Best (and vegan!) pumpkin bread – Video

Hello friends!

Are you ready for some pumpkinlicious bread? Yeah, I just made a word up. But only because I couldn’t find one that fits this bread!

Jump to Recipe

These days Instagram is packed with pictures of pumpkin bread and pumpkin buns and pumpkins in general and I couldn’t let it go, I had to post my recipe.

I’ve made different types of pumpkin bread before, but my favorite is the recipe I’m posting today.

Why, you may ask?

Because it’s full of flavor, it’s soft, it’s sweet and has a lovely shape!

And it’s accidentally vegan!

I say accidentally because I wasn’t really planning on making this bread vegan, it just happened! Lately, I’ve been using the Country Crock line of plant-based butter. I’ve tried them all and I love the result in bread! (This is not an ad, I’m just letting you know the dairy-free butter that I use)

This recipe yields 2 medium pumpkin-shape loaves. You can divide it into more loaves, or you can make one larger loaf. Just keep in mind that you’ll have to adjust your oven temperature.

I personally prefer medium to large loaves using this recipe. Since the bread doesn’t have eggs, smaller shapes will dry out quicker.

This bread is very soft, you don’t even need a knife to cut through it, the shape makes it easier to pull a piece :o) It’s also sweet enough to enjoy with both savory and sweet food. Did I mention is super soft?

How come it is so soft… if it doesn’t have eggs?

Miracle pumpkin puree! The carbohydrates (fiber included!) of this orange vegetable play a significant role in keeping the moisture in the bread. Pumpkin has starch, and when you boil it, some of that starch is gelatinized and able to keep the moisture in. Also, the pumpkin particles are not too hard, and they do not disrupt the gluten network like cereal bran could do, allowing the dough to develop properly and become very elastic.

Oh, and pumpkin is PACKED with antioxidants, carotenes to be exact. It’s all goodies in here!

So, without further ado… Let’s carve this pumpkin!

You can watch the video for more details on how to make this bread.

The first thing you need to do is dissolve the yeast into 3 Tbsp of the total amount of water.

While you let the yeast activate mix the pumpkin puree and the sugar in a different bowl. When the yeast is ready, add it to the pumpkin mixture and combine everything well. Let it rest while you prepare the other ingredients

Mix the flour, the salt and the pumpkin spice powder in a larger bowl.

Grate the butter and mix it with the flour. If you don’t have a grater you can use a pastry blender or cut it in smaller pieces and use a fork. The idea is to have small pieces of butter mixed in with the flour.

This dough is not too hydrated so adding the butter later would be a bit difficult. I found that grating the butter makes the process easier while still having great results. The butter will be absorbed in the dough as you knead it.

Add the wet ingredients to the flour/butter mixture and combine everything. Start adding the leftover water 1 oz at a time. Depending on your flour you might not need all of it. I use King Arthur bread flour and I used all 115 ml of water.

NOTE: If you add too much water, the dough will be too hydrated and the pumpkin won’t hold the shape in the last proofing.

The dough should feel soft, slightly sticky but it should hold the shape for several minutes.

Alrighty! Once the dough comes together, let it rest for a few minutes and start kneading!

Knead until it’s soft and shiny and it doesn’t stick to your fingers or your working surface.

If you feel the dough is not coming together let it rest for a few minutes and continue kneading.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Let it rise until it doubles in size. It should feel puffy and soft and smell yeasty.

Deflate the dough well, the crumb of this bread doesn’t have large alveoli so try to get rid of large air pockets.

Divide the dough into 2 pieces of similar weight and pre-shape them into a ball. Don’t worry if one is slightly larger than the other one. They don’t have to be perfect.

Cover them and let them rest for a few minutes.

In the meanwhile, prepare the thread.

Cut 8 pieces of 45 cm (18 in)

In a small bowl add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and soak the threads well. This will avoid leaving thread debris on your loaves and it’ll make easier to take them off after baking.

Place 4 pieces of thread on the table, crossing each other by the middle part and making sure that there are 8 spaces of similar size, watch the video for better understanding.

Take one of the dough balls and shape it into a ball. Try to create some tension so it’ll hold the shape better, and place it on top of the threads.

Tight the threads, not too tight, not too loose, just enough. As the dough ferments, it’ll puff up and the pumpkin shape will become more obvious.

Do the same with the other piece of dough

Cover the pumpkins with plastic wrap and let them ferment until you see the pumpkin shape. Don’t worry if it is a bit asymmetric.

About 20 mins before the proofing ends, turn your oven on at 375 F.

If you want, you can brush the pumpkins with vegetable milk (or regular milk if you don’t mind about dairy). I used soy milk on mine.

Put the pumpkins in the oven, lower the temperature to 350 F and bake the bread for 35-45mins (time depends on your oven), or until they’re golden brown.

If the loaves are getting too dark but they’re not done yet, lower the temperature to 330F or cover the pumpkins with aluminum foil.

After they’re baked, let the pumpkins cool down in a cooling rack for 30 minutes to an hour before you take the threads off.

This is important, you have to let the crumb set before you take the threads out. If they get stuck in the crumb, carefully pull them, one at a time, and they will slip out of the bread.

OPTIONAL: When the bread has cool down completely, take 2 cinnamon sticks and insert them on the top of the bread, this way your pumpkins will look really cute and can decorate your table while your guests arrive! Or just look incredibly beautiful for your next Instagram post.

And now it’s the best part… It’s time to enjoy your pumpkin bread!

See you next bake!