Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls are a great way to add a touch of fun to a fall dinner.

Picture of festive Einkorn sourdough pumpkin dinner rolls on a wire rack with honey cinnamon butter, stems.

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Try the Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls; they are soft, golden, lightly sweet, and shaped like tiny pumpkins!

The way Einkorn and pumpkin come together is perfect for the look of these Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls. The dough turns the most beautiful natural golden color, the flavor is gently sweet and earthy, and the texture stays soft and pillowy. They feel festive but still wholesome; the Festive Einkorn Pumpkin Dinner Rolls are exactly the kind of thing that makes a fall dinner feel like a celebration. Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls are pure fall joy!

These Festive Einkorn Pumpkin Dinner Rolls are made with a Sourdough Preferment Method

This recipe uses a sourdough preferment, which makes the rolls more flavorful. The preferment also makes these rolls softer and easier to digest.

It is important to note that the preferment is made 5 to 10 hours ahead; you can choose your baking schedule accordingly. Sometimes I make my pre-ferment right before I go to bed, and other times I make it before I head off to work.

Serving Ideas:

Thanksgiving or Harvest Dinner
With soup or my favorite chili
Beside roasted chicken or stew
As adorable sandwiches with ham and aged white cheddar cheese
They also make great breakfast sandwiches

Try serving these Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls with: Easy Harvest Soup, and Easy Chicken and Red Wine Stew.

How to make Honey Cinnamon Butter Stems, click here: Stems.

How to make Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

Ingredients

Preferment (Levain) – Make 5 to 12 Hours Before

60 g active sourdough starter
118 g water
120 g all-purpose einkorn flour

Main Dough

All of the preferment
450 g pumpkin purée
80 g milk
50 g egg (1 egg)
100 g sugar or honey
5 g (1 tsp) lemon juice
840 g all-purpose einkorn flour
8 g (1TBSP) Diamond Crystal kosher salt
71 g butter (5 Tbsp), softened — added after mixing previous ingredients, plus more for buttering the baking pans and brushing the tops of the rolls

Picture of Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls preferment ingredients on a granite counter

Picture of Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls main dough ingredients

Step by Step Instructions:

Weigh the mixing bowl you will be making the dough in (or the bowl you will proof the dough in, if it is different than the mixing bowl). Write down the weight of the bowl on a piece of paper, or take a picture of the weight displayed on the scale etc. (You will subtract the bowl weight at the end to get the total dough weight to divide the dough into equal pieces.) I recommend using the same bowl for the preferment, the main bowl, and proofing to save on wasted dough during bowl transfers and to save on clean up.

step 1

1. Make the Preferment

Combine the starter, water, and einkorn flour into a large bowl (preferably the bowl that you will be using to make the entire dough in).
Mix until smooth, cover, and let ferment 5 to 10 hours, or until puffy, expanded, and you see bubbles indicating an active preferment. If longer than 10 hours, place the preferment in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, but no longer.

step 2

2. Mix the Main Dough (Before Adding Butter)

Add the pumpkin purée, egg, sugar (or honey), milk, and lemon juice into the large bowl that contains the preferment.
Mix well so that all ingredients are well incorporated.
Next, add the all-purpose einkorn flour and salt.
Mix until a shaggy dough forms.
Cover and let rest 15 minutes to allow einkorn to hydrate.

Picture of Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls dough being made, adding and incorporating preferment, pumpkin, milk, and egg

Picture of Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls dough being stirred to incorporate all ingredients

step 3

3. Incorporate the Butter

Once the dough has hydrated for 15 minutes, add the butter and knead, fold or squeeze the dough until the butter is fully incorporated.
The dough will look messy at first. Einkorn flour absorbs slowly, but it will come together into a soft, sticky dough.
Again, cover and let the dough rest for 15 minutes, then start a series of 3-4 slap and fold sessions. (If you prefer, you can do 3-4 stretch and folds instead of slap and folds.)

Picture of Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls shaggy dough in a glass bowl

Picture of Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls being folded with bowl scraper

step 4

4. Slap-and-Fold Sessions (Strengthening the Dough)

After the butter is incorporated and has rested for 15 minutes, do your first slap and fold session.
- Lift the dough with two hands, slap the bottom edge onto the counter, then fold the top over itself. Turn the dough slightly and repeat.
- The slap and fold method is about 20–30 seconds of lift, then slap, then fold and then turn the dough.
Then, cover and let the dough rest 15- 30 minutes and repeat for a total of 3-4 sessions.
The dough will become smoother, but einkorn won’t get super elastic and will stay stickier than traditional wheat.

Picture of Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls dough ball after slap and folds before bulk ferment

step 5

5. Bulk Fermentation

After the slap-and-folds are all finished, cover the dough and let it rise 3–6 hours in a warm spot until the dough noticeably expands.
Einkorn spreads outward more than upward. It helps to look for softness and airiness, not doubling.

Picture of Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls bulk fermenting in a warm area

step 6

6. Divide and shape the Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

Weigh the bowl again, this time with the dough inside. Then subtract the weight of the empty bowl from the bowl weight. Divide the dough weight by the number of rolls you want to make. I usually make 16 to 20 rolls.

Picture of Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Roll dough being divided and weighed on a digital kitchen scale

Lightly flour your working surface and your hands because the Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin dough is sticky.
Using a bowl scraper, turn dough out onto a working surface.
Divide the dough into the desired number of rolls. (Weigh the pieces to make sure they are all the same size.)
Shape each piece into a tight ball.
Cut 3 pieces of butcher’s twine per roll. (About 10″ in length.)
Position the butcher’s twine on the counter. Set the already formed roll in the center of the twine. Butter the roll and the twine with a pastry brush.
Tie each roll loosely with all three pieces of twine to create 6 pumpkin sections.
Place on a buttered parchment-lined baking sheet.

Picture of a woman putting flour on her hand before making Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Roll dough balls

Picture of a woman putting flour on both hands before making Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

Picture of a pile of 10" butchers twine pices before tying on Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Roll dough ball

Picture of six pieces of butcher twine laid out before the Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Roll dough ball is placed on it

Picture of a woman buttering a Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Roll before tying twine

Picture of a women in an apron tying butcher's twine around Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls dough ball

Step 7

7. Final Rise

Let rolls rise 60–90 minutes in a warm area, or until visibly puffy, but do not let them overproof. (If they over-proof, they bake outward versus upward.)

step 8

8. Bake the Rolls

Preheat oven to 400°F non-convection oven or 375°F convection oven
Once the oven has reached the temperature, put the rolls in the oven and decrease the oven temperature to 375°F non-convection oven or 350°F convection oven. (The rolls need the heat for oven spring. Pre-heating the oven hotter is to help for temperature loss when putting the rolls in the oven.)
Bake rolls for 20 minutes. At the 12-minute mark, spin the pans around and move the top tray to the bottom rack and the bottom tray to the top rack in the oven. This ensures that the bottoms will be cooked well and the tops won’t burn.
Internal temperature should reach 200°F when done. Do not over-bake as these rolls burn easily.
Remove twine while still warm.
Optional: when cool, garnish with Honey Cinnamon Butter Stems, or pecan stems.

picture of a Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls, cinnamon honey butter, stem

Serve these with:

Honey Cinnamon Compound Butter
Garnish the tops with Honey Cinnamon Butter Stems

Notes

Use canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.
Einkorn dough is naturally sticky; avoid adding too much extra flour.
Honey gives softer rolls; sugar gives a slightly fluffier texture.
Butter must be added after mixing to help the rolls rise higher and stay pillowy.
Store in a bread bag or container on the counter for 2–3 days.
Rolls freeze well for up to a month.

Other recipes to try while enjoying Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls:

Try my fall recipes for: Honey Cinnamon Compound Butter, Easy Harvest Soup, Easy Chicken and Red Wine Stew, and Perfect Mashed Potatoes Every Time.

Items I used in this recipe for Festive Einkorn Sourdough Pumpkin Dinner Rolls: Jovial Einkorn All-Purpose Flour, Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, Food Scale, Kilner clip-top jar, Salt, Honey, dough-kneading tool, bowl scraper, small mesh strainer, half-sheet baking pan, cooling rack, Silicone Heat Resistant Pastry Brushes