Pumpkin Sourdough Dinner Rolls

These pumpkin sourdough dinner rolls are so soft and fluffy, and perfect to serve alongside your Thanksgiving dinner!

If you’re looking for a fun way to incorporate pumpkin into your Thanksgiving dinner, these Pumpkin Sourdough Dinner Rolls would be perfect.

They’re incredibly soft and fluffy, and have a lovely hint of pumpkin flavor.

Plus they’re such a pretty color on the inside.

These are also a wonderful way to use up any leftover pumpkin puree you might have.

Okay, let me show you how to make them!

Here’s the video tutorial.

I have a written tutorial below if you prefer reading!

How to Make Pumpkin Sourdough Dinner Rolls

First, let’s talk about your sourdough starter:

I keep my sourdough starter at 100% hydration. 

This simply means that I feed it equal weights, not volumes, of flour and water.

For example, I don’t feed it half a cup of flour and half a cup of water. I feed it around 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water.

Don’t worry if your starter isn’t kept at 100% hydration: simply feed it equal weights of flour and water for these pumpkin sourdough dinner rolls, and then you can go back to feeding it how you normally would.

The amount of time it takes for your starter to mature will vary.

If your kitchen is really warm, the starter could be ready as soon as 4 hours after feeding it.

But if your kitchen is really cold, it could take up to 12 hours.

You want to pay attention to visual cues when it comes to sourdough starters.

Once it has doubled, is bubbly and active, and passes the float test, you’re ready to go!

You can perform the float test by dropping a small amount of sourdough starter in a glass of water.

If it floats, it passes!

If it sinks, that means your starter is either not mature enough, or over mature.

You can read all about sourdough starters in my How to Make a Sourdough Starter From Scratch post.

Now let’s chat pumpkin…

I formulated this recipe with two options for amounts of pumpkin puree.

The first method uses a whole can of pumpkin puree, but the second method uses only a cup.

I thought it would be handy for you if you could either use up a whole can of pumpkin all at once, or utilize that leftover cup of pumpkin puree that’s languishing in the fridge.

I like this organic canned pumpkin by the brand Farmer’s Market, and I’ve also used the Thrive Market brand.

Mixing the Dough:

First of all, place all of the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer:

• whole milk
• mature sourdough starter
• organic all-purpose flour
• melted butter (grass-fed butter, of course)
• honey
• pumpkin puree
• an egg
• unrefined sea salt

Knead the dough with the dough hook on medium for about 20 minutes.

Yep, you heard me. Twenty. Minutes.

The dough will start out kind of shaggy…

…but after 20 minutes the gluten will be nicely developed and it should be smooth and elastic.

First Rise

Scrape the dough into a well butter bowl.

I really like this 4 quart lidded glass bowl from Pyrex for fermenting sourdough.

Since it has a lid, there’s no need to use plastic wrap or a tea towel to cover the dough.

Also, the since the lid creates an airtight environment, your dough doesn’t develop a dry crust from being exposed to the air!

Cover with the lid and allow to rise and room temperature overnight, or about 8 hours.

The dough should double in bulk after the first ferment/rise.

Note: The first rise can be done in the refrigerator as well. The dough will be easier to work with since it will be cold and less sticky.

However, it will need to rise for 12 hours instead of 8, and the second rise will take longer as well.

Shaping the Pumpkin Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Now, you can skip this next step if you’re not too particular about how evenly sized your dinner rolls are.

Weigh all of the dough and divide that number by the number of dinner rolls you want.

15 rolls fit nicely into a 13 by 9 inch pan.

BTW, I love my handy dandy Perfect Portions scale. It’s been going strong since 2010!

Now weigh out each roll to the amount you just calculated.

For me, that worked out to about 101 grams per roll.

Grab the corners of one of the dough balls and pinch them towards the center.

Roll the dough ball, seam side down, on your countertop, cupping your hands underneath it as you roll.

This creates tension on the surface of the roll and makes it nice and smooth.

I highly recommend watching the video if you’ve never seen this demonstrated before!

The Second Rise

Arrange the pumpkin sourdough rolls in a 13 by 9 inch baking pan.

I like to do 5 across, 3 down.

But you could also do smaller rolls if you prefer, or even divide them between two pans.

Cover with a tea towel and set aside to rise a second time.

The amount of time it takes the rolls to rise a second time will vary based on the warmth of your kitchen.

If your kitchen is quite warm, it may only take 2 hours. But if your kitchen is chilly, it might take 6 hours.

These pumpkin sourdough dinner rolls should rise all the way over the edge of the pan before you bake them.

You want to give them enough time to rise and develop beautiful air bubbles.

Baking the Pumpkin Sourdough Dinner Rolls:

Bake in a preheated 375° Fahrenheit oven for 30-32 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted into the middle of a roll registers 200° Fahrenheit.

I used my new ChefAlarm probe thermometer to test how long it takes these to reach the proper internal temperature.

Yup, I was totally geeking out about my new toy.

 

Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter.

Yes, this is optional.

But it makes them so pretty.

You can brush them a second time just before serving if it seems like most of the butter has been absorbed.

 

Cooling

Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool for a few more minutes before serving.

This can be a little tricky.

I like to use a metal spatula to coax the pumpkin sourdough rolls out of the pan and onto the cooling rack.

If you leave them in the pan to cool, they’ll be a bit soggy on the bottom.

You want them to be able to breathe.

 

I mean…

 

…just look how soft and fluffy these are!

 

I love pull-apart dinner rolls. They’re so much fun to, well, pull apart! 🙃

Serving:

You know me. I pretty much have to serve dinner rolls with some good quality grass-fed butter.

But of course you could go the extra mile and drizzle a little raw honey on top as well.

Or you could put some homemade cranberry sauce on top in place of jam.

I’ve used these for hamburger buns, and I think they would make lovely sandwich buns as well.

You could also make a mean Thanksgiving leftover sandwich with turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and a slice of cheese.

I need to make that happen this year.

Storing:

These pumpkin sourdough dinner rolls will keep for a few days at room temperature if they’re well-sealed in a zippered storage bag.

You can store them for a week or so in the refrigerator, but they do tend to dry out in there.

You can freeze them for longer storage if you make sure to store them in freezer gallon bags. Make sure to remove all of the air before placing in the bag in the freezer.

More Sourdough Recipes:

• Sourdough Pie Crust
• Sourdough Pancakes Overnight Recipe
• Overnight Sourdough Waffles
• Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing
• Sourdough French Bread
• Soft Sourdough Dinner Rolls
• Sourdough Tortillas
• Sourdough Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
• Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread: No Yeast!

More Thanksgiving Recipes:

• Cranberry Sourdough Stuffing
• Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
• Chicken Wild Rice Stuffing Casserole
• Cranberry Clafoutis
• Green Bean Casserole from Scratch
• Baked Pumpkin Pie Pudding
• Homemade Cranberry Sauce
• Pioneer Woman’s Pumpkin Pie (my version)
• Simple Sage Dressing
• Fall Pear Pie

By the way, if you aren’t quite ready to start your sourdough journey, I did share a regular yeasted version of these pumpkin rolls on the Pioneer Woman’s blog last year. You can find the recipe here.