Pumpkin provides you with endless possibilities. There are literally hundreds of ways this gourd can be adapted to, from soups to lattes, from risottos to thanksgiving pies, and Cinderella’s preferred mode of transportation.
Often times in cooking, as pumpkins have a milder, earthy flavor, it often relies on stronger spices like cinnamon to bring out its character, or roasting them in the oven, to bring out its sweetness. But it is precisely this reason why I particularly love mixing pumpkins in bread making; its delicate, mildly sweet flavor balances perfectly with milk buns.
Pumpkins are not the most common of ingredients in Asian stores and restaurants. I don’t regularly use them in my cooking, but I absolutely adore them in my bread and cakes. I find its delicate flavor perfect for kids and the elderly. So the next time the household craves for some bread, hopefully you would give em’ pumpkin to think about.
Flavorful enough to eat it on its own, yet plain enough to eat it with a spread. The addition of mashed pumpkin jazzes up these buns with such a beautiful, au naturel sunshine yellow hue. It also leaves you with a velvety soft texture, a simple yet expressive twist on them regular milk buns.
The best part about home baking is you get to customize them exactly the way you like them! It doesn’t matter whether you shape them into buns or mini loaves, top them with pumpkin seeds or simply just brush the buns with a light coating of egg wash. Go ahead and get creative!
I once had this ingenious idea of shaping them into mini loaves and topped them with some grated mozzarella cheese. They were SO DIVINE!
This soft pumpkin bun recipe uses the cold milk method. I have to say it is AMAZING and definitely a keeper of a recipe. I’ve included two different sets of instructions for making these pumpkin buns – one for those using the bread machine and the other for Thermomix users. If you wish to use a stand mixer, please refer to notes at the bottom of the recipe.
Soft Pumpkin Buns
Ingredients
- 100 g mashed pumpkin
- 150 g milk chilled from fridge
- 20 g castor sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 350 g high protein bread flour
- 1 tsp yeast
- 20 g unsalted butter cubed & at room temp
- 1 egg beaten for egg wash (optional)
- rolled oats/pumpkin seeds/cheese for garnishing (optional)
Instructions
Method using Breadmaker
- Prepare pumpkin. Peel, core and cut pumpkin into cubes. Steam until soft (about 10 minutes), then mash up and set aside.
- Add all ingredients (except butter) into a breadmaker, first the wet ingredients (milk then mashed pumpkin), followed by the dry ingredients (sugar, salt, flour, yeast).
- Select the "dough" mode (refer to the menu of your breadmaker to select the dough kneading programme).
- When all ingredients come together, usually after 4-5 minutes, add in the butter, continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. The time of kneading in my breadmaker is 23 minutes.
- Let the dough complete the 1st round of proofing until double in size, about 50-60 minutes, best temperature for proofing is 28C, humidity 75%, until double in size.
- Punch and deflate dough, then remove dough from bowl and divide into 9 equal portions (approx 75g each). Let rest for 10 minutes. Then shape each portion into balls.
- Place in a greased/lined 8" square pan for its 2nd round of proofing, until double in size. This takes another 35-40 minutes depending on the weather. The best temperature for 2nd round proofing is 38C, humidity 85%. During last 15 minutes, preheat oven to 180°C.
- Brush whisked egg wash on the surface and garnish with rolled oats or pumpkin seeds. If you'd like to make the cheese version, this is when you'd cut a cross on the top of the buns after egg wash, and top with shredded mozzarella and a light sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes, or until top of bread is shiny and golden brown.
- Remove from oven, and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove bread from pan (handle with care as bread will be very soft) and transfer onto a wire rack to let cool completely.
- And now to the best part of it all, take a deep breath, enjoy the delicious aroma of your freshly baked buns and DIG IN!
Method using Thermomix
- Prepare pumpkin. Peel, core and cut pumpkin into cubes. To steam pumpkin, add 500g water into TM bowl, place pumpkin chunks into simmering basket and insert into TM water. Steam for 10 min/Varoma/Spd 3.
- When the TM temperature drops to 37°, remove simmering basket, and empty the TM bowl. Place steamed pumpkin into TM bowl and puree pumpkins 6secs/Spd6.
- Add milk, sugar, salt, flour and yeast then knead 4min.
- Add butter and knead 1min.
- Transfer dough to pastry mat, shape into ball let proof in a warm place covered loosely with clingwrap/damp towel until doubled in size (approx. 50-60 minutes).
- Punch and deflate dough, then remove dough from bowl and divide into 8 equal portions (approx 75g each). Let rest for 10 minutes. Then shape each portion into balls.
- Place in a greased/lined 8" square pan for its 2nd round of proofing, until double in size. This takes another 35-40 minutes depending on the weather. The best temperature for 2nd round proofing is 38C, humidity 85%. During last 15 minutes, preheat oven to 180°C.
- Brush whisked egg wash on the surface and garnish with rolled oats or pumpkin seeds. If you'd like to make the cheese version, this is when you'd cut a cross on the top of the buns after egg wash, and top with shredded mozzarella and a light sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes, or until top of bread is shiny and golden brown.
- Remove from oven, and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove bread from pan (handle with care as bread will be very soft) and transfer onto a wire rack to let cool completely.
- And now to the best part of it all, take a deep breath, enjoy the delicious aroma of your freshly baked buns and DIG IN!
Notes
Shaping into Loaf
If you prefer to make a sandwich loaf instead, this recipe can make 1 x 450g loaf using a 8x4x4″ bread tin pan. To do so, at step 6, you would divide dough into 3 equal portions instead and follow the dough shaping steps and baking duration from this recipe.
Few Things to Note
When it comes to bread making, there are many factors that will influence your dough and the end product. Recipes should be used as a guide, as you familiarize yourself with the process and dough.
For instance, your dough may require extra kneading time depending on the flour and its protein content. The method used to knead also needs to be taken into account as some machines work the dough quicker, whilst others may require a bit more kneading time.
Temperature and humidity plays a big part in how your dough rises. The amount of time required to proof your dough also varies depending on where you’re based at. For my second proofing, I usually heat up a cup of water in the microwave for 45 seconds, then proceed to leave my dough inside the microwave to rise for 25-30 minutes.
It’s also very important to try to get to know your oven, as every oven is different. My oven heats up quickly so when a recipe calls for 180°C, I sometimes drop it down to 160-170°C. Keep an eye out as the bread is baking. Adjust either the baking temperature or duration according to how your oven behaves.
Have you tried this recipe?
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Tried the pumpkin bread today. I’m a newbie in bread making. But it turned out soft and yummy. My family love it. Thank you Michelle for the recipe. It’s definitely a keeper.
I’m gonna bake it again once it’s gobbled up in a day or two.
Thank you for trying the recipe and for the positive feedback! So glad to hear that your family enjoyed it.
Love this recipe which is soft and bouncy!
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
Added cheese! It’s awesome! 👍
Yums!! I love it best with cheese.
Baked this pumpkin buns in loaf. Phew, finally out from the oven. Thank you for the recipe and the guidance.
Pleasure is mine! ☺️
Just made this yummy pumpkin bread today! It’s pillowy soft and taste so so good! Michelle, your recipes are just amazing. Thank you 🙂
Just made this yummy pumpkin bread today! It’s pillowy soft and taste so so good! Michelle, your recipes are just amazing. Thank you 🙂
So soft and fluffy.
Tried a few of Michelle’s bread recipes before and all turned out well.
Will definitely try the rest.
Thank you very much Michelle 💕
Hi, any suggestion of the high protein bread flour brand? Cause every time when i wanna make bread it turns out to be a failure
You can try Pan Syokunin if you’re looking for Japanese flour. So far I’ve tried many unbranded and branded bread flour in Malaysia, most seem ok. Depends on where you’re based too.
Hi, how long should I knead if I’d like to double the recipe? Thanks.
May I know which method are you using?
I’m using the Thermomix method.
Can try 5.5 – 6 mins kneading with TM!
Sure, thank you.
Tried the pumpkin buns recipe. It is really soft and my family and I love the buns. Thank you for the great recipe!
can you use canned pumpkin?
There shouldn’t be an issue with canned pumpkin.