This sourdough discard pumpkin muffin recipe is quite possibly one of my favorite pumpkin recipes of all time! The warm cinnamon and clove combined with the sweet and crunchy cinnamon oat crumble topping is the perfect combination of sweetness and spice for this fall season.
When it comes to pumpkin bread, muffins, and desserts, I am a sucker! I love them all. Let’s be honest, when you combine pumpkin with a little bit of sugar and a lot of cinnamon and clove, it is delicious, and these pumpkin muffins are no exception. They will leave you and your guests wanting more with every bite.
Tips for Making Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Muffins:
Adding sourdough discard to your baked goods is a great way to help ferment the grains, making the grains more digestible. This is great for individuals who are sensitive to wheat/gluten but still want to enjoy all the goodness of a traditional muffin. Below I have outlined a few tips to keep in mind when adding sourdough discard to your pumpkin muffins.
- Tang: For a strong tangy flavor, I recommend using a sourdough starter that is one day old. You can also long ferment the muffins to add a more traditional sourdough tang. If you want the benefits of sourdough discard without the sour tang, I recommend using sourdough starter at its peak (about 12 hours after feeding). The sourdough starter should be fluffy, bubbly, and alive at this point. It will also have less of a sour tang as it has not been fermenting for quite so long.
- Digestibility: If you are sensitive to wheat/gluten, I recommend long fermenting this recipe so that the glutens in the wheat have more time to break down and ferment. Long fermenting will also add additional good bacteria into the dough as well making it easier for the gut to digest.
How to Make Pumpkin Muffins With Sourdough Discard:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Over medium heat in a small saucepan melt and brown the butter. Be careful not to burn the butter. You will know that the butter is ready when it is bubbly and caramel in color. Once this is achieved remove the butter from the heat. Stir the butter continually to avoid burning.
Next, add the brown sugar and melted browned butter into the stand mixer fastened with a paddle attachment. Beat the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until it is light and fluffy.
Add in the eggs, pumpkin purée, sourdough discard, and vanilla to the sugar and butter mixture.
Mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and pumpkin spice together. Whisk or sift together.
Gradually add 1/3 of the flour mixture at a time into the wet ingredients.
With the stand mixer on low, mix until the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over-mix.
In a separate bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and oats together. Cut the cold butter into cubes and add to the flour and oat mixture.
Using your hands, combine the butter and flour mixture until it has a wet sand texture.
In a lined muffin tin, evenly distribute the batter into the muffin tin and top with the sweet and crunchy cinnamon oat crumble. I find using an ice cream scoop is best for making sure that your muffins are all the same size and makes for a more even bake.
Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350°F. To ensure the muffins are done baking, place a toothpick into the muffin. If the tooth pick comes out clean, the muffin is fully cooked through.
Allow the muffins to set in the pan for 3 minutes after removing them from the oven and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to rest and cool.
How to Long Ferment Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Muffins:
- Feed your starter 12-24 hours prior to making the pumpkin muffins. Remember the longer your sourdough starter has time to ferment between feedings, the more tang your pumpkin muffins will have. For more of a sour tang, I recommend using your starter closer to 24 hours post-feeding.
- In a stand mixer, mix browned butter, eggs, flour, and sourdough starter until combined. Cover with a tea towel and allow the mixture to rest at room temperature for 6 hours.
- After 6 hours, place the batter into the refrigerator and allow it to further ferment for an additional 6-18 hours, giving the glutens time to break down.
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.
- Once fully fermented, place the batter back on your stand mixer. Using a paddle attachment add the brown sugar, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin spice, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the mixing bowl.
- Scoop out the mixed batter into the lined muffin tin.
- Top with the sugar and oatmeal topping.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Allow to set in the muffin tin for a few minutes post-baking before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
- Allow to cool and enjoy.
FAQ
- Why are my muffins so dense? When making muffin batter it is important to make sure that you are not over-mixing the batter. Over-mixing can cause the glutens in the flour to become overworked and therefore, cause the muffin to become dense and almost tough.
- Can I use pumpkin pie mix instead of pumpkin purée? Unfortunately no. Pumpkin pie mix has multiple different ingredients and has more liquid in it which will cause your pumpkin muffins to have a different flavor and texture to them.
I always recommend using store-bought pumpkin purée, or even better, homemade pumpkin purée. The reason being is because pumpkin purée is simply that, pumpkin. It does not have any other ingredients to change the flavor or texture. Check out my recipe here, to see how you can make your own pumpkin purée.
Best ways to store pumpkin muffins:
The best way to store pumpkin muffins is by keeping them in an airtight container. They will keep for up to 3-4 days at room temperature or they can be kept for up to 6 months when frozen in an airtight freezer bag.
My Favorite Sourdough Recipes:
- Beginner’s Sourdough Bread:
- Sourdough Starter Recipe:
- Healthy Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Bread:
- Cinnamon Roll Sourdough Star Bread:
Note: This blog post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cup pumpkin purée (fresh or canned)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter discard
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. pumpkin spice
- 2 tsp. clove
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 tsp. salt
Crunchy Oat Topping Ingredients:
- 4 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. cloves
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Line the muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- In a saucepan over medium heat melt the butter and continually stir until the butter is browned.
- Add the browned melted butter to the bowl of your stand mixer or a mixing bowl if you do not have a stand mixer.
- Add the brown sugar and beat for 5 minutes with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, pumpkin purée, vanilla, and sourdough starter to the sugar and butter mixture. Mix until combined.
- In a separate bowl, add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, cloves, and nutmeg. Stir with a whisk until combined.
- Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients 1/3 at a time. Mix until just incorporated. Do not over-mix.
- In a small bowl add cold butter cut into cubes, oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Mix together using your hands.
- Place an equal amount of batter in each muffin tin to ensure even baking. You can use spoons to do this or an ice cream scoop for more accuracy.
- Top with the oat crumble.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes. Test with a toothpick. If you the toothpick comes out clean, you know that the muffin is fully cooked through.
- Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes, setting the muffins, then transfer them to a cooling rack to all them to rest.
Notes
- To make the muffins a little less sweet, you can always leave off the crumble topping.
- In order long ferment, check out my notes outlined above in the blog. Please note that long fermenting will add additional time to the recipe; however, this is a better route to go if you are sensitive to gluten or want a more tangy, sourdough flavor in your muffins.
- How tangy the muffins are will be dependent upon how old your sourdough discard is. For less tang, I recommend using sourdough discard that is 12 hours old (last fed 12 hours ago). For a more tangy flavor, I recommend using a sourdough discard that is 24 hours old (last fed 24 hours ago) and long fermenting the grains over night. This will break down the glutens and give a more sourdough taste, as noted above.
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