Mini Pumpkin Sourdough Brioche Buns
With Fresh Milled FlourSoft, golden fresh-milled sourdough brioche buns shaped like mini pumpkin! Made with fresh-milled flour and sourdough starter for rich flavor, tender crumb, and cozy fall feelings. The perfect fresh-milled brioche bread for breakfast, brunch, or your holiday table.
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Equipment
- stand mixer - (optional but highly recommended)
- kitchen twine - (for tying up buns into pumpkins)
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
- 60 g raw cane sugar - (¼ cup)
- 350 g fresh milled flour - (from ~1¾ cups whole soft wheat or spelt berries)
- 100 g sourdough starter, active and bubbly - (½ cup)
- 130 g pumpkin puree, homemade or canned - (½ cup)
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract - or vanilla sugar/vanilla bean paste
- 8 g salt
- 113 g butter, cold and cubed - (½ cup or 1 stick)
Egg Wash
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
Make Vanilla Sugar
- Split the vanilla bean pod lengthwise with a small, sharp knife and scrape out the tiny black seeds. Rub the vanilla seeds into the light brown sugar, until fragrant.
Mill Whole Grains
- Measure out whole wheat (or spelt) berries and grind them on the finest setting of your grain mill.
Mix and Rest Dough
- Meanwhile, combine sourdough starter, pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Add the fresh flour to the wet ingredients and use the paddle attachment to combine everything into a shaggy dough. Cover and rest for 30-60 minutes.
Enrich with Butter
- Cut fridge-cold butter into cubes. Switch to the dough hook attachment and knead the dough on the lowest setting for about 3 minutes. Once it starts coming together, add the butter, one cube at a time, every 30-ish seconds.
- Keep kneading until the dough is starting to pull away from the sides again. Gather the dough into a slightly tacky ball, cover the bowl and bulk rest for 8-14 hours.
Shape Mini Pumpkins
- When the dough is puffy and doubled in size, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle a little flour over the top of the dough in the bowl, and turn it out to your work surface. Divide into 12 equal pieces.
- Cut 3 to 4 pieces of kitchen twine and lay them crosswise on your counter. Shape a piece of dough into a smooth ball and lay it, seam side down, in the middle of the twine. Loosely tie the twine around the ball of dough and tie a knot at the top. Tie all loose ends together at the top and cut off any excess twine. Transfer to the lined baking sheet and repeat with the remaining 11 pieces of dough.
Proof
- Once all mini pumpkins are shaped and on the tray, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30-60 minutes, until slightly puffed and pressing gently against the twine.
Bake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (375°F). Brush mini pumpkin sourdough brioche rolls with egg wash and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
Cool and Decorate
- Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature. Cut the scraped vanilla bean into small segments and use them as little decorative stems for the pumpkin buns (optional but cute).
Notes
- Mini pumpkins are done baking when the outside turns golden brown and the inside reaches 88°C (190°F).
- Fermentation time will vary, depending on the activity of your starter and the temperature of your kitchen.
- Don’t tie the twine too tight around the buns. They need a little room to expand before and during baking.
- Mini pumpkin brioche buns are the softest after baking and cooling, so they’re best served on the same day.
- Store, well wrapped, at room temperature for up to 3-4 days.
Calories: 225kcal
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it turned out!