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Pumpkin-Shaped Sourdough Bread (Easy Twine Method)

Pumpkin-shaped sourdough loaf with eight scored sections and a cinnamon stick stem on a wooden board with a linen towel.
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This pumpkin-shaped sourdough bread is a plain sourdough boule tied with cotton twine into pumpkin sections and finished with a cinnamon stick stem. It makes a beautiful fall and Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Ingredients

Scale

For the levain (an active starter):

  • 35 g sourdough starter
  • 35 g bread flour
  • 35 g water

For the dough:

  • 450 g bread flour (I use King Arthur bread flour)
  • 351 g water (78% hydration)
  • 90 g levain (active starter at peak)
  • 9 g fine sea salt (I use Redmond fine sea salt)
  • Rice flour, for dusting

For shaping and decorating:

  • 100% cotton kitchen twine, 4 pieces about 36 inches (90 cm) long
  • Neutral oil or water, for soaking the twine (optional)
  • 1 cinnamon stick, for the stem
  • Bread flour, cocoa powder, or seeds, for the top (optional)

Instructions

  1. Autolyse: Add the water to the bread flour in a large bowl and stir until no dry patches remain. Cover and let it sit until the dough feels smoother and stretches a little.
  2. Add levain and salt: Squeeze the levain into the dough with wet hands and fold until no streaks remain. Bulk fermentation has started. Work in the salt, cover, and let the dough rest.
  3. Fold the dough: Do two sets of stretch and folds, then two sets of coil folds, resting about 30 minutes between sets.
  4. Finish bulk fermentation: Let the dough rise until it has grown 75 to 80%, about 7 to 7 hours 30 minutes at 73°F (23°C). It should look domed, show bubbles on top and along the sides, and wobble when you shake the bowl.
  5. Preshape and shape: Tip the dough onto a counter dusted with rice flour. Preshape a round and rest 15 to 20 minutes. Shape a tight boule.
  6. Cold proof: Place the boule seam side up in an 8-inch (20 cm) round banneton dusted with rice flour. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
  7. Tie the twine: Preheat the oven to 500°F (260°C) with a Dutch oven inside. Cut 4 pieces of twine and prepare them dry, soaked in water, or soaked in oil. Tie them together with one knot in the middle. Lay the twine in a star on the dough while it is still in the banneton, knot in the center. Cover with parchment and flip the dough out. Brush off the rice flour, then dust the top with bread flour or cocoa powder and spread it with your palms. Bring the two ends of each strand up over the top and tie them loosely at the center, leaving about a finger’s width of slack. Tie a final knot at the top and cut off the extra twine.
  8. Add seeds (optional) and score: For seeds or alternating flour and cocoa sections, add them now, after tying. Mist the sections with water before adding seeds. Score a wheat-like pattern in the middle of each section, from top to bottom. Do not cut the twine.
  9. Bake: Lower the dough on the parchment into the hot Dutch oven and cover. Reduce the oven to 450°F (230°C). Bake 20 minutes with the lid on, then 15 to 20 minutes with the lid off, until deep golden brown.
  10. Remove the twine and add the stem: Cool for about 10 minutes. Snip the twine at the top knot and gently pull each piece out from the bottom. Push a cinnamon stick into the center for the stem. Cool completely before slicing.

Notes

  • Equipment: 8-inch (20 cm) round banneton, 100% cotton kitchen twine, Dutch oven, parchment paper, bread lame, pastry brush, flour duster, and scissors.
  • Sections: Use 3 pieces of twine for 6 sections, 4 for 8 sections, or 5 for 10 sections.
  • Twine: Use 100% cotton, unwaxed, undyed twine. Oiled twine releases the easiest. Water-soaked twine sticks less than dry twine.
  • Tie it loose: The dough grows a lot in the oven. Tight twine can cut into the loaf.
  • Tie it cold: For firmer dough, put it in the freezer, still in the banneton, for 20 to 30 minutes before tying and scoring.
  • Toppings: Dust flour or cocoa powder on top before tying the twine. A flour duster makes it even. Add seeds or alternating flour and cocoa sections after tying.
  • Colored dough: Use the dough from my carrot, purple sweet potato, dragon fruit, spinach, or turmeric sourdough recipe, then dust the top with cocoa powder before tying. The scores show the bright color underneath.
  • Mini loaves: Divide the dough into four to six pieces. Wrap each small boule with one piece of twine, crossing over the top center three or four times.
  • Large Dutch oven: Use a Dutch oven with room around the loaf, so the sides do not squash the pumpkin sections.
  • Shape: Use a round boule, not a batard.
  • Doneness: The bread is done at an internal temperature of 205 to 210°F (96 to 99°C).
  • Custom formula: Use my sourdough calculator to scale the recipe.
  • Nutrition: Nutrition is for the whole loaf and includes the levain. It does not include the rice flour, toppings, or stem.

Nutrition

Find it online: https://sourdoughtalk.com/pumpkin-shaped-sourdough-bread/