Sourdough pumpkin bread recipe (no sugar added)

I created this recipe because I love pumpkin, but I also wanted a no-sugar-added pumpkin bread that had the benefits of naturally-leavened sourdough.

If you’re like me, you get frustrated with finding online recipes and then scrolling through a long post just to get to the recipe. I’m doing you a few favors today. One, I’m sharing the recipe first—then you can scroll to the backstory. Two, I’m giving you a bonus recipe. If you’re looking for a place to buy herbs and spices in bulk, check out Mountain Rose Herbs. (I make a small commission from purchases made through that link and some of the affiliate links in this post, at no cost to you. I share products that I know and use.)

Dig in.

Sourdough pumpkin bread with butter.

Sourdough pumpkin bread recipe

No sugar added. Sweetened with dates, applesauce, and vanilla extract. Makes 1 loaf pan or 1 9” skillet.

1 ¼ cups all purpose or bread flour
½ cup sourdough starter
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 egg
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ cup applesauce (Bonus recipe at the end of this post if you want to make your own.)
3 dates (chopped)
1/3 cup coconut oil (melted)
2 tsp vanilla extract (See my earlier post about how to make your own vanilla extract.)
Optional: Pecans, grass-fed butter, and honey

1. Reserve ¼ cup flour and set aside.

2. Mix 1 cup flour with the sourdough starter and pumpkin. Shape it into a ball. Let it rest in a glass bowl covered with a clean, damp towel for 6 hours or overnight. (A glass bowl is ideal. Any time you work with sourdough you want to avoid long exposures with reactive metals since it could affect fermentation.)

   

   The dough before it rests overnight.

3. Punch down the dough to form a well. Add the reserved ¼ cup flour, egg, salt, baking powder, and spices. Stir to combine.

4. Preheat oven to 325F. Add the coconut oil to your loaf pan or skillet and place in the warming oven to melt the oil. Remove from oven as soon as the oil is melted. Set aside on a trivet.

5. Add the applesauce to the dough (it behaves more like a batter by this point) and stir to combine.

6. Fold in the dates. If you’re adding nuts, this is the time to fold them in.

7. Rotate the loaf pan or skillet so that the melted oil coats all sides. Pour the remaining melted oil into the batter and stir to combine.

8. Add the vanilla extract and stir to combine.

9. Cover the bowl and let the batter rest for at least 20 minutes.

10. Pour the batter into the loaf pan or skillet and bake for 40-to-50 minutes.

11. Rest on the counter for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Although I prefer each slice with a little grass-fed butter, my favorite is having each slice with butter and a drizzle of honey.

Baked in a 9” cast iron skillet.

I whipped this up a few weeks ago and have baked it 3 times. Each time my husband finishes the entire loaf or pan after I have a few pieces. I may double the recipe and add a loaf to the freezer just to keep for myself. I’ve baked this in a cast iron loaf pan and a 9” cast iron skillet. I prefer the crispy edges the loaf pan creates, but it’s great either way.

I created this recipe because I love pumpkin, but I also wanted a no-sugar-added pumpkin bread that had the benefits of naturally-leavened sourdough. The inherent sweetness of applesauce helps to sweeten the bread and simultaneously adds fiber. Plus, vanilla helps bring together the naturally sweet pumpkin and apple.

Homegrown roasted pumpkin puree.

One of the benefits of baking and cooking with vanilla extract is that it offers a sweeter flavor without added sugar. More research shows the inflammatory and negative health impacts of added sugars. Although most people would reflexively think of diabetes when considering excess sugar, sugar is linked to many more diseases, cancers, and conditions. Sugar is more recently linked to contributing to cognitive decline and conditions like Alzheimer’s and dementia due to sugar serving as a fuel for amyloid plaque. Studies, such as one done by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers in the past few years, show potential connection between a certain sugar molecule and Alzheimer’s. When it comes to cancer, four researchers published “Understanding the Link Between Sugar and Cancer: An Examination of the Preclinical and Clinical Evidence” in Cancers in 2022. After reviewing research of different cancer types, they found studies show “unique risks associated with excess sugar consumption independent of other lifestyle factors” and “sugar intake as a risk factor for cancer.” (Reference Table 1 for breast cancer stage comparisons and Table 2 for colorectal cancer with respect to sugar intake.)

My most beautiful pumpkin of 2024 lived on in many dishes this month.

Pumpkins have naturally occurring sugars and they’re also packaged by Mother Nature with fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants (particularly beta-carotene, which our bodies convert to Vitamin A). Antioxidants in pumpkin are associated with reducing cancer risk. Pumpkins are generally connected to fall, however, after I started gardening several years ago, they’ve become the winter treat that keeps on giving. Yes, the pumpkins are harvested in fall, but my extra time indoors over the winter means they’re part of many recipes. Each time I roast a pumpkin it becomes part of at least one meal per day that week. Over the past week I’ve made a pumpkin-spice cold brew smoothie, gnocchi, pizza, fettuccini alfredo, tacos, pancakes, and I’m sure it snuck into a few other dishes.

I removed the seeds for the chickens to enjoy this time. Last time I roasted them for my own snacks.

Pumpkins are one of my favorite things to grow and eat. I love their vining wildness, their deepening skins as they near harvest, they look gorgeous on the countertop, they’re versatile in so many dishes, highly nutritious, and they taste so good. I could store the pumpkins in our basement, but I love how they look. They seem to “store” well on display on the kitchen counter. I routinely cook my last stored pumpkin some time each summer and haven’t experienced any rot issues. Since I usually cook last season’s final pumpkin over the summer, it means I’m watching the wild vines of the next season spreading through the garden. Pumpkins are a year-round delight. I’m probably-maybe-definitely-obviously dreaming of turning every open space on our property into a pumpkin patch.

My favorite pumpkins to grow:

• Winter Luxury Pie – Modest and sweet.

• Blue Hubbard – Gorgeous color.

• Long Island Cheese – Beautiful and a personal call-back to where I grew up.

• Seminole – Thrives in our climate and creates small-to-medium pumpkins that are easy for me to slice open.

• Violina Di Rugosa – Gorgeous inside and out. A little tough to slice open since it’s more of a butternut squash shape, but worth it.

As promised, I’m including a bonus recipe if you’d like to make your own apple sauce.

Homemade apple sauce is just apples and a little water with any spices you like.

Homemade unsweetened apple sauce recipe

Makes about a quart depending on the size of the apples.

6-to-8 apples, peeled, cored, and quartered (I prefer multiple varieties.)
¼ cup water
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp allspice berries
You can substitute powdered spices. If you do, reserve them until the apples have cooked down, then stir in before letting the sauce cool.

1. Add all ingredients to a shallow pan on medium heat. Cover.

2. As soon as the water bubbles, reduce heat to the lowest setting and rest the lid so that steam can escape.

3. Stir every 10 minutes.

4. Remove from heat after 30 minutes and let cool on the counter for 10-to-15 minutes.

5. Remove and compost the cinnamon stick and allspice berries.

6. Consume or use in baking right away, or store. To store: Add sauce to a storage container and let cool before storing in the fridge. Consume within 4-to-5 days, or freeze or can.