Healthy Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Bread (or Muffins)
You're going to love our healthy sourdough pumpkin spice bread! It's soft, fluffy, mildly sweet, perfectly spiced, and oh-so-delicious. Made with whole wheat pastry flour, ample pumpkin, and no refined sugar, it's also more nutritious and lower glycemic index than other sweet breads!
Equipment
- 1 9x5" (or 8.5 by 4.5") baking pan
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 1/3 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
- 1/2 cup real maple syrup
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 large egg (or egg substitute)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 15 oz pumpkin puree (1 standard can, not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter (active or discard)
Dry Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (okay to sub with all purpose or white whole wheat flour)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 Tbsp pumpkin spice seasoning OR the following:
Homemade pumpkin spice seasoning
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
Optional: 1/2 cup walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds (pepitas), chocolate chips or raisins
Instructions
- Whisk together melted coconut oil (or butter), maple syrup, honey, and vanilla. Then beat in one egg.
- Next, stir in the sourdough starter and pumpkin puree. Mix well.
- In a separate bowl, combine and thoroughly mix all of the dry ingredients. (Tip: Fluff and add the flour to a measuring cup with a spoon and then level. Don't scoop the measuring cup into the bag)
- Slowly add dry ingredients into the wet bowl. Gently stir and mix only until combined. Do not over mix.
- Fold in any optional add-ins like nuts or chocolate chips.
- Cover the bowl with beeswax wrap or a damp towel during fermentation to prevent the batter from drying out.
- For the most nutritious results, allow the batter to ferment for 8 to 12 hours (though you can bake it sooner if you wish). Following food safety best practices, raw egg should not be out at room temperature for more than 4 hours. So, we typically let the batter sit at room temperature for about 2 hours, then refrigerate it for the remainder of the time (usually overnight). For a shorter schedule, leave it out the entire time and then bake before the 4 hour mark.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Take the batter bowl out of the refrigerator and allow it to warm up at room temp for 30 to 45 minutes (while the oven is preheating).
- Grease a 9x5" bread pan with butter or oil, or line it with parchment paper
- Pour/scoop the batter into the greased pan and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon. Add a light sprinkle of cinnamon on top (optional).
- Bake on 350F for 55 to 60 minutes, until a tester (toothpick) comes out clean. Bake for closer to 65 mins if you add mix-ins like chocolate or nuts.
- Allow the bread to cool for 15 mins in the pan before taking it out and transferring it to a cooling rack.
- Enjoy! The bread is best if consumed within 4 to 5 days. Store the bread wrapped, in a sealed bag, or in a food storage container with a lid to retain moisture. Refrigeration not required. You can also wrap and freeze leftovers for up to three months.
Notes
To make sourdough pumpkin muffins:
Follow the same instructions 1-8, but then divide the batter into a greased or paper-cup lined muffin pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes for standard size muffins (about 35 minutes for jumbo muffins). Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!