Soft and Fluffy Pumpkin Shaped Dinner Rolls
Pumpkin shaped dinner rolls, that are so soft and fluffy, with a hint of pumpkin flavor and subtly spiced with cozy fall spices. The perfect homemade rolls for Thanksgiving dinner!
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
- Small Saucepan
- Medium-Sized Bowl
- Kitchen Twine or String
Ingredients
Tangzhong
- 3 tbsp water
- 3 tbsp whole milk
- 2 tbsp bread flour
Dough
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) active dry or instant/rapid rise yeast
- ¼ cup granulated sugar, divided
- 3 cups bread flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- ⅛ tsp ground ginger
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ½ cup canned pumpkin puree
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp whole milk
Stems
- 12 small cinnamon sticks
Instructions
Make the Tangzhong
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the water, milk and flour. Cook over medium heat for several minutes, whisking constantly, until it thickens into a paste.
- Remove from the heat, scrape the tangzhong into a small bowl, and refrigerate to cool it down while you make the dough.
Make the Dough
- In the same saucepan you used to make the tangzhong (no need to wash the pan first), melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the milk, and warm the mixture just until it reaches between 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove from the heat. Stir in the yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Let sit for a few minutes until it starts to get bubbly.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine all but 1/2 cup of the flour with the remainder of the sugar, the salt, spices, the warm yeast mixture, the cooled tangzhong, egg and canned pumpkin.
- With the dough hook, knead the dough for 10 minutes, gradually adding the remaining 1/2 cup of flour. The dough should be smooth, and will wrap around the dough hook, but may still stick to the bottom of the bowl. Don't be tempted to add more flour, though, or the buns will be dense.
- Scrape the dough into a greased bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size. This could take anywhere from 45-90 minutes, depending on the freshness/brand of yeast, and how warm your kitchen is.If your oven has a bread proof setting, you can use that. Otherwise, preheat your oven to the lowest setting, turn it off, then set the dough inside to rise.
Shape the Buns
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and lightly flour the top of the dough, too. Gently roll the dough out into a rectangle, about 1/2 inch thick.
- Cut the dough into 12 equal portions with a bench scraper or sharp chef's knife.Note: Inevitably, you'll end up with some portions of dough that are smaller or larger, as you can see in my photos, where my corner pieces of dough ended up as the smaller rolls. If some of your rolls are significantly larger, you may need to bake them for 2-3 minutes longer than the smaller rolls.
- Take a piece of dough, cup it in your hand, and pinch the dough together to form it into a bun, so that it's smooth on top and pinched on the bottom.
- Place the buns, smooth side facing up, onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover the pan loosely with a clean kitchen towel, set the pan in a warm place, and let the buns rest for 15 minutes.
Tie with Twine
- Cut 12 pieces of kitchen twine, each piece measuring 32 inches long. Gather the twine up and spray it thoroughly with nonstick baking spray, or rub several tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil into it. Greasing the twine will help it to not stick to the buns as they bake, so that you can easily remove it after baking.
- Lay a piece of twine on your counter, and place one of the rolls in the very center of the twine, with the smooth side of the roll facing up. Cross the twine over the top of the roll, then rotate it a quarter turn, to divide the roll into 4ths. Flip the roll over, cross the twine over the bottom of the roll, then rotate it to divide one of the 4th sections. Flip the roll over one more time, cross the twine over the top of the roll, and rotate it to divide the last section, so that the roll is now divided into 8 sections by the twine. Lastly, tie the twine underneath the roll, trim the excess ends of the twine, and place the roll back onto the baking sheet, with the smooth side facing up. Repeat with the remaining rolls.Note: As you wrap the twine around the rolls, it should be just snug enough that it doesn't fall off, but you shouldn't be squeezing the twine into the dough.
- Cover the rolls with a clean kitchen towel, and let them rest in a warm place for about 15 more minutes, just until the dough is gently puffing against the twine.
Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- For the egg wash, whisk together the egg and milk, and lightly brush the egg wash over the rolls. This will give them a beautiful shine as they bake.
- Bake the pumpkin rolls for about 15-18 minutes, until golden and baked through.
- Let the rolls cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes until cool enough to handle, then cut the twine and gently pull it off the rolls. Insert a small cinnamon stick into the center of each roll to make the stem.
- Serve the rolls warm, with softened butter.
Notes
Store leftover rolls in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
To reheat, place the rolls in the oven and warm them at 300 degrees F for about 5-7 minutes, or in the microwave for 30-40 seconds at 50% power.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/