Sourdough Pumpkin Bread

A delicious way to use up sourdough discard! This soft Sourdough Pumpkin Bread recipe with cinnamon sugar topping makes two loaves.

A few weeks ago someone asked on Instagram if we had a sourdough pumpkin bread recipe. We didn’t, but at that point I was questioning why.

A few weeks ago we had tweaked our zucchini bread recipe to use our sweet Amish sourdough starter. But for this recipe we used traditional sourdough starter discard. And the results were amazing.

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Why you’ll love this recipe:

• uses up sourdough discard
• quick bread that requires no rise time
• intense pumpkin flavor
• soft texture
• cinnamon sugar topping
• makes two loaves

What is sourdough discard?

Sourdough has been a traditional favorite, but it gained popularity in spring of 2020. Yeast was hard to find so everyone wanted to learn how to make sourdough bread which has a naturally occuring yeast.

You can read our complete sourdough guide, but once you start making sourdough, you either have to bake with it or discard part of the start or it will keep growing. In order to not be wasteful, you can make recipes with the sourdough discard. These discard recipes use other leavening agents (baking powder, baking soda or yeast) to get a rise in the baked good. See below the recipe for some of our favorites.

Want pumpkin bread but don’t have sourdough starter? Make my grandma’s pumpkin bread!

Tips for Making Sourdough Pumpkin Bread

• This recipe makes two loaves. One to keep and one to give away. It also freezes well!
• Use pure pumpkin puree. NOT canned pumpkin pie filling.
• The sourdough starter does NOT have to be active. If it is a little active, it will be fine to use, but it can be sourdough discard. Notice in the recipe I gave the weight of the starter I used in grams so you can get an accurate measurement, whether there are bubbles in the starter or not.
• Add more spices if you’d like! We used two nice size tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice to keep it easy. If you add any more spice, try cinnamon.
• Mix the wet ingredients separately from the dry ingredients. Then combine the two and mix only until combined. Do not overmix the bread batter or it will be tough when it bakes.
• This will bake for 60-70 minutes. Sometimes it is tricky to know if quick bread is done all the way through or not. If you have an internal probe thermometer, the internal temperature should be 190 degrees Fahrenheit.

**We LOVE our Thermoworks ThermaPen to quickly water and bread temperatures. This probe thermometer is AMAZING.  Get it here.**

Toppings for Pumpkin Bread

Use this easy pumpkin bread recipe as a springboard for other ideas. Add chocolate chips, homemade cinnamon chips, powdered sugar glaze or even a cream cheese frosting.

In this recipe we simply added a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar to the top of the batter before baking. This gives just a little extra sweetness to each bite.

Sourdough Pumpkin Bread

4.67 from 78 votes

A delicious way to use up sourdough discard! This soft Sourdough Pumpkin Bread recipe with cinnamon sugar topping makes two loaves.

Servings 20

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

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Ingredients

 

For the bread:

• 3/4 cup oil (canola or vegetable oil)
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups pure pumpkin puree
• 1 cup sourdough discard 231 grams
• 3 cups all-purpose flour 405 grams
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

Cinnamon Sugar Mixture:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In a large bowl, combine the oil, eggs, vanilla, sugar and pumpkin. Mix well.
• Fold in the starter.
• Add the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice. Mix just until combined.
• Spray 2 8.5” x 4.5” loaf pans with cooking spray.
• Pour the batter evenly into the pans.
• Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
• Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the batter.
• Bake for 60-70 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Internal temperature should be 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Cool until the bread loosens from the pan evenly and turn onto a serving dish or wire rack to cool completely.
• Store in an airtight container.

Notes

The calories shown are based on the recipe making two loaves of bread, each being cut into 10 pieces. One serving is 1 slice of bread. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**

Nutrition

Calories: 267kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 187mg | Potassium: 120mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 3853IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 2mg

Author Julie Clark

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Calories 267

Keyword breakfast, sourdough, thanksgiving

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Other Sourdough Discard Recipes

Have extra starter? Try one of these favorites: