If you love autumnal baking as much as I do, this Sourdough Pumpkin Focaccia is a must-try. It's golden, soft, and infused with subtle pumpkin flavour, making it the perfect fall recipe to serve alongside soup and salads and even making focaccia sandwiches. This pumpkin sourdough focaccia is wonderfully airy, deeply dimpled, and a true celebration of the season's best flavours.
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Looking for a dessert sourdough focaccia? Try our Pumpkin Pie Sourdough Focaccia (With Pumpkin Pie Spice layer in the middle!).
For a soft crust Thanksgiving bake, try our Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls!
How Pumpkin Puree Affects Sourdough Focaccia?
Adding pumpkin purée to focaccia is more than just a way to bring in fall flavours. It impacts the dough at nearly every stage of the process:
- Hydration & Dough Handling: Pumpkin adds extra moisture, essentially creating a higher hydration dough. You'll notice a sticky dough forms at first, but with 2-3 sets of stretch and folds (or coil folds) the gluten strands begin to strengthen, and the dough becomes easier to manage.
- Bulk Fermentation: Pumpkin slightly speeds up fermentation thanks to its natural sugars. Keep an eye on visual cues like lots of bubbles and a slight wobble in the top of the dough - that's often more reliable than watching the clock.
- Crumb & Crust: The purée helps create a tender, moist interior with large air bubbles (thanks to pumpkin fibres), while also giving the crust a striking orange hue. Expect a more delicate bite than classic sourdough bread, with a slightly sweet, earthy finish.
Ingredient Notes
- Strong Bread Flour. Choose flour with at least 12% protein. Lower protein all-purpose flour may result in less structure and fewer air pockets.
- Pumpkin Purée. Both canned and homemade pumpkin puree work. Make sure it's smooth and not watery.
- Active Sourdough Starter. Use a mature starter that's bubbly, doubled, and has a slightly sour aroma.
- Water. Use slightly warm water to kickstart the bulk fermentation process if you're short on time.
- Honey. Adds a subtle sweetness. Maple syrup or brown sugar work well as substitutes.
- Olive Oil. A light-flavoured olive oil allows the pumpkin to shine. You can swap in a little melted butter for richness.
- Toppings. I love flaky sea salt and dried herbs.
As always, find ingredient quantities, detailed instructions and nutritional information in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Step-By-Step Method
Day 1
Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
1. In the morning, feed your starter and let it double. You'll need an active starter by the time you mix.
2. In a bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook, mix flour, salt, pumpkin purée, water, honey, and starter until a shaggy dough forms.
3. Drizzle in the oil and mix on medium speed until it begins to look smooth and elastic.
4. Transfer to a lightly oiled large bowl or an alternative suitable dish. Cover with a damp towel, plastic wrap, or even a shower cap. Over the next 3-4 hours, perform 2-3 sets of coil folds with wet hands to build strength.
First Rise & Cold Retardation
1. After the final coil fold, let the dough rise in a warm place until puffy for 1-3 hours.
2. Then refrigerate for 8-24 hours. This rest develops deeper flavours.
Day 2
Shaping and Proofing
1. The following morning, line a 24x24 cm high-rimmed baking dish with parchment paper, brushing with oil.
2. Gently move the dough into the baking tray, easing the sides of dough outward. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm spot for the second proof (1-2 hours) until you see large air bubbles on the surface and about a 25% rise.
Dimpling and Baking
1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the top of the focaccia dough. With oiled fingers, press deep dimples into the dough and all over the surface.
3. Sprinkle dried herbs and flaky salt.
4. Bake 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Tips For The Best Sourdough Focaccia
- We always recommend using a kitchen scale for accurate measurements.
- High Hydration: This is a higher hydration recipe, so expect stickiness. Don't add excess flour - coil folds give the dough a whole lot of extra strengthening, so don't be tempted to add extra flour.
- Push the Bulk Fermentation: Let the dough ferment until it's airy and bubbly (think, on the edge of overfermenting). A timid bulk ferment = flat focaccia.
- Tray Matters: Use a high-rimmed baking dish so your cover (whether a tea towel or plastic wrap) doesn't touch the dough during the second rise.
- Deep Dimples: Really press into the top of the dough - this helps prevent over-puffing and gives that classic bubbly look.
- Cooling: As tempting as it is, don't cut immediately. Letting your focaccia bread cool to room temperature helps the crumb set and keeps the focaccia from collapsing or tasting overly gummy.
Serving Suggestions
- Classic: Perfect bread to serve with soups, salads, or alongside roasted veggies.
- Creative: Slice and stuff with roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, and greens for a seasonal sandwich.
- Sweet: Skip the herbs when baking this bubbly focaccia and top with a drizzle of maple syrup or a swipe of cream cheese icing for a nod to pumpkin pie.
- Party Style: Cut into small squares, toast lightly, and serve with dips like whipped feta or hummus.
Storage
To store at room temperature, place it in a bread box wrapped in a clean kitchen towel, ot store it in an airtight container in your cupboard. This keeps it fresh for 1-2 days.
For longer storage, freeze the whole focaccia (well-wrapped in parchment and foil) or individual slices in an airtight container. Reheat on a wire rack in the oven until warmed through.
More Sourdough Focaccia Recipes
What are you going to make next? Try our simple Hot Honey Sourdough Focaccia or Sourdough Za'atar Focaccia, or go all out with our French Onion Sourdough Focaccia and Sourdough Almond Croissant Focaccia.
Pumpkin Sourdough Focaccia
Ingredients
- 225 g strong bread flour with at least 12% protein content
- 5 g salt
- 100 g water
- 100 g pumpkin puree
- 10 g honey
- 100 g active sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 20 ml olive oil + extra for drizzling
Topping:
- 1 teaspoon mixed dried herbs Herbs de Provence
- a pinch of flaky sea salt
Instructions
DAY 1
- First thing in the morning, feed your sourdough starter and leave it in a warm spot to at least double in volume. We typically feed our starter in a ratio of 1 part starter: 1 part water: 1 part flour, and it doubles (or even triples) within 4 hours.
Mixing The Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour and salt. Add water, pumpkin puree, honey and active sourdough starter. Mix the dough in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment for a few minutes on low speed until a rough dough forms.
- Drizzle the olive oil all over, and run the mixer again on medium speed until well incorporated. The oil will split into layers first, but the dough will come together within 5-8 minutes of mixing.
Coil Folds, Bulk Fermentation, Cold Proof
- Scoop the dough into a lightly oiled bowl (we like to use a heavy shallow dish - it helps with coil folds later). Cover the dough with a damp tea towel or cling film (plastic wrap) and leave it in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
- Over the next 3 hours, at 30-minute intervals, perform a set of coil folds, using wet hands.
- After all 6 sets of coil folds are completed, cover the dough and let it finish its bulk fermentation undisturbed for 1.5-3 hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
- Place the dough in the refrigerator for 8-24 hours (or simply overnight).
DAY 2:
- The next day, line an oiled baking tray (approx 24x24cm) with parchment paper. Brush a little oil on the parchment paper too - this will help stretch the dough out into shape.
Second Rise
- Take the dough out of the fridge and very carefully transfer it into the prepared baking tray, trying not to deflate it too much. Stretch it out into the corners of the baking dish.
- Cover it again and leave it in a warm spot to proof for another 1-2 hours. It will increase in volume, puff up and have very noticeable blisters across the surface.
Topping and Baking
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
- Drizzle a little olive oil over the top.
- Oil your fingers, and dimple the sourdough all over.
- Sprinkle the herbs and sea salt all over.
- Bake the focaccia for 18-20 minutes. Cool it for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
Video
Nutrition
Nisha says
The pumpkin sourdough focaccia bread turned out perfect it was soft and tasted great with the infused pumpkin flavors .We used it to make sandwiches and it went well along with tomato soup.
Ieva Greber says
Thank you for giving this recipe a go. So glad you found pumpkin focaccia versatile 🙂 I must try it with tomato soup- sounds great.
Agnieszka says
Great foccacia for the fall! Thanks for the recipe.
Nicole says
This sourdough pumpkin focaccia is amazing! Truly a great recipe for the fall.
Jet says
The idea of using this focaccia for seasonal sandwiches or serving it with soup is pure comfort. Thank you for sharing such a detailed and inspiring bake!
Ieva Greber says
Thank you so much, Jet. So glad you like the recipe 🙂