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
Sara says
Whoops, started this recipr and I’m out of pumpkin. Can I use apple? Fresh, canned in syrup, or even applesauce.
Emilie Raffa says
Oh no! I haven’t tested this recipe with anything else. In a pinch, I’d say applesauce? But only add less than what’s called for at first to make sure the texture isn’t too wet. You can always add more.
Bryan J Passmore says
I make this all the time and it just works perfectly. I usually halve the sugar but that’s just a personal preference. Thank you for this!
Ornina says
I only used 170 grams brown sugar (i forgot the granulated sugar) and i used coconut oil and i doubled the spices.
The loaf was mind blowing.
Amazing recipe. Everything i’ve tried from this website worked so far!
Teresa says
This recipe is delicious! I used discard and it turned out amazing. Will definitely be making again!
Mimi says
This was great but so sweet! I used the gram measurements- maybe cups would be better.
Tracie says
I have made this recipe with the overnight option several times now and everyone LOVES it! The spice balance is perfect, the texture and moisture level is exactly what you want. Thank you!
tabitha Starke says
Another delicious recipe.! I have made this 2x’s and used Swerve for part of the granulated sugar. The overnight option works well, and I do think if you can wait another 8-12 hours after baking you yield the best flavor results.
Jerilyn says
I have made this and it was delicious! Are you able to freeze it after its cooled from being baked?
Chloe says
So scrumptious!
I hope it wasn’t blasphemy, but last time I made a double batch, and folded a cup of chocolate chips into one of the loaves. Made a perfect treat to share with coworkers! (Nurses love chocolate. 😉)
Nicole Mallett says
Dude! Now adding in mini dark chocolate chip! Thanks for the inspiration!
(indeed, nurses LOVE chocolate 🍫) ;-)
Emilie Raffa says
Oooo… sounds yummy. I love pumpkin and chocolate together. 🥰
Jade says
INCREDIBLE! My mom always feels guilty throwing out her sourdough discard and we stumbled across this recipe and had to try it. It’s sooooo moist and tastes like fall in a loaf. We decided to use 4 mini loaf pans filled 3/4 of the way with batter so we could share with the neighbors and they turned out great. We cooked at the temperature the recipe called for and just baked them for 30 minutes. They turned out perfect!
Emilie Raffa says
Sounds perfect! I love mini loaves. And now you’ve just reminded me that I have a few holiday mini loaves (paper) that I’m going to use for gifts with this recipe. Thank you for sharing your tips!
Becky says
This is utter perfection!! The epitome of Fall!! I want to make a loaf for everyone I know!
April says
This bread came out fantastic. Reduced total sugar to 1 cup (1/2c brown and 1/2c white) and refrigerated batter overnight to bake in the morning. Used my whole wheat sourdough starter. Cut and sampled at room temp and it’s delicious.
David says
Great recipe, I was having issues with throwing away half of my new starter every day and the insides of my Halloween pumpkin so I whizzed them up and used fresh pumpkin in this recipe.
It is delicious, and moist, mine was in the oven for an hour (my son took it out when the timer went off) I would have checked it and given it an extra 10 minute. I will do this again. (My starter is rye flour based, I used bread making flour with this for the recipe)
Linda says
This recipe was really delicious! Can you use it to make a sheet for bars instead of a loaf?
Michael T says
Has to be the best Pumpkin bread recipe I’ve ever tasted. Easy to make and praised by all who tried it.
JoAnn says
Im so new to SD bread making. Can I use Avocado oil it’s healthier and pretty much flavorless thank you
Emilie Raffa says
Hi JoAnn! Welcome :) Yes, you can use avocado oil. It might make the loaf a bit darker in color.
Tiana says
Oh, how did that work with the Avocado oil? I was thinking of trying the same with my loaf. Thanks for asking!
Tina Beshears says
Can you tell me what avocado you’ve found that’s tasteless? I want to use it but every one I’ve tried tastes terrible. Thanks!
Heather D says
I’ve made this recipe twice already (both with and without nuts) – it is awesome and a great way to use that sourdough discard! I use coconut oil – it’s not overbearing and the loaf is perfectly moist, even after a few days. Also, I’m not sure if it matters too much, but I let sit in the fridge with the overnight option both times. The loaf has come out perfectly and is a fun festive fall treat (and gift if you’re in the mood for sharing it ;)).
Cambra says
I made this bread yesterday and it was amazing. Tweaked it a bit by using 1 cup of sourdough bc I saw it in another recipe and I can’t have eggs right now so I used 3/4 cup applesauce. I used avocado oil as well. It was amazing! So moist and WAY better than starbucks! Thanks for sharing!
Emilie Raffa says
Wow! Great tips. Thanks for sharing ;)
Christine says
Great recipe! My son and I had fun making this together as a part of our homeschool day. It brought him a LOT of joy. I would say the flavor is mild in the pumpkin spice department (I have another pumpkin bread recipe with a lot more spice). This recipe has a very nice flavor but if a baker likes strong pumpkin spice flavor, they may want to up the spice amounts. We made these in some fall shaped mini loaves and they turned out perfectly–no issue with them coming out of the pan after I sprayed with a coconut oil baking spray. Thanks for another great discard recipe. It’s so fun to experiment with your recipes after you’ve done all the hard work in perfecting them for us!
Mare says
This is the moistest and tastiest pumpkin bread I ever had I’m definitely make another one this weekend.
Annie says
What’s the calorie count on this? I made it but im tracking calories and can’t find that info on here.
Paige says
Great recipe! I added walnuts and glazed with chai icing- delicious!
Thank you as always for your emails and recipes Emilie.
Anne says
Can this recipe be made as muffins? How would it affect the baking time?
Eunhee says
Hi Emilie,
I just wanted to post that I’ve made this recipe 3 times already. I always have sourdough discard on hand and this worked perfectly for the season. I reduced the sugar amount and still tasted good. Thank you for another lovely recipe!
Erin Harrison says
Do you have any suggestions for using homemade pumpkin puree vs canned pumpkin puree? Thanks
Kelly says
I made it with homemade purée and the center fell. I think it may depend on the consistency of your purée but for my blender (Blendtec) the amount of water I needed to add made it a little it wetter than canned.
Jan says
Can you clarify, when you say bake at 350 from cold. Does this mean place loaf pan with batter from fridge straight into cold oven then turn on heat to 350? Start timer?
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Jan! Preheat the oven to 350 F first. Once it comes to temperature, then place the loaf pan (with the cold batter) into the preheated oven.
Josie S. says
Thanks for clarifying. I was wondering the same! 😁
Deb says
I am making this as I type this. It is own the oven and I can’t wait to taste it. However, I’m wondering if anyone noticed that 120g of brown sugar is WAY more than 1/2 cup. I just went with the 1/2 cup as it seemed a more likely amount. Anyone else notice this? All the other measurements made sense.
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Deb! 120g is the packed weight, which could explain the difference. Plus, converting grams to cups is never 100% accurate (this is due to different ingredient weights, packed vs. spooned, varying cup sizes etc.). It’s only approximate. What you did is totally fine. Hope this helps!
Deb says
Thanks, Emilie. I did pack it and there was still way too much. No worries. It turned out perfect using 1/2 cup.
Really enjoying your book! A friend gifted it to me and I’ve used it three times, which is miraculous for me. Normally I buy cookbooks and only look at them. Yours is an exception. At this very moment I have my second Everyday Sourdough in the oven.
🥰
Emilie Raffa says
Oh good! Thanks for letting me know ;) And I’m thrilled you like the book, too. Yay! I really appreciate your kind words.
Debra Ulrich says
I love nuts in my breads
Do you think I can add nuts safely and if yes how much would you think
Emilie Raffa says
Absolutely! Me too. I recommend walnuts or pecans, toasted if you have the time (I toast nuts in bulk and freeze to use ate on). Try 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup.
Debra Ulrich says
Great tip! thanks so much for replying!
Cristy says
Delicious recipe. Made it today and half of the loaf is already gone.
Emilie Raffa says
Fabulous, Cristy! Thanks for your feedback ;)
Patricia says
Hi Emilie, when making batter the night before baking in the morning, how does that affect the baking soda & baking powder?…..wondering if the delayed baking might diminish their leavening power? This recipe looks delicious; looking forward to making it!
Emilie Raffa says
Great question. In my experience (so far), the overnight ferment does not significantly diminish the rising power of baking soda and baking powder. It’s been successful in overnight versions of my sourdough blueberry muffins, apple cake and other recipes. However, because sourdough is a living thing (and each one of our starters embodies a different strength level), anything is possible really. Try the regular same-day version first with fresh starter, and then experiment with the overnight version, also with fresh starter. See what you like best. Hope this helps :)
Suzette seagoe says
Do you think this would work with persimmon puree? Thanks!
Emilie Raffa says
Ooo, this sounds delicious! I’m sure you could try it with a few adjustments. Two things off the top of my head: Perhaps adjust the amount of added sugar to balance out the natural sweetness of the fruit? And, if your persimmon puree is very liquidy, more than pumpkin puree, consider adding a bit more flour to strengthen the batter. You don’t want the loaf to sink in the center.
Suzette says
Thanks! I’ll try that!
doug jones says
has anyone tried this with Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour? I am certainly making a loaf as written but my daughter is trying the GF route so I have an active GF starter and the 1to1 Bob’s on hand.
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Doug! I haven’t tested it. But if you have an all-purpose GF flour (1:1) on hand, it should work without any issues. I’ve only worked with King Arthur GF 1:1 flour which is very good. My kids can’t tell the difference ;) Let me know how it goes!
doug jones says
thank you, Emilie, I just baked a loaf of GF bread and have enough 1:1 left to try the pumpkin loaf. I’ll let you know. I did make the pumpkin bread as written and It was perfect. Thanks for all your hard work.