It’s pumpkin loaf time of year! This sourdough pumpkin is made using Churchills strong white bread flour and spiced root vegetable soup to give it some extra flavour and a lovely aroma. You can use soup of your choice, I used a 400g can of Baxter’s soup which gave me 375g soup for the dough.
- Makes: 1 standard loaf
- Prep time: 30 mins hands on
- Prove time: 12-24 hours
- Bake time: 55-60 minutes
- Total time: 12-24 hours
- Flours used: Matthews Churchill Sourdough Bread Flour
Spiced Root Vegetable and Seeds Pumpkin Loaf
- Roughly mix together all the ingredients until you have a shaggy, rough dough. Cover the bowl with a clean shower cap or your choice of cover and leave the bowl on the counter for 2 hours. It will be a sticky mix.
- After this rest time, perform the first set of pulls and folds until the dough feels less sticky and comes together into a firm ball. The dough will still be sticky and will become smooth and stretchy. Cover the bowl again and leave it on your counter.
- After 1 to 1½ hours, do one more set of pulls and folds on the dough. It will come into an easy soft ball. Cover the dough again afterward.
- Leave the covered bowl to prove, typically 8 to 10 hours, based on room temp of 64 to 68°F (18 to 20°C). If it’s colder, it may take longer. Give it the time it needs.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, perform one last set of pulls and folds to form the dough into a nice ball and place it into your prepared banneton, smooth side down. Sprinkle extra rice flour down the sides and over the top of the dough. Cover the banneton and place it in the fridge for 3 to 24 hours.
- When you are ready to bake, decide whether you would like to bake in a preheated oven or from a cold start. If preheating, set the oven to 425°F (220°C) convection or 450°F (230°C) conventional.
Cut four long pieces of string. Remove the cover and with the dough still in the banneton, lay the strings evenly across it to create equal spaces over the dough, visually cutting the circle into eight equal portions. Place your parchment paper or pan liner over the top of the banneton and strings, and your pan over the top of both. Use both hands to turn it all over, keeping the strings firmly in place.
Remove the banneton and prepare to tie the strings. Making sure you are using the corresponding ends of each of the strings, pull each one over the dough and tie it firmly on the top. Allow the strings to slightly indent the dome of dough but do not pull them tightly into it. Score each segment of dough between the strings.
- If you preheated the oven, put the lid on the pan 55 minutes. If you are using a cold start, place the covered pan of dough in the oven, set the temperature as above and set a timer for 60 minutes.
- Once it is baked, remove the loaf carefully from the pan, place it on a rack and cut and remove the strings and allow the baked loaf to cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing. Add a cinnamon stick or pepper/capsicum stalk for a fun presentation.
Check us out on Instagram to see how Elaine made this loaf, and Elaine’s how to make a pumpkin loaf video here.
