These pumpkin sourdough dinner rolls are perfect for the Thanksgiving dinner table, or any festive fall table that calls for bread (which is all of them!). They perfectly absorb the sauce, gravy, or soups you’re serving and make incredible little sandwiches for leftovers! With a few tips and tricks, this is going to be your new go-to rolls recipe for the autumn months. 

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A note on sourdough starter: be sure you have an active, bubbly starter before you bake! You can read more about how to achieve this below

Sourdough Starter Tips

A note on enriched doughs

Enriched doughs include the rich and delicious ingredients we all love, like butter, sugar, and eggs. When working with an enriched dough, remember that it takes longer for it to rise and ferment because the additional sugar and fat interferes with wild yeast activity by coating the molecules of the dough. This means it will take longer for your dough to double and rise. Be sure to allocate plenty of time for these kinds of recipes, especially if it’s your first time working with an enriched dough. I will include a sample baker’s schedule for the pumpkin sourdough dinner rolls to help you plan your fermentation. But remember, at the end of the day, your starter, kitchen temperature, and oven are all different from mine so you have to learn how to watch the dough and read the signs.

Sample Baker’s Schedule

PREP DAY

• 4 pm: mix the dough and autolyse
• 4:30: do stretch and folds for the next few hours
• 7 pm: ferment on the counter
• 10 pm: shape dough and cold ferment

BAKE DAY

• 8 am: bring the rolls up to room temperature
• noon: preheat oven and bake

Pumpkin Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Print Recipe

Servings 12 rolls

Ingredients

• 500 g flour
• 150 g active bubbly, starter
• 250 g warm milk
• 150 g pumpkin puree
• 3 1/2 TBSP melted butter
• 10 g salt
• 2 TBSP honey
• 1 egg

Instructions

• Mix flour, starter, milk, and pumpkin puree. Autolyse for 30 minutes – 1 hour
• Knead slowly while adding the salt, honey, melted butter, and egg.  This works best with a stand mixer, but you can definitely do it by hand in a large bowl.
• Continue kneading until everything is well combined and the dough is very elastic, smooth, and glossy.
• For the next 30 minutes, stretch and fold the dough every 15 minutes
• For the next 2 hours, stretch and fold the dough every 30 minutes
• Allow the dough to rise for 2-3 hours, or until doubled in size
• Now it is time to shape the dough→ turn it out and divide into 8-12 equal pieces. You can decide based on how large you want your rolls to be and how much space you have for them in our baker. I use a 9×13 stone baker for this recipe and ended up with 12 rolls
• Grease your baking dish with a layer of butter
• Without using any flour, shape each piece into a tight ball, being careful not to de-gas the dough -> keep your hands wet to avoid sticking
• Place each ball in the baker in rows, I like to do 3 to a row
• Cover the rolls and refrigerate for 8-24 hours
• On bake day, bring out the rolls and allow them to rise and get puffy for a few hours
• After a few hours, the rolls should be puffy and almost doubled in size from when they were shaped
• Preheat the oven to 350 F and brush the rolls with a tablespoon or two of melted butter
• Bake rolls uncovered for 30 minutes
• When the rolls are done they should be puffy and golden
• When they come out of the oven, you can sprinkle them with a little bit of salt or brush with more butter
• Let rest for a few minutes before serving

TIPS for making pumpkin sourdough dinner rolls

• Don’t incorporate butter that is too hot to keep the dough temperature from spiking
• If you ferment in the fridge before shaping, you will need to allow it to ferment again on the counter at room temperature after. If you don’t do this it can cause your dough to be gummy and almost underbaked on the inside, even after fully baking.