Hello fall, hello Halloween. These buns are definitely a treat!
I don’t know what’s the best bit about these buns, making or eating them. The whole process is such fun, on your own or with a few enthusiastic little bakers perhaps.
For this recipe we use pumpkin puree. In Holland we do not really have the easy option of canned pumpkin puree, but pumpkins can be bought in most shops or maybe you can even harvest your own pumpkin crop. The puree is easily made, and homemade will still be best.
We cook the pieces of the famous orange pumpkin with the thick skin still on, in water with bit of salt, like you would potatoes. We cook them until soft, drain them, leave them in the pan without the lid to cool and blend them into a smooth puree with our stick blender.
Adding the pumpkin puree to the recipe also adds the small challenge of how much extra water to add to get the right dough consistency. The pumpkin contains water of its own and you need to take this into account. The amount of water given in this recipe is a good starting point. We suggest to add some of it and see how the dough comes together, then add more if needed. You may need a few runs to get it right, but with this recipe I do not consider this a punishment.
We love the taste of aniseed in the dough, but the pumpkin spice option would be the classic choice of course. Just decide for yourself which spices to add. The salted maple butter is the easiest thing in the world to make and it’s a perfect match with the buns.
Happy Halloween baking!
Ingredients for the pumpkin buns
makes 12 buns
500 g bread flour
10 g instant yeast or 30 g fresh yeast
8 g salt
70 g lukewarm water
200 g pumpkin puree (room temperature)
1 egg (medium)
50 g honey
50 g butter, softened
1 tsp ground aniseed or pumpkin spice*
water and raw cane sugar to coat the buns (or coat with egg wash)
12 pecan pieces to be used as stalks on your pumpkins after baking
Tip: If you do not have any pumpkin puree or time to cook your own, but still want to make the buns, make the recipe without it but with the addition of extra water or milk. Without the puree the total amount of water for this recipe is about 225 g.
Tip*: To make your own pumpkin spice for all sorts of seasonal recipes mix together the ground version of these spices: 4 tsps of cinnamon, 2 tsps of ginger, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp cloves and 1 tsp allspice (piment). Use one teaspoon of this mixture in the above recipe or try the aniseed version.
Ingredients for the salted maple butter
100 g salted butter (we use 0.6% salted)
35 g maple syrup
Making the salted maple butter
Add the maple syrup to softened butter and beat or stir into a smooth consistency. Mold the butter into a sausage shape, tightly wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge to firm up.
Tip: For a sweeter treat make sweet maple frosting / buttercream by mixing 70 g of soft butter with 40 g of maple syrup and beat. Add 225 g of icing sugar and beat until fluffy. Serve with the buns.
Making the pumpkin buns
- First make sure the ingredients are at warm room temperature, including the pumpkin puree. The added water can be lukewarm (35°C / 95°F). Put all the ingredients in the mixing bowl of your standing mixer, except for the water and the softened butter. Now add 3/4 of the water and see how the dough comes together. Judge how wet the dough is and if it needs all of the water or maybe even a bit more. Keep in mind you will also be adding the butter at the second stage of kneading. First knead the dough for 5 minutes. Now add the softened butter in 3 stages and knead for 3 more minutes. You should aim for a slightly sticky and silky smooth dough. When you touch it with your finger it should stick to the dough for just a second, like it would to a post-it note. Kneading the dough by hand should take around 15 minutes.
- Shape the dough into a ball, put it in a greased bowl, cover and leave to rest for 60 minutes in a warm place (around 24°C / 75°F is perfect).
- Take the dough out of the bowl. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces (slightly under 80 grams each) and shape them into balls. Cover with floured clingfilm and leave to rest on your bench for 15 minutes.
- With a knife or dough cutter make eight cuts, but leave the center uncut, dividing the bun into eight segments. Make a hole in the center with your index finger, all the way down to the bottom, so it will not disappear during proofing and baking.
- Place the buns on a baking tray. Brush each bun with water and sprinkle with the cane sugar*.
- Cover and leave to proof for at least 90 minutes in a warm place. Check if the buns are ready for the oven. If not give them an extra 15 minutes and check again. It takes as long as it takes, just make sure they are truly ready for the oven, do not rush it.
- Bake at 180°C / 355°F for around 15 minutes until beautiful orange-golden. If you think the buns have the right color, you can temper your oven to 150°C / 300°F after 8 to 10 minutes, so they will not get too dark.
- Take the buns out of the oven, let them cool slightly before adding the pecan segments. Serve with slices salted maple butter.
Tip*: You can add 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin spice to 30 grams of raw can sugar and use this to coat the buns.
Alex says
I made these the other day because I had a bunch of pumpkin purée to get through. I actually ended up halving the yeast, doing the first rise for about two hours, and then shaping and placing the buns in the fridge to sit overnight. The next morning I took them out of the fridge and let them sit on the counter for an hour before baking as directed. They turned out really well! Not as sweet as I thought they would be, but I enjoyed snacking on them as they were. I didn’t make the maple butter as I had no maple syrup on me, but I’m willing to try in the future!
I agree that making them is half the fun, though my pumpkin shapes were not great (I did not cut the slits evenly). But that only means I’ll have to try again 🙂
Tere Van Diest says
Oh yum, don’t these look and sound good.
Weekend Bakers says
Hope you will be able to make them Tere, they are so delicious and it’s the perfect time to give them a try!
JO says
i WANT TO MAKE THESE,BUT I DONOT KNOW THE METRIC SYSTEM. CAN YOU PUT INTO OUNCES AND CUPS.
Weekend Bakers says
Hello,
We do have very quick and handy conversion tools for you:
www.weekendbakery.com/cooki…nversions/
The pumpkin puree conversion would be 7/8 of a cup…
If you convert the butter and honey, you get so much cups, so much spoons so much teaspoons and half teaspoons and 0.48 quarter teaspoons. So it would be best if you take a look and decide how you want to convert this, based on your experience.
Note: We understand you are used to cups and spoons but we very much recommend weighing your ingredients. Professional bakers use scales (also in the US) and in Europe home bakers do so all the time. A scale will give you the exact same weight every time. Which is absolutely needed if you consistently want to make good bread and especially good pastry. You can get a scale for the same price as a few sacks of good flour and less than a lot of baking tools you already own, so if at all possible, get one!
Thomas Vroom says
These were truly fun to make. I’ve so much pumpkin right now I’m using it up with baked goods as well as soup. The autumn muffins with pumpkin are also delicious with a great texture.
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you Thomas, for trying and liking the buns. Great idea adding the pumpkin to the autumn muffins. Thanks for the inspiration. We have yest another recipe lined up (hopefully finished this weekend) for fluffy overnight pumpkin buns. Simple yet delicious!
Enjoy your seasonal baking!
Shelley says
What a wonderful recipe! My pumpkin buns just came out of the oven and they are absolutely delicious! Can’t wait to make these all fall long.
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you Shelley, it doesn’t get more fall-baking-feeling than this. Making them this weekend too!
Zanzoona says
OMG 🐱🐱🐱 very beautiful, it’s so nice to have a NEW LOOK on your screen 😍😍😊😊.. Wish you always best of the best 🌸 🌷 💐 💐 🌹🌹🌹🌺🌺🌺
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you Zanzoona for your flowers and smiles. This recipe is so much fun to make and the perfect season for it has just begun over here. Lots of wind and rain and dropping temperatures. Autumn is here!
Enjoy your baking 🙂
Zanzoona says
Yes indeed darling 😄, temperature is also dropped over here in Syria, rain season began since last month 💦💦☔☔☔☁☁👢👢👢..HAPPY HALLOWEEN DEAR FRIEND 👽👿😈👹👺👺👺🎃🎃👻👻🎈🎊🎉🎆🎇💝💝💝😘😘😘
Zanzoona says
OMG this is absolutely AMAZING 😍. I’m telling you guys: YOU ARE NO.1 IN THE WORLD IN MAKING DESSERT 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏. Taste is beyond any expectations, I tried it this morning but without any salt, it was amazing with cinnamon and cardamom!! Adding butter in 3 batches remind me of broiche
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Zanzoona,
Great to read your enthusiastic comment for this recipe too. We have never tried it without salt but very good to know the result is still great. We also love the addition of cardamom, cinnamon and also aniseed to (sweet) bread. The feel of the dough, the wonderful smells, it is a joy to bake for us too.
Thank you again for liking our recipes so much.
Enjoy your baking this New Year!
Zanzoona says
HAPPY NEW YEEEEEEEAR 🎇 🎄 🎊 🎄 🎉 🎄 🎁 🎆 🎇 🎊 🎉 🎆 🎇 🎉 🎆 🎇 🎉 🎆 🎇 😘😘😘😘😘😘🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🎈🎈🎈🎌💝💝💝💝
Bas van Gestel says
Hi Ed & Marieke,
I made these yesterday and they turned out great. I thought I had aniseed, but I did not, so I used Chinese 5 spice (cinnamon, sechuan, star anise, fennel, cloves).
Was kneeding by hand and found out I forgot the egg when adding the butter. Managed to kneed it in, but was a mess ;-).
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Bas,
And all was well in the end, very good to hear! The 5 spice is a very good alternative too, gives it a bit of oomph with the sechuan pepper.
Glad you liked the recipe.
Enjoy the baking and sharing these coming months. ‘Tis the season to be baking!
Jacqueline says
I made these a couple day’s ago and they are FANTASTIC!!!
Love them with the Maple butter also, which I actually melted some of it and brushed it on top of the rolls after baking to give them a bit of a shine. This is a keeper for sure!!
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you so very much Jacqueline, we love what you did with the butter too!
Greetings from Holland and happy baking!
Slfujita says
They came out beautifully! Thanks for the great recipe.
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you for giving it a try.
Happy Holiday baking!
AudreyWD says
Pumpkim bun recipe is perfect for upcoming Halloween. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us. Something different to try out. My kids will surely going to love this to have. www.loveandquiches.com/