Pumpkin Shaped Sourdough Bread in a Loaf Pan
My everyday sourdough shaped into a pumpkin with butcher's twine and baked with the double loaf pan method. It holds its ridges, slices into full sandwich sized pieces, and makes a festive centerpiece for the fall table. Shape it as a boule or a batard, tie it right in the pan, and finish it with a cinnamon stick stem.
Servings: 12 slices
Calories: 163kcal
Equipment
- Digital Kitchen Scale
- Large mixing bowl
- Flexible dough scraper
- Banneton with liner
- Two 10 x 5 x 3 inch metal loaf pans
- Parchment paper
- 100 percent cotton butcher's twine
- Kitchen scissors
- Bread lame or razor blade for scoring
- Fine mist spray bottle for rice flour sticking, optional
- Mesh tea ball or small sieve for applying rice powder, optional
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 75 g active sourdough starter 1/3 cup
- 350 g room temperature filtered water 1 1/2 cups
- 500 g bread flour 4 cups plus 3 tablespoons, spooned and leveled
- 10 g fine sea salt 1 3/4 teaspoons
- 15 g water for working in the salt 1 tablespoon
Pumpkin Shaping Ingredients
- Neutral oil or softened butter for greasing the twine optional
- Sweet rice flour for dusting the pumpkin top
- 1 cinnamon stick for the pumpkin stem
- optional sage leaves or rosemary for the leaves
Instructions
Mix and Bulk Ferment Instructions
- Combine the bread flour, starter, and 350g water in a large bowl and mix until a shaggy dough forms with no dry pockets of flour. Scrape down the sides, cover, and rest for 1 hour.
- Wet your hands, sprinkle the salt over the dough, and pour the 15g of water across the top. Starting at one corner, turn the dough under itself while kneading gently until the salt is fully worked in.
- Perform a set of stretch and folds: with wet hands, stretch one side of the dough up until you feel resistance and fold it to the opposite side, then rotate the bowl and repeat until all four sides are folded. Flip the dough smooth side up and cover. Repeat every hour for 3 hours.
- Leave the dough covered at room temperature until bulk fermentation is complete: grown by 50 to 70 percent, smooth and domed on top, jiggly when you shake the bowl, and springing back slowly when poked. This takes about 4 to 10 hours from mixing depending on your kitchen temperature.
Shape and Cold Proof Instructions
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, gather the edges toward the center, flip it seam side down, and rotate it with cupped hands into a rough round. Rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Shape the dough into a tight boule or batard, either shape works for the pumpkin, and place it seam side up in a floured banneton.
- Cover and refrigerate for 8 to 48 hours.
Tie and Bake the Pumpkin Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F with a rack in the lower middle position.
- Press a large piece of parchment into one loaf pan, bending the corners in and pleating the edges so it takes the shape of the pan. Lift it out and set it aside.
- Cut three pieces of butcher's twine, each long enough to wrap under the loaf and tie at the top with a few inches to spare. If you like, grease them lightly with oil or butter as insurance against sticking. Cut six thin strips of parchment for tucking under the strings.
- With the cold dough still in the banneton, lay a piece of parchment over it. Lay the three strings across the parchment so they cross in the center like the spokes of a wheel, marking out six even sections, then lay the parchment you shaped in the pan over the strings.
- Place one hand on top of the parchment and the other under the banneton, flip it over onto the counter in one quick motion, and lift off the banneton. The loaf is now top side up on the shaped parchment with the strings underneath.
- Score a few short cuts around the base of the loaf.
- Lift the loaf by the shaped parchment and lower it into the loaf pan.
- With the loaf in the pan, bring the strings up around it, keeping the sections even, and tie them together at the center of the top. Tie them snug enough to define each section but loose enough that they only gently hug the dough. Trim the ends.
- Tuck a thin strip of parchment between each of the six string lines and the dough.
- Mist the top of the loaf with water from the spray bottle and tap sweet rice flour over it, using a mesh tea ball or small sieve for an even layer.
- If you like, score a wheat stalk design into each section between the parchment strips. It is a design only, so do not score across the top of the loaf. If you skipped the cuts around the base, snip the base of the dough along the long sides of the pan with kitchen scissors.
- Tuck any parchment sticking up inside the pan and set the second loaf pan upside down on top as a lid.
- Bake with the lid on for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes, until deeply golden.
- Cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes, then lift out the loaf and remove the strings while it is still warm.
- Push the cinnamon stick into the center of the top as the stem. Cool completely, 3 to 4 hours, before slicing.
Notes
Pan Size
This 950g dough bakes in a 10 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. For a smaller loaf, use a 9 x 5 inch pan. Both pans need to match so the lid sits flush and holds in the steam.
Boule or Batard
Both shapes are tested and both work, since the loaf expands to fill the pan as it bakes. A boule gives you a rounder pumpkin, and a batard fills the length of the pan for more sandwich sized slices.
Why Tie It in the Pan
Tying the loaf on the counter and then moving it shifts the strings and parchment strips as it drops into the pan. Tying it once it is already in the pan keeps every section even.
Soft Crust Option
For a softer crust, bake with the lid on for 35 to 40 minutes, then remove the lid and bake just until browned. The longer the lid stays on, the thinner and softer the crust.
No Expansion Score
Skip the mid bake expansion score used for regular loaf pan sourdough. The strings already guide how the loaf opens, and the pumpkin looks cleaner without it.
Twine
Use only 100 percent cotton butcher's twine, since synthetic string can melt in the oven. Tucking parchment underneath keeps it from sticking to the crust. Greasing the twine is optional, a bit of extra insurance in case a string catches.
Seasonal Adjustments
In warm kitchens above about 75°F, reduce the starter to 60g and use cool water to slow fermentation. In cool kitchens, use the full 75g starter and room temperature water as written.
Storage
Store cut side down on a board or in a bread bag at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. Slice and freeze with parchment between the slices for up to 3 months, and toast straight from frozen.
