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Pumpkin Yeasted Rolls

In this recipe canned pumpkin puree stands in for the liquid, and there's a little bit of maple syrup for additional flavor without much sweetness. It's no more complicated than regular yeast rolls and is a great addition to a holiday table--or any other kind!

Course Bread
Cuisine American
Keyword bread, pumpkin, pumpkin yeast, rolls
Servings 12 12-15 rolls, dep. on size
Author Debi Simons

Ingredients

  • 4 1/2 cups flour, all-purpose, bread, or whole wheat (with ww being the best, of course)
  • 3 tablespoons gluten, optional but nice--will help with chewiness and rise. Leave out if you're using bread flour.
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt, or 2+ teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons yeast, either active or instant*
  • 1 15-oounce can plain pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup, the real thing, or honey, if you don't have the syrup--please don't use pancake syrup!
  • 1 egg, optional--adds nice flavor and texture--add extra flour if needed with this ingredient
  • 1/4 cup, 4 tablespoons, butter or oil, pref. roasted pumpkin seed oil**

Instructions

  1. The easiest way to make the dough is to dump everything into your bread machine and let it go through your "regular dough" cycle. Watch it until the dough has come together to see how wet/dry it is, adding extra flour or water as needed. Alternatively you can use a stand mixer with a dough hook, mixing until dough is soft and pliable, 8-10 minutes, or you can even use a food processor, running it for around 75 seconds. A good test to see if your dough is kneaded enough is to do what's called the "windowpane" test, in which you take a small chunk of dough and stretch it out to see if it will make a thin sheet. If it just pulls apart with no adhesion, you need to knead more. You could also knead this dough by hand. If you're the sort of pioneer-y person who does this you probably have a good idea of how long a batch of dough takes. If you're not using the machine you'll need to let the dough rise for about an hour.

  2. Divide the dough into 12-15 portions, depending on how big you want them to be. Make the smaller ones if you're doing dinner rolls, the larger ones for sandwiches. (Can you even begin to imagine how good these would be as used for a leftover turkey-and-cranberry-sauce sandwich?) Space rolls out on a baking sheet that's been sprayed with cooking spray, spray the tops, and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Let rise while you heat the oven to 3750. They don't need to rise all that long--maybe 20 minutes.

  3. Bake for 12-15 minutes, flipping the baking sheet around halfway through. Cool on a rack, pile in a breadbasket, and serve.

Recipe Notes

*These two types of yeast are interchangeable. I just use the cheap Red Star Active Dry Yeast from Costco and it works fine. Apparently you shouldn't use RapidRise yeast in recipes not developed specifically for its use. I've never tried it, so I don't know.

 

**No need to melt the butter as long as it's soft, as it will mix right in. I've had spectacular results using roasted pumpkin-seed oil for this recipe, but it's an expensive, special-order item that I had on hand for another use. Interestingly enough, oil gives better results than butter if you want a somewhat-crisp crust. I wouldn't use olive oil for this recipe, but any neutral-flavored oil will do.