Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough Bread
This pumpkin cinnamon swirl sourdough bread has a crisp golden crust, a soft pumpkin crumb, and a ribbon of brown sugar cinnamon running right through the middle. Cold proofed overnight so the swirl sets clean instead of melting into the bottom of your Dutch oven.
I have cut into a lot of swirl loaves that lied to me. Gorgeous on the outside, and then you slice in and the swirl is one sad brown smear that melted into the crumb somewhere around minute twelve.
This one holds. The swirl goes in cold, in two layers, at the shaping stage, and the loaf goes straight into the fridge after so the sugar has zero chance to turn into syrup before it hits the oven.
Pumpkin cinnamon swirl sourdough bread is a naturally leavened artisan loaf made with active sourdough starter, pumpkin puree, honey, and bread flour, with a brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice filling folded in during shaping. The pumpkin softens the crumb and turns it a deep gold, while the crust stays crisp and chewy the way a good sourdough loaf should.
It is the same base I use for my cinnamon raisin sourdough bread, swapped over to fall. If you have never baked a loaf with add-ins before, start with my original sourdough bread first so you know what the dough should feel like before pumpkin changes it on you.
Toasted, with salted butter, this is the whole reason I keep a starter alive through October.
Ingredients For Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough Bread
You will need the ingredients below (exact measurements, nutrition, and the full recipe are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post):
- Active sourdough starter — has to be bubbly and at peak, not discard. This loaf has no commercial yeast in it, so the starter is doing all the lifting.
- Warm water — dissolves the starter and honey before the flour goes in, which stops you from fighting lumps later.
- Honey — a small amount, enough to round out the pumpkin and deepen the crust color without turning the base dough sweet.
- Pumpkin puree — plain canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling. It brings both moisture and solids, so it behaves nothing like adding more water.
- Bread flour — at least 12% protein. The pumpkin softens this dough considerably and bread flour is what keeps it standing up.
- Salt — flavor, plus it tightens the gluten so a soft dough still holds its shape.
- Brown sugar — melts into the swirl and gives you that dark caramel ribbon instead of a dusty line.
- Ground cinnamon — the loud part of the filling.
- Pumpkin pie spice — cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Layered with the straight cinnamon it reads as fall instead of as a cinnamon roll.
- Cinnamon stick – for the stem
- Cotton baker’s twine – you need this string in order to achieve the pumpkin look. Do not use synthetic string as it will melt and potentially cause a fire.
How To Make Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough Bread
1. Feed Your Starter
Feed your starter 4 to 8 hours before you plan to mix, at a 1:2:2 ratio. Let it double. Drop a spoonful into water and if it floats, you are good.
2. Mix The Dough
Whisk the starter, warm water, and honey together in a large bowl until the water looks milky and the honey has disappeared. Add the pumpkin puree and stir it through. Add the bread flour and salt and mix with a dough whisk or wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms with no dry flour left.
3. Rest
Cover with a kitchen towel and rest for 1 hour. The flour finishes absorbing the liquid here, and the dough goes from sticky mess to something you can work with.
4. Stretch And Fold
Do 4 sets of stretch and folds, roughly 30 minutes apart. Grab one side with a damp hand, pull it up and over itself, turn the bowl a quarter turn, repeat all the way around. That is one set. The dough should feel stronger and stretchier every single set.
5. Bulk Ferment
Cover and leave at room temperature until the dough has risen 50 to 75%, looks domed on top, has bubbles around the sides, and jiggles when you shake the bowl. At 75°F this takes me around 5 hours. Watch the dough, not the clock.
6. Mix The Filling
Stir the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a small bowl until there are no clumps of spice sitting on top. Do this while the dough is still in the bowl so it is ready the second you turn the dough out.
7. Shape The Swirl Into A Boule
Lightly flour your counter and turn the dough out. Stretch it into a rectangle without tearing it. Sprinkle half the filling evenly across the middle third, leaving a clean border of bare dough around all four edges. Fold one long side over into the center, sprinkle the rest of the filling on top of that fold, then fold the other long side over the top.
Now round it instead of rolling it into a log. Tuck the short ends underneath, flip the whole thing seam side down, and cup your hands around the base. Drag it toward you a few inches at a time, turning as you go, until the top is smooth and tight. A round loaf is what makes the pumpkin shape work, so take the extra thirty seconds here.
8. Cold Proof
Place seam side up in a floured round banneton or a towel-lined bowl. Rest at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes, then refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours, covered. The dough needs to come out of the fridge cold and firm or the strings will cut straight into it.
9. Prep Your Strings
Cut 4 lengths of cotton baker’s twine, each about 40 inches long. It has to be food-grade cotton twine rated for oven heat, not craft string and not anything synthetic, because synthetic melts.
Drop the strings in a small bowl and drizzle olive oil over them. Work the oil through with your fingers until every inch is coated. Skip this and the twine bakes into the crust and takes the top of your loaf with it when you pull.
10. Wrap The Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough
Take the banneton out of the fridge and lay the strings across the top of it. Two go straight across in a cross, one vertical and one horizontal. The other two go diagonally to make an X between them. Spread out, that gives you 8 even sections, and it should look like a sliced pizza from above.
Lay a sheet of parchment paper over the strings, put a plate or a flat baking sheet on top of that, and flip the whole stack over in one motion. Lift the banneton off. Your dough is now sitting on parchment with the strings underneath it.
Slide the strings around until the 8 sections are even. Dust the top with rice flour and spread it gently with your hand, which helps the twine release later and makes the scoring stand out. Then take two opposite ends, bring them up over the top, and tie them in a loose knot near the center. Repeat with the other three pairs, keeping all four knots in the same small spot.
Loose is the whole game. The string should sit against the dough without denting it. Tie it tight and it will bake down into the loaf and you will not get it out cleanly. The pumpkin ridges deepen on their own as the loaf expands in the oven.
Snip the excess string just above the knots.
11. Score And Bake
Preheat your oven to 450°F with a Dutch oven inside for at least 30 minutes. Score a curved line into each of the 8 sections with a bread lame, following the line of the string. Lower the loaf into the Dutch oven on its parchment, strings and all.
Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncovered for 15 minutes until the crust is deep golden and the internal temperature hits 205°F.
12. Unwrap And Add The Stem
Snip the knots and pull the twine off while the loaf is still warm, because warm crust releases the string and cold crust grips it. Work the top strings out first, then tilt the loaf to get the ones underneath. If a piece is stuck, slide a knife tip under it and lift rather than yanking.
Cut a small X in the center of the top with your lame, then press a cinnamon stick into it for the stem. Cutting first stops the crust from cracking across your ridges.
13. Cool Completely
Cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before slicing. Cutting a swirl loaf warm drags the melted sugar through the crumb and makes the middle look gummy even when it baked through fine.
How To Get A Clean Swirl That Doesn’t Leak
This is where swirl loaves go wrong, and every fix below is about keeping sugar in the middle of the dough instead of on the outside of it.
- Leave a clean border. Keep the filling off the outer inch of the rectangle on all four sides. Sugar that touches the seam will find its way out and burn onto the bottom of the pot.
- Roll tight, then pinch. Slack coils leave gaps for melted sugar to pool in. Pinch the final seam closed with your fingers before you flip it into the banneton.
- Go straight into the fridge. Cold sugar stays granular. Sugar sitting on warm dough on your counter turns liquid, and liquid sugar tears the dough open during shaping.
- Line the pot. Parchment under the loaf catches whatever does escape, and it saves your Dutch oven from a caramel weld.
- Bake it a shade darker than you think. The sugar in the crumb reads as underdone. Pull it at 205°F internal, not by look alone.
If your dough feels slacker than your usual loaf, that is the pumpkin, and that is normal. Wet your hands instead of adding flour to the dough.
Storing And Freezing
Cut side down on a board with just the crust exposed, this keeps on the counter for 2 days under a tea towel. Once the inside is exposed to air the crumb dries out fast, so a bread box or a sealed bag is better past day one.
To bring the crust back, run the whole loaf quickly under water and bake at 400°F for 10 minutes.
For the freezer, slice the loaf first and stack the slices with parchment between them, then bag them. You can toast them straight from frozen. A whole loaf freezes for up to 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use all purpose flour instead of bread flour? You can, but reduce the water by about 25 grams. All purpose absorbs less liquid than bread flour, and this dough is already soft from the pumpkin.
Can I use sourdough discard instead of active starter? No. Discard has no lifting power left in it and this loaf has no other leavening. If discard is what you have, use it for sourdough discard crackers instead.
Can I use homemade pumpkin puree? Yes, but roast the pumpkin rather than boiling it and let the puree sit in a fine sieve first. Homemade runs wetter than canned, and this dough does not have room for extra water.
Why is my loaf gummy in the middle? Two usual causes. It was underproofed, meaning bulk fermentation got cut short. Or you sliced it warm. Give it the full 2 hours on the rack before the knife goes anywhere near it.
Can I bake this in a loaf pan? Yes. Cold proof in an oval banneton, tip it into a greased loaf pan, and set a second loaf pan upside down on top for the first 30 minutes to trap the steam.
Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
Dough
- 110 g active sourdough starter
- 240 g warm water
- 25 g honey
- 200 g pumpkin puree
- 500 g bread flour
- 10 g salt
Cinnamon Swirl
- 85 g brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cinnamon stick for the stem (optional)
- cotton baker's twine the string for creating the pumpkin aesthetic
Instructions
- Feed your starter (4 to 8 hours before mixing) — Feed at a 1:2:2 ratio and let it double. Drop a spoonful in water, and if it floats it is ready.
- Mix the dough — Whisk the starter, warm water, and honey together until milky. Stir in the pumpkin puree. Add the bread flour and salt and mix with a dough whisk or wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms with no dry flour left.
- Rest & Hydrate – Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 1 hour—this allows the flour to absorb the water, making the dough easier to handle.
- Stretch and fold — Perform 4 sets of stretch and folds about 30 minutes apart. Use a damp hand, pull one side up and over, rotate the bowl a quarter turn, and repeat all the way around.
- Bulk ferment — Cover and leave at room temperature until the dough has risen 50 to 75%, is domed and bubbly at the sides, and feels jiggly. At 75°F this takes around 5 hours.
- Mix the filling — Stir the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together until evenly combined.
- Shape and add the swirl — Turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter and stretch into a rectangle. Sprinkle half the filling down the middle third, leaving a clean border on all sides. Fold one long side into the center, sprinkle the remaining filling on top, then fold the other long side over. Roll up tightly from one short end and pinch the seam closed. Build tension by cupping and pulling the loaf toward you a few times.
- Cold proof — Place seam side up in a floured banneton. Rest at room temperature 30 to 60 minutes, then refrigerate 12 to 24 hours, covered.
- Cut 4 lengths of cotton baker's twine, each about 40 inches long. It has to be food-grade cotton twine rated for oven heat, not craft string and not anything synthetic, because synthetic melts. Drop the strings in a small bowl and drizzle olive oil over them. Work the oil through with your fingers until every inch is coated. Skip this and the twine bakes into the crust and takes the top of your loaf with it when you pull.
- Take the banneton out of the fridge and lay the strings across the top of it. Two go straight across in a cross, one vertical and one horizontal. The other two go diagonally to make an X between them. Spread out, that gives you 8 even sections, and it should look like a sliced pizza from above.Lay a sheet of parchment paper over the strings, put a plate or a flat baking sheet on top of that, and flip the whole stack over in one motion. Lift the banneton off. Your dough is now sitting on parchment with the strings underneath it.Slide the strings around until the 8 sections are even. Dust the top with rice flour and spread it gently with your hand, which helps the twine release later and makes the scoring stand out. Then take two opposite ends, bring them up over the top, and tie them in a loose knot near the center. Repeat with the other three pairs, keeping all four knots in the same small spot.Loose is the whole game. The string should sit against the dough without denting it. Tie it tight and it will bake down into the loaf and you will not get it out cleanly. The pumpkin ridges deepen on their own as the loaf expands in the oven.Snip the excess string just above the knots.
- Preheat your oven to 450°F with a Dutch oven inside for at least 30 minutes. Score into each of the 8 sections with a bread lame, following the line of the string. Lower the loaf into the Dutch oven on its parchment, strings and all.Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncovered for 15 minutes until the crust is deep golden and the internal temperature hits 205°F.
- Snip the knots and pull the twine off while the loaf is still warm, because warm crust releases the string and cold crust grips it. Work the top strings out first, then tilt the loaf to get the ones underneath. If a piece is stuck, slide a knife tip under it and lift rather than yanking.Cut a small X in the center of the top with your lame, then press a cinnamon stick into it for the stem. Cutting first stops the crust from cracking across your ridges.
- Cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before slicing. Cutting a swirl loaf warm drags the melted sugar through the crumb and makes the middle look gummy even when it baked through fine.
Notes
- Use cotton baker’s twine rated for oven heat. Synthetic string melts.
- Tie the strings loosely. Twine tied tight bakes into the loaf and tears the crust when you pull it out.
- Remove the twine while the loaf is warm. It grips once the crust cools.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided is calculated based on industry-standard software and should be used as a general guide only. The information may vary depending on ingredient substitutions, cooking techniques, and individual serving sizes. It is the responsibility of the reader to ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of the nutritional information provided. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalized medical or nutritional advice.
More Sourdough Recipes You’ll Love
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- Pepperoni Pizza Sourdough Loaf
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If you make this pumpkin cinnamon swirl sourdough bread, I’d love to see it. Leave a star rating and comment below, share a photo on Instagram and tag @basicswithbails, or pin it on Pinterest for later. And if you film yourself making it on TikTok or Reels, tag me, I’ll be hyping you in the comments.
About Bailey
I love to bake, cook, exercise, and document all of the above. Nutrition is not low fat. It is not low calorie. It’s not feeling deprived or being hungry all the time. It’s nourishing your body with real, whole foods so that you are consistently satisfied and energized to live your life to the fullest! Read more…
