Pumpkin Shaped Sourdough

Day One

9:00 AM — Feed your starter at a 1:2:2 ratio and keep at approximately 73°F.

6:00 PM — Once your starter has peaked, it’s time to mix the dough. Start by dissolving natural food coloring into 1640 grams of water in a large bowl. Next, add 320 grams of starter and mix until the starter is mostly dissolved.

6:05 PM — Add 2400 grams of bread flour and mix for 10 minutes. Cover and allow the dough to rest.

7:00 PM — Add 48 grams of salt and 60 grams of reserved water. Work into the dough until fully incorporated.

7:30–9:30 PM — Perform coil folds approximately every 30 minutes, as needed. Continue until the dough develops strength and retains its shape between folds.

Overnight — Allow the dough to continue bulk fermenting at 60–65°F. I place mine in our cold basement overnight. Remember, the warmer the dough, the faster it will ferment. You can adjust timing to fit your schedule.

Day Two

8:00 AM — Check the dough for signs that bulk fermentation is complete. It should be jiggly and domed with bubbles throughout, feel tacky without sticking heavily to your hand, and begin pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough onto a clean work surface and divide into desired loaf sizes. I made 3 300g loaves, 3 900g loaves and 1 700g loaf for a variety of pumpkin sizes!

8:05 AM — Preshape each piece of dough. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest.

8:30 AM — Final shape each loaf and place into floured bannetons. I used a cereal bowl lined with a tea towel for the smaller loaves. Stitch the dough closed, cover, and refrigerate for the final cold proof.

3:00 PM — Preheat oven, bread oven (if applicable) and baking steel to 450°F.

4:00 PM — Place the covered loaves in the freezer for 30 minutes to make scoring easier. Coat kitchen twine with olive oil and set aside.

4:30 PM — Remove the loaves from the freezer. Remove the bowl covers. Lay four long pieces of food-safe kitchen twine coated in oil to prevent sticking across each loaf in a crisscross pattern to create eight sections. Carefully flip each loaf onto parchment paper, bring the twine up around the dough, and tie loosely at the top to allow room for expansion. Score between the sections and heavily mist each loaf with water. Alternatively, you can also dust loaves with dark cocoa powder, gently rub it in the dough and then continue with the kitchen twine.

4:40 PM — Bake on a preheated baking steel with a baking shell for 25 minutes or a preheated bread/Dutch oven. Remove the shell or lid and bake uncovered for another 10–15 minutes, until deeply caramelized. The internal temperature of the bread should reach approximately 205°F.

5:15–5:20 PM — Remove from the oven, carefully remove the kitchen twine, add a cinnamon stick if desired and finally, allow the loaves to cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Notes

As with all sourdough recipes and methods, use this as a guide, not a strict timeline. Starter peak times and bulk fermentation times will vary based on your environment, temperature, location and other factors. Learning to read your dough rather than relying solely on the clock will help you bake beautiful bread throughout your sourdough journey!