Pumpkin Challah Rolls

First things first, I’m not gonna lie to you; this recipe *will* take you several hours. You *will* get way too invested, and you *will* lose some of your sanity in the process. By hour four, you *will* find yourself sitting on your kitchen floor, peering into the oven and praying that things turn out okay for those little balls of twine-wrapped dough.

^PRAYING!

But it’s worth it. The loss of sanity, the praying, the hours spent inside your kitchen on a gorgeous sunny day (sigh—not the best planning on my part). I promise. It actually is very easy. It’s just…time-consuming. If you are literate, have hands, and know how to tie a double knot, you can do this.

Whether you’ve been baking up a storm for years or you’re setting foot in your kitchen for the very first time, you really can bring these adorable pumpkin challah rolls to life aaaand get them to look exactly like they do in the photos/video here. All you need is a free day and, ideally, a few fall dinner party / High Holiday / Thanksgiving guests to impress. They’ve got a wonderfully subtle, savory spiced pumpkin flavor and truthfully, most of the time you’ll spend making them is “non-working time”—as in, you’ll be letting the dough proof, rest, and rise. All of the easy, unsupervised things. Depending on how large you make each roll, this recipe can yield anywhere from 8 to 12 rolls.

P.S. You can totally make these with your favorite challah recipe—just skip to the end of my tutorial and start with the twine-wrapping (this should be right before your last pre-oven rise). I’m sharing my own recipe, which involves a few autumn-appropriate additions and yields an orange-ish hue (despite this fact, it’s not overly pumpkin-y), but feel free to customize any old way you see fit.

Sharing some tips and a full tutorial ahead!

Pumpkin Challah Rolls

★★★★★ 5 from 1 review

• Author: Rebekah Lowin
• Total Time: 5 hours
• Yield: 8–12 rolls 1x

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Description

The cutest pumpkin rolls for fall with a subtle, savory, spiced pumpkin flavor. They’ll take you several hours, but most of that is non-working time—you’ll be letting the dough proof, rest, and rise. Depending on how large you make each roll, this recipe can yield anywhere from 8 to 12 rolls.

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1.5 cups bread flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast (this should equate to a little more than 1 package, but be sure to measure it out exactly!)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature (you can get them to room temperature quickly by letting them sit for 5 minutes in a cup or bowl filled with lukewarm water)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin purée
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Egg wash (1 egg, beaten, plus a scant 1 tablespoon of water)
• Pecans and/or cinnamon sticks (for “stems”)

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Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of the all-purpose flour, the yeast, and the warm water and mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl and let the mixture stand for 1 hour at room temperature.
2. Add the eggs, oil, pumpkin purée, spices, and honey into the flour-yeast-water mixture and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Once incorporated, add in the remaining all-purpose flour (that should be 2.5 cups!), bread flour, and salt; mix until a messy “dough” forms (it won’t look at all smooth just yet).
3. Place the soon-to-be dough ball on a floured surface; knead for just two or three minutes until the surface is fairly smooth. Lightly owl a bowl using your hands, then place the dough ball inside and cover; let rise for 1.5 hours at room temperature or until doubled in size.
4. After time’s up, remove the dough from the bowl and use a bench scraper to divide it in half; then, divide each half into triangular quarters. You’ll end up with 8 triangles. (You can also create one larger pumpkin, leaving one half whole and only quartering the other half; I’ve found there is no need to adjust cook time.) Use a rolling pin or your fingers to flatten out each of the triangles; then, working with one flattened triangle at  a time, pull from the outer edges (as shown in video at the top of this page) to bring the dough together into a small ball.
5. To make the pumpkin shapes, wrap each dough ball in oven-safe cooking twine. You’ll want to create eight sections by continually flipping the dough ball on itself and switching the direction of your twine-wrapping (again, see video for an example). This part’s important: Wrap with a light hand! Each of the dough balls will become larger and expand into the twine, both when it proofs and when it bakes. You can’t afford to wrap too tightly at this point.
6. Cover the twine-wrapped balls loosely and set them aside to rise for another 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350° fahrenheit.
7. Combine beaten egg and water. With a pastry brush or paintbrush, brush the twine-wrapped rolls with egg wash. Bake for 28 to 35 minutes or until dark, orangey golden brown.
8. Allow rolls to cool for a few minutes, then carefully remove the twine using scissors and your hands. Finally, place a pecan or cinnamon stick “stem” on top of each pumpkin roll. Serve warm, ideally with salted butter!

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