As the holidays steadily inch their way forward this year, I, too, will be steadily inching holiday-forward recipes your way. Whether it’s on The Dessert Menu or at the end of a Restaurant Dropout menu, over the next several weeks, I’ll be sharing one holiday-centric dish. Think sides, breads, desserts, etc.

For our first holiday-centric dish, I'd like to introduce you to my Pumpkin Milk Bread Rolls.

They’re a great hybrid of sweet and savory, and you get to decide the direction you’d like to lean towards. Want to make them sweet? Brush them with a cinnamon-sugar butter after baking, or serve them with a maple butter or cream cheese frosting on the side.

If you’re leaning towards savory, serve them on the side of a family-style dinner as dinner rolls with several pats of butter and flaky salt (this is my personal favorite way to enjoy them).

The best part about these rolls is that they’re neither too pumpkin-y nor too spiced. They’re ~balanced~ (and delectably fluffy).

Pumpkin Milk Bread Rolls

Makes 12 (3 ½-inch) Rolls | Prep Time: 2 hours 30 minutes | Cook Time: 25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients

Tangzhong

• ½ cup whole milk

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Pumpkin Milk Bread Rolls

• ½ cup pumpkin purée

• ¼ cup warm water

• ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated cane sugar, divided

• 1 packet (2 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast

• 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm whole milk, divided

• Tangzhong (see above)

• 4 tablespoons salted butter, softened

• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ground cloves

• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

• Cooking spray

• Pepitas, for garnish

• Flaky salt, for garnish

Instructions

Prepare the Tangzhong

1. In a small saucepan, whisk together milk and flour. Cook over medium-low heat, consistently stirring, until the mixture is smooth and begins to steam, 2 to 3 minutes. The mixture should resemble a thick, white paste, like mashed potatoes. Set aside to cool.

Prepare the Pumpkin Milk Bread Rolls

1. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the pumpkin purée, stirring frequently, until it turns a deep amber-orange, smells fragrant, and reduces by half (to about ¼ cup), about 9 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2. Combine water, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and yeast in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Let the mixture sit until the yeast begins to foam, about 5 to 6 minutes.

3. Add flour, 1 cup of milk, ¼ cup of sugar, tangzhong, softened butter, salt, reduced pumpkin purée, and spices. On low speed, knead until smooth and tacky, about 10 to 12 minutes.

4. Lightly grease a large bowl with cooking spray and, using lightly oiled hands, shape the dough into a large round and place it in the greased bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel (or plastic wrap) and rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours.

5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide and shape into 12 evenly-sized rolls.

6. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with parchment paper. Transfer rolls to the baking dish, seam side facing down. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap to let rise at room temperature until slightly domed, about 45 to 60 minutes.

7. Preheat your oven to 350ºF.

8. Brush the rolls with the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk and top with pepitas and flaky salt. Bake until golden brown and the largest roll reaches an internal temperature of 195ºF, about 25 to 27 minutes.

Printable Recipe

	Pumpkin Milk Bread Rolls 131KB ∙ PDF file
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Video Demonstration:

Pumpkin Purée

I tried very hard to make this a full-can-use pumpkin purée recipe; however, each time (3 times to be exact), I ended up with dense, not-so-fluffy bread. While tasty, it was not the fluffy milk bread roll I had in mind.

That said, I had to do the thing I hate most: using a partial can of pumpkin purée in a recipe (I know, I’m sorry).

However, to make things right, I incorporated that leftover can of pumpkin purée in Autumn in a Week of Dinners.

You’ll notice that we’re cooking/reducing the pumpkin purée by half—this will help bring out a caramelized pumpkin flavor and eliminate excess moisture in the bread. In other words, don’t skip this step.

This step, plus making the tangzhong, will take about 12 to 13 additional minutes of your time, but once they’re done, it’s actually quite a simple bread to make.

Whole Milk

This recipe calls for about 1 ½ cups of milk. Make sure to use whole milk for an optimal end product.

If you’re lactose intolerant, you’re more than welcome to try this out with a lactose-free milk (like Lactaid).

If you don’t have milk on hand, but happen to have heavy cream (possibly from last week’s menu), feel free to swap the whole milk with heavy cream and water (3/4 cup heavy cream + 3/4 cup water = 1 1/2 cups of “milk substitute”).

I can’t guarantee that it’ll yield the exact same result (I haven’t tested this substitute yet), but I am almost positive it’ll be just fine.