No products in the cart.
Easy bread recipes are the best
Bread is by far one of my favorite things to bake. It’s a slow process, that’s for sure, but I like how you can see the real science of baking in bread. Once you understand how yeast and gluten work to create structure and rise in bread, you can master the timings and temperatures to get the perfect loaf. At the same time, though, it’s a very versatile thing to bake, because you can add different ingredients and end up with a different result. For example, sourdough, brioche, and croissants are all breads to some degree, but have completely different tastes and textures!
While I love to bake all types of bread, and they all have their time and place, there’s nothing like an easy bread recipe. These tend to be our most popular on the blog, because they’re more accessible by taking less time and using less equipment than more complex breads. Our landbrød (country loaf) recipe is a great example of this, as it doesn’t require any kneading, but instead uses stretch-and-folds to build structure in the dough. If you’re interested, we’ve linked some more bread recipes later on in this post.
Pumpkin shaped bread rolls – perfect for Thanksgiving!
Now these rolls, at first glance, might not seem that easy to make. However, I promise you that the most difficult part is getting that pumpkin shape right! The rest is a breeze. And it’s absolutely worth it when you see the final product. These pumpkin bread rolls turn out super cute for fall, especially for Thanksgiving. You could always make these to serve alongside Thanksgiving dinner, as they make a lovely centerpiece for the table. Plus, they’re also so delicious! They have a great crust and a lovely, soft, and fluffy interior, and they’re made with just yeast, water, flour, sugar, and salt.
The key ingredient: butcher’s twine!
You may be wondering: How do you get the pumpkin shape? Well, it’s all thanks to butcher’s twine. We like the look of 6 segments on each little pumpkin, so we cut 3 pieces of twine for each roll. Then, make sure to soak them in some oil ahead of time. The only thing that happens if you forget this step is that the rolls could get a bit of fuzz on them from the string – not a big deal, but the additional step just makes the string super easy to get off! Each string gets wrapped around the roll to create the segments and then tied together at the top. Make sure to leave some space for each roll to rise in the oven; otherwise, you may not get the defined pumpkin shape.
Ingredients you’ll need
As I already mentioned, this is a very simple bread recipe, so you’ll need: instant yeast, water, sugar, salt, whole wheat flour, and all-purpose or bread flour. If you can’t get instant yeast, active dry is fine, and fresh yeast will work too. We like the whole wheat flour in this to give it a deeper and nuttier taste, but you could replace that with other flours, like rye or spelt, or you could just use more all-purpose/plain flour. Note that this bread has no butter, milk, or eggs in it, so it won’t be soft in the same way that brioche dinner rolls are. It has a crisp and flavorful crust on it, and is nice and fluffy on the inside.
How to make our pumpkin shaped bread rolls
To make these pumpkin bread rolls, mix the ingredients together until a shaggy dough forms. Let this rise for 30 minutes, then complete your first set of stretch-and-folds before letting it rise for another 30 minutes. Complete another set of stretch-and-folds, and now leave the dough for 15 minutes. In those 15 minutes, cut 3 12-inch pieces of twine per roll, and soak them in some neutral oil. Flour a surface and empty the dough out onto it, cutting the dough into 12 pieces. Shape into rolls.
For each roll, lay out 3 pieces of twine so that they cross over each other and create 6 segments, then place the roll on top and tie the twine together around the roll. Trim any long ends. Let them rise again briefly while you preheat the oven (with a tray at the bottom) and boil some water in a kettle or on the stove. Score the rolls with scissors and put them in the oven, pouring boiling water into the preheated tray. Bake for about 15 minutes or until nicely golden brown and hollow-sounding when you tap them. Enjoy!
Other bread recipes to try in the fall and winter
If you’re interested in trying out some of our other cozy roll recipes, check these out:
- Æbleboller (Apple Bread Rolls)
- Gulerodsboller (Carrot Bread Rolls)
- Havregrødsboller (Oatmeal Rolls)
- Hyggeboller (Ham and Cheese Rolls)
- Rundstykker (Danish Breakfast Rolls)
- Chokoladeboller (Chocolate Rolls)
Pumpkin Shaped Bread Rolls
Crusty and fluffy rolls that are shaped like little pumpkins – perfect for Thanksgiving or any autumn occasion!
Ingredients
- 2 tsp instant yeast (2.25 tsp active dry yeast, 17.5g fresh yeast)
- 500 ml warm water
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 100 g whole wheat flour
- 500 g all-purpose or bread flour
Instructions
- Combine the yeast and the warm water in a large bowl. If using active dry or fresh yeast, add the sugar as well, then let the mixture sit for a bit (5-10 mins) until it starts to bubble up, then move on to step 2. If using instant yeast, you can move on to the next step without waiting.
- Add the sugar (unless you already added it to the active dry/fresh yeast), salt, whole wheat flour, and bread (or all-purpose) flour to the water and yeast mixture.
- Stir until you have a scraggly dough and have saturated most of the dry spots. If the dough is feeling wet at this point (if it saturated the flour quickly and is very sticky), be sure to add a few more tablespoons of flour! Alternatively, if the dough is very dry, add a tiny bit more water!
- Once the dough is ready, cover the bowl and let this rise somewhere warm for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, complete your first stretch-and-fold. Instead of kneading this bread, you are just going to do what is called a stretch-and-fold. Basically, with slightly damp hands (just run them under water briefly), you will pull up the dough by placing your hands under the left and right sides of the dough and stretching it up and out along the edge of the bowl farthest from you.
- Then, fold the dough over itself towards you, pressing it down towards the edge of the bowl closest to you. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees (either way), and repeat three more times, rotating each time (for a total of four folds). See this great blog post from The Clever Carrot for more help with this technique! Once you have completed this first set of stretching and folding, let the dough rise again (covered) for another 30 minutes.
- After the second 30 minutes, complete the second stretch and fold by repeating the same steps above. Let the dough rise again (covered) for 15 more minutes.
- While the dough rises, prepare the twine. Cut 3 12-inch pieces per roll (36 total), and soak them in some neutral oil.
- Now you are going to shape the rolls. Sprinkle some flour onto a countertop or work surface and tip out your dough onto the surface.
- Divide it into 12 equal pieces. You can use a scale to weigh the entire dough and then weigh each piece to get very even rolls, or you can just estimate.
- Lay out 3 pieces of twine so that they cross over each other and create 6 segments. Take a ball of dough and pull the sides into the middle gently, pinching them together. I like to pinch this seam together two to three times just to make sure I'm creating enough tension on the surface of the dough.
- Flip the roll over so the seam is facing down and place it on top of the arranged twine. Tie the 3 pieces of twine around the roll loosely, so that it holds its shape as a pumpkin, but the dough isn't constricted by the string (it will rise more and will expand in the oven too). Place this on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Repeat this with the other 11 pieces of dough. Cover with a towel or cling film and let them rise briefly while your oven preheats.
- Preheat your oven to 420 F (215 C) and place a metal or cast iron pan/tray on the bottom rack of the oven to heat up and start boiling some water (1-2 cups) in a kettle or on the stove.
- Once your oven is preheated, dust the tops of the rolls with some extra flour, using your hands to spread it evenly on the surface of the dough.
- Score each segment vertically with a bread lame, razor blade, sharp knife, or scissors.
- Place the tray in the oven, pouring the boiling water into the tray on the bottom of the oven. This creates steam to give the rolls a nice crust. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until nicely golden and hollow-sounding when you tap them.
- Let these cool until you can handle them, and then cut the twine to remove it. You'll be left with cute little pumpkin rolls!
