This is a trend that I’ve been seeing recently on some of the bread-baking sites that I follow: shaping a regular loaf of bread (a standard boule) into a pumpkin loaf. There is nothing pumpkin or pumpkin-spice flavored about this bread: it is just a regular loaf of my standard artisan sourdough bread. But to make it a little festive, you can imprint the loaf by loosely tying cooking twine around it before baking. I used a cinnamon stick as the “stem” just to complete the look. Makes a nice presentation for a harvest / autumn / Thanksgiving meal.
Ingredients
1/2 cup (120g) ripe (fed) sourdough starter
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups bread flour
Directions
Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix and stir everything together to make a sticky, rough dough. If you have a stand mixer, beat at medium speed with the paddle attachment for 30 to 60 seconds. If you don’t have a mixer, just stir with a big spoon or dough whisk until everything is combined.
Transfer to an equally large, lightly sprayed with baking spray bowl or 6-quart food-safe bucket, also lightly sprayed with baking spray. Cover it with the bucket’s lid or a piece of plastic wrap, and let it rise for 1 hour. Gently pick up the dough and fold it over on itself several times, cover it again, and let
it rise for another hour. Repeat the rising-folding process one more time (for a total of 3 hours), folding it again after the last hour. Then, place the bucket or bowl in the refrigerator, and let the dough rest for at least 8 hours (or up to 48 hours).
When you’re ready to make bread, turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface, and shape it into a rough ball. Leave the dough seam-side up, cover it, and let it rest on a floured surface for 15 minutes.
Next, shape the dough to fit the vessel in which you’ll bake it: in my case, a 6-quart oval cast iron Dutch oven. Place the shaped dough into a rising basket or even a parchment paper sling. Let the loaf warm to room temperature and rise; this should take about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. It won’t appear to rise upwards that
much, but will relax and expand. To make the pumpkin shape, lay 3 or 4 long strands of cooking twine on a parchment and tie very loosely, as the loaf will expand while baking. Score the pumpkin loaf to decorate. A good tutorial can be found here.
With a rack positioned in the middle, start preheating the oven to 450F one hour before you’re ready to bake. Place your Dutch over into the oven to heat as well.
Remove the Dutch oven from the oven carefully — it is screaming hot! — and place your loaf in it. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the cover of the Dutch oven and bake the bread for 10 to 15 minutes longer, until the bread is deep golden brown and crusty, and a digital thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf
reads at least 210F. Remove the bread from the oven and transfer it to a rack to cool completely. For the finishing touch, add a cinnamon stick as the “pumpkin stem”.
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