Made with silky pumpkin purée, tangy sourdough starter, and warm fall spices, this super-moist sourdough discard pumpkin bread (loaf) can be made same-day, or chilled overnight for deeper flavor. The interior crumb will melt in your mouth!
Initially, I thought swapping the banana in my top-rated sourdough banana bread for pumpkin purée would be an easy, fool-proof variation. Not even close.
The disasters that came out of my kitchen were too soggy, not sweet enough, and oddly chewy?
Naturally, I spun into an analytical spiral, Googling things at 3 AM that could possibly “help” and long story short: it was too much pumpkin purée.
Why Most Pumpkin Breads Fail
Canned pumpkin purée contains a lot of moisture. So does sourdough starter (it’s part water).
When combined in a recipe that calls for 1 full can of pumpkin (standard), the batter becomes too runny. Runny batter without enough flour = sunken center. More flour is needed to fix the runny batter, but then you need a bigger pan to compensate!
I turned gray over this.
Eventually, after muffling my internal chatter with long walks and shower talks it clicked: scale back the pumpkin purée. I settled on using only 1/2 can, with enough leftover to make a second loaf (or my pumpkin sourdough scones). The texture is super moist, velvety-soft, and warmly spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
Good To Know
- I use this loaf pan.
- Baked loaves freeze beautifully.
- Batter can be mixed by hand, in a stand mixer, or with a hand-held mixer.
- Bake on the same day, or ferment overnight to deepen the flavor. Bake on the same day, or ferment overnight to deepen the flavor.
How To Make Sourdough Pumpkin Bread {Step-By-Step Recipe}
To Start: Whisk your wet ingredients together: eggs, sugars (light brown & granulated) and vanilla extract. Then add the pumpkin purée, oil, and sourdough starter.
Sift the dry ingredients, then gradually add to your wet ingredients. Pour the batter into a parchment-lined loaf pan.
If baking right away, do so for 60-70 minutes @ 350 F. A toothpick should come out clean when inserted (you know the drill). To ferment overnight, cover in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator. Bake from cold the next day.
Note: This loaf tastes completely different warm vs. room temperature. Personally, I prefer it at room temperature (e.g. cooled for a few hours). The flavor deepens as it sits!
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Same-Day Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Bread
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 70 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Category: Sourdough Discard Recipes
- Method: Oven-Baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Made with silky pumpkin puree, tangy sourdough starter and warm fall spices, this super-moist sourdough pumpkin bread can be made on the same-day, or chilled overnight to maximize flavor and digestibility. Use leftover pumpkin purée to make my pumpkin sourdough scones.
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- 2 large eggs
- 120 g (1/2 cup) light brown sugar
- 170 g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 225 g (1 cup) canned pumpkin puree
- 100 g (1/2 cup) mild oil, such as expeller pressed canola oil or vegetable oil
- 75 g (1/3 cup) sourdough starter (active starter or sourdough discard)
Dry Ingredients:
- 215 g (1 3/4 cups) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line a 9×5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment: beat the eggs, light brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract together. Add the pumpkin purée, followed by the oil and sourdough starter. Mix well to combine.
- In a separate small bowl: sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.
- With the machine running, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix gently until incorporated. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. At this point you can bake immediately (see next step). Or ferment overnight (see Overnight Option below).
- Bake on the center rack for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
- Cool for 1-2 hours before slicing. I prefer this cake at room temperature; the flavor and texture improves as it sits.
Overnight Option: Prepare the batter as indicated above; pour into your prepared loaf pan. Cover with a few layers of plastic wrap and chill overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning, discard the plastic wrap. Bake @ 350 (from cold) for 60-70+ minutes or until done.
Comments
Mary says
This bread is absolutely delicious following the recipe as written. I will be making it again and again!
Melanie says
Hi-if I do the overnight option, do I preheat the oven to 350 before baking or do I do a cold start?
Kristen says
My family looooves this recipe but I haven’t been keeping up with my sourdough starter lately. Is there a solution for omitting the discard? Thank you!
Kristin H says
I made this last weekend along with my regular sourdough and it was perfect. I happy I’ve found a recipe that I csn use up my leftover starter and pumpkin. No more waste. I’m making it again now and I forgot to buy oil so I subbed butter. Can’t wait to eat it. It is a great recipe.
Eva Turner says
Fantastic recipe, I followed overnight option, super soft and great flavour.
Added chopped crystallised ginger for a bit of a kick.
Bethany says
Loved this! I used coconut oil and added cardamom and some dark chocolate chips.
My husband said he would have preferred it without the chocolate chips so I probably should have just followed the recipe as written lol.
But it was delicious
Mary Ann Chanes says
I made dozens of small loaves of this pumpkin bread for Christmas presents this year and everyone is raving about how delicious and moist it is! One girl from work came to me to say she didn’t get her loaf…lol…and another texted me pictures of her 3 year old devouring the bread. Thanks Emilie!!
Tonita says
This is my bookmarked recipe & the ONLY recipe I will use. I add vanilla soaked raisins & toasted pumpkin seeds to the batter & a pumpkin seed struesel to the top… The bread is perfection every time & it makes lovely Christmas gifts. Today I’m doubling the recipe & trying the muffin route for half of the batch- stay tuned.
Sheryl says
Super easy and nice balance of flavor. I doubled the recipe so not to have any pumpkin left over. I also added a pumpkin seed streusel on top. The bread was perfect.
Veronica Tyren says
Hi! If I was to use pumpkin spice instead, would you recommend 2 tsp or 1 tsp pumpkin spice and 1 tsp of cinnamon?
Conni says
This recipe makes incredible muffins! The mini muffins cooked at 350F for 12 minutes. They are soft little pillows!
Deb says
Excellent! I used coconut sugar and used less. It was amazing and will definitely make again. I accidentally added more discard and compensated by adding less flour. Came out great! Thanks!!
Madison says
Used this recipe but plopped it in muffin tins and it was perfect!
Emilie Raffa says
Sounds great! Do you remember how long your baked the muffins for? Just curious for other bakers who’d like to make muffins too. Thanks!
Belinda says
This recipe is a keeper. My pumpkin bread turned out great.
Thank you.
Emilie Raffa says
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Belinda!
Jenna says
I accidentally doubled the spices and added an extra egg to this, along with swapping out most of the oil for applesauce and used coconut sugar instead of brown. And it was absolutely incredible!