The Best Sourdough Pumpkin Bread – Easy Sourdough Discard Recipe

Pumpkin Sourdough Bread

This sourdough pumpkin bread is an easy sourdough discard recipe that turns out a super moist and perfectly spiced loaf of pumpkin bread!. Its perfectly spiced pumpkin flavor is made even more delicious with the amazing flavor that sourdough imparts… And it tastes even better a day after it is baked! 

This is a super easy 1 bowl recipe that my whole family loves. (And I have some picky eaters!) Makes 2 loaves.

What is Sourdough Discard?

Sourdough discard is the excess sourdough starter that you have when maintaining a sourdough starter. It refers to the leftover sourdough starter that you need to use, or throw as part of the feeding process, before feeding your starter fresh flour again. You see, if you keep more sourdough starter on hand, you have to feed it more and more, and soon you have way more than you could possibly use or maintain.

What do you do with all the excess sourdough starter?

You can just discard it, or throw it away, by scraping it into the sink.

OR….

You can add that extra sourdough goodness to other recipes! Adding sourdough starter boosts nutrition and makes other recipes moister and tastier!

For example, pumpkin bread is good, BUT sourdough pumpkin bread is amazing!

Sourdough Pumpkin Bread Ingredients

This sourdough recipe calls for:

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup sourdough discard
• ONE cup avocado oil (or your favorite oil)
• 1 – 16 ounce can of pumpkin puree
• 3 cups of granulated sugar
• 3.5 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Stir in Options

• *Optional 1 cup Chocolate Chips (My kids LOVE this recipe without chocolate chips but they REALLY love it with them!)
• *Optional 1 cup chopped pecans! (I’m a nut lover and love to add chopped pecans!)

How To Make Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Discard Recipe

This is a super easy one-bowl recipe!

If your sourdough starter is in the refrigerator, then take it out and let it come up to room temperature for the best results.

In a large bowl combine 1 cup sourdough discard and 3.5 cups unbleached flour and 1/2 cup milk and 1 cup avocado oil. Then, Mix well.

If you want this to be more sourdough, then this is the point that you let the mixture set on the counter covered with a towel for about 4 hours so that the grain is soured.

Alternatively, you can just add all ingredients to the large mixing bowl and blend with a hand blender till everything is well incorporated.

Then generously butter two 8-inch loaf pans, making sure to get all the inner corners really well.

Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and move the oven rack to the center position.

Then place filled loaf pans into the preheated oven and set the timer for 50 minutes.

Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Pumpkin loaves are done when the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let bread cool for at least 10 minutes, and Enjoy! (It’s even better the next day!)

How To Store Leftover Sourdough Pumpkin Bread

This bread is even better the day after it’s baked! If you are lucky enough to have leftovers, You can keep them fresh in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to one week!

To Freeze: Wrap completely cooled pumpkin bread in plastic wrap and then put it into a zip lock bag. Remove excess air and seal. Freeze up to 2 months!

Tips

Mix baking soda into dry ingredients before adding to the bowl to ensure it is evenly distributed throughout the bread!

Use pumpkin puree instead of pumpkin pie filling – the pie filling has sugar and spices that will throw this recipe off.

Recipe Card

Try These Other Sourdough Discard Recipes:

Buttry Soft Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Fluffy Sourdough Pancakes

The Best Homemade Sourdough Apple Fritter Doughnuts

Easy Sourdough Bread for Beginners

WHY Sourdough Pumpkin Bread?

Sourdough has so many advantages! It’s cheaper than yeast, it’s healthier, it’s probiotic, it’s predigested gluten (for those sensitive) makes it easy to digest, and it’s better nutrition. Fermentation makes vitamins in sourdough bread more easily absorbed into our bodies!

I’m just another gal obsessed with my bubbly sourdough starter that I use in this delicious recipe. I use it in my kitchen almost every day for things like sourdough bread, easy sourdough pancakes, English muffins, waffles, buttery soft sourdough dinner rolls, and Sourdough Apple Fritter Doughnuts… And so much more!

I’m in love with the flavor that sourdough adds to recipes that you just can’t get any other way!

Plus, I get a real sense of satisfaction by cooking & baking with a sourdough starter that I made (and have maintained for a long time) with my own two hands. I love sharing it with friends and passing it down to my family!

I also love learning how to make fresh, high-quality, nourishing foods in my own home that you just can’t buy at restaurants or the grocery store!

My mom raised us on whole wheat breads… But over the past few years, whole grains have gotten a bad reputation!

That’s because of something called phytic acid. Have you heard of phytic acid?

Phytic acids are naturally occurring in grains, beans, and nuts to keep them from spoiling.

Unfortunately, the bad news is phytic acid is also an anti-nutrient (meaning it interferes with and prevents, the absorption of certain nutrients.)

There is a good reason phytic acids are there… But, there is also good reason to believe that our bodies just weren’t meant to handle them in their natural state!

In comes sourdough to the rescue! The good news is… Proper preparation of grains eliminates most of (if not all of) the phytic acid fermented with sourdough probiotics!

Did you know that traditional cultures thrived on grains and fermented them with sourdough?

The main difference between the way they used grains then and the way most people eat them today is “proper preparation”!

Back then, It was totally necessary to ferment grains for leavening (to get them to rise) into delicious bread.

Before yeast was commercially isolated and produced to be sold in little packets, sourdough starter was the leavening and a valuable commodity that was passed down for generations.

We’ve lost that art nowadays, (but it’s making a comeback!)

And, what has happened since then?

So many people can’t digest grains very well these days… Good thing for Sourdough!

You can learn more about my homemade sourdough starter, and how to make it here!

How to Serve Sourdough Pumpkin Bread

I love to serve this sourdough pumpkin bread sliced thick with butter melting into each piece! But it’s also delicious (maybe even better) the next day for breakfast with eggs or a big glass of milk!

This delicious bread makes an excellent snack, dessert, or breakfast dish! It’s also a great way to use up that extra pumpkin puree!

Why Some Sourdough is Different

San Francisco Sourdough…. The other thing he found was an unusually acid-tolerant yeast, Saccharomyces exiquus. It worked with the bacterium in a symbiotic relationship to produce the bread’s unusual flavor, crust, and texture. Comments the scientist: “It was a happy marriage between two noncompetitive bugs.”

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