Ingredients
Method
Step 1: Feed Your Starter the Night Before
- Feed your starter: 25 g starter, 75 g water, and 75 g flour. That gives you a generous amount of starter to work with by the next morning, with extra left over to go back in the fridge for next time.
Step 2: Mix the Dough
- The next morning, place the water, pumpkin, active starter, maple syrup, bread flour, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix on medium speed for 5–7 minutes, until everything comes together into a firm, cohesive dough.With the mixer still running, add the softened butter one tablespoon at a time, waiting for each piece to fully disappear into the dough before adding the next. From the start of mixing to the last bit of butter going in, plan on this taking roughly 15–20 minutes total.You’ll know the dough is ready when it’s smooth, glossy, and pulling cleanly off the sides of the bowl to wrap around the hook, rather than sitting in a sticky puddle at the bottom.
Step 3: Bulk Rise
- Transfer the dough into a measuring bowl — and pat it down into an even layer. Mark or note where the top of the dough sits right now; you’ll use this as your reference point for tracking the rise.Check the dough’s internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer. If it’s reading above 85°F, pop it in the fridge for about an hour to bring it back down before moving on to stretch and folds.
Step 4: Stretch and Fold
- Perform two sets of stretch and folds, spaced about 40 minutes apart. After the second set, let the dough continue rising at room temperature until it has increased in volume by roughly 50%.
Step 5: Cold Ferment
- Once the dough has risen by about 50%, cover the container and move it to the fridge for a cold ferment of 8 to 24 hours. If you’re short on time and want to skip the cold ferment entirely, that’s completely fine — once the dough hits that 50% rise, go ahead and move straight to shaping.
Step 6: Shape
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Flatten it into a rectangle — a rolling pin makes quick work of this — oriented so the long side runs left to right in front of you. Spray the surface with some water lightly so the seasoning sticks better and the layers don’t separate during baking.Sprinkle a layer of pumpkin spice and raisins evenly over the surface. Fold the left and right edges in toward the center so the resulting width matches the length of your loaf pan, spray with water, then sprinkle another layer of pumpkin spice and raisins over the top. Roll the dough up snugly from the bottom edge, keeping even tension as you go.Place the shaped dough seam-side down into a lined and lightly greased 9×4-inch loaf pan.
Step 7: Final Proof
- Cover the pan and let the dough proof at room temperature until it has doubled in size.
Step 8: Score and Preheat the oven
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Score the top of the loaf with a few deep slashes, about ½ inch deep.
Step 9: Bake
- Bake for 40–45 minutes, until the internal temperature reads between 198°F and 205°F on a probe or instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf.
Step 10: Cool and Slice
- As soon as the loaf comes out of the oven, lift it from the pan using your parchment handles and brush the top generously with butter.Remove the parchment and cool the loaf completely on a wire rack before slicing.
Notes
Same-Day Hybrid Option: Discard + Instant Yeast
Swap the 125 g active starter at peak for sourdough discard. Add 1/2 tsp instant yeast directly into the flour when you mix the dough in Step 2, then skip Step 1 entirely as well as cold fermentation. If you don’t have 125g of discard, you can use as little as 50g plus 1 tsp instant yeast to make this work.
Pro Tip: This hybrid version won’t develop quite the same depth of tang you’d get from an overnight active-starter rise, but you still get real discard flavor plus a fast, reliable rise from the yeast. It’s the version I reach for on a weekend morning when I want warm bread by lunch, not by suppertime.