Sourdough Pumpkin Bread
Soft, spiced, and just sweet enough — this sourdough pumpkin bread walks the line between breakfast and dessert. It’s rich with pumpkin purée, cozy fall spices, and a touch of tang from sourdough discard. Think pumpkin loaf meets buttery cake — with a personality as golden as its crust.
Ingredients
- 213 grams (1½ cups) all-purpose flour
- 4 grams (1 teaspoon) baking powder
- 2 grams (½ teaspoon) baking soda
- 2 grams (⅓ teaspoon) fine salt
- 3 grams (1 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- 1 gram (½ teaspoon) ground ginger
- 1 gram (¼ teaspoon) nutmeg
- 113 grams (½ cup / 1 stick) unsalted butter melted and cooled, plus more for greasing the pan
- 99 grams (½ cup, packed) light brown sugar
- 99 grams (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 15 grams (1 tablespoon) vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 227 grams (1 cup) pumpkin purée
- 125 grams (½ cup) sourdough discard 100% hydration
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Heat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan — go for full coverage; no crumb left behind.
- Mix the dry team. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
- Bring in the wet ingredients. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and add the melted butter, both sugars, vanilla, eggs, pumpkin purée, and sourdough discard. With a whisk, start mixing from the center, completely mixing wet ingredients and then slowly drawing in the flour from the sides until everything’s just combined. (A few lumps are fine in the batter — overmixing is the enemy of tenderness.)
- Bake to golden glory. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 60–70 minutes, until the loaf is deeply golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. The internal temperature should register around 200–210°F if you like to double-check.
- Cool and slice. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then flip it onto a wire rack. If loaf doesn't come out, carefully run a knife around the edges. Allow to cool before slicing (or at least try to — it smells unfairly good warm).
Notes
Excellent plain, buttered, or toasted with cream cheese. Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days or slice, freeze, and enjoy until next fall (if it lasts that long).