the first one I made I caramelized some onions and added some sliced apples too, which made for a nice combination. The toppings had a tendency to fall off since there wasn’t anything holding them on, but it was tasty nonetheless.
The second one I made was more of what you might call a dessert pizza. I melted some butter and brushed it along the dough, then sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar and added the apples. Because of the sugar caramelizing when baked the crust on this one got much crisper. It reminded me of a dessert style pizza I first had when visiting friends in LA a few years ago; it had cinnamon sugar, nutella, and apples. Not exactly a light ending to a meal. This past summer I had something similar again when in New York with my dad.
As I was baking these I also discovered what I think is the perfect timing to getting a nice puffy crust when making thin pizzas. Normally I would refrigerate my pizza dough and take it out about 2 hours before I planned to bake with it. This time I only let the dough rest at room temperature 30 minutes before baking. Because the dough was colder when it went in the oven it was able to rise more before reaching a temperature at which the yeast was killed. The tradeoff however is a longer bake time to get the crisp bottom crust. Whether you opt for a loaf or pizza dough, I hope you’ll enjoy this as much as I did!
- 350 g bread flour (70%)
- 150 g whole wheat flour (30%)
- 300 g water (60%)
- 150 g roasted pumpkin puree (30%)
- 120 g active sourdough leaven (24%)
- 12.5 g salt (2.5%)
- The night before (or at least 7-8 hours) you make your dough combine 2 tablespoons (15-20 grams) of unfed sourdough starter with 60 g of water, 30 g of all purpose flour, and 30 g of whole wheat flour.
- Stir until there are no dry bits of flour, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit out overnight. This will be your active starter the next morning. A drop of the starter will float in water when it is ready.
- When ready, disperse the entire starter in 275 g of water in a large bowl. Add all flour and mix by hand until there are no dry bits. Then, add in the pumpkin. Knead for 1-2 minutes until well combined. Cover and let rest for one hour.
- After the hour is up add salt and remaining 25 g of water. Mix well and cover the dough again.
- For the next two hours ‘turn’ the dough every 30 minutes. This means grabbing the underside of the dough, and stretching it up and over the rest of the dough. Perform a few of these turns each time you handle the dough.
- After the first turn work in the coriander and caraway seeds. After two hours is up, let the dough rest for another hour before you turn it again.
- After the third hour, let the dough rest another 30 minutes. Then turn it out onto an unfloured surface. Flour the top of the dough and flip it over. Work into a round shape and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Following the bench rest flour the top of the dough again, flipping it over after so the flour side is face down. Fold the third of the dough closest to you inward, and then stretch the dough out to the sides. Fold the right, and then left, sides in toward the center. Fold the top of the dough inward, and then wrap the bottom part of the dough over it all. Work this into a round shape, and place seam side up in a proofing basket lined well with flour.
- Let rise for 3-4 hours (or overnight in the refrigerator). One hour before baking place a dutch oven, with the lid on, in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Once hot, drop the dough into the pan and score the loaf. Immediately place the top back on and return to the oven.
- Turn the heat down to 450 degrees and cook for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes remove the top of the dutch oven and rotate the pan. Continue to bake the bread for another 20-25 minutes, until the crust is deeply caramelized. Keep a close eye towards the end as the sugars in the sweet potato will cause the loaf to caramelize quickly. Enjoy!
