Pumpkin buns: the delicious recipe to adopt for Halloween

For Halloween snack, we would be tempted by delicious homemade brioches. And since pumpkins are one of the symbols of fall, you might as well go all out by adding squash to the dough, and shaping them like cucurbits. One thing is certain, their pretty orange color and their sweet flavor, slightly warmed with cinnamon, will not leave anyone indifferent.

Pumpkin buns: the step-by-step recipe

Preparation: 60 mins
Cooking time: 12 mins
Rest: 120 mins

For 10 buns

• 300 g of squash without the skin (pumpkin, butternut, pumpkin, etc.)
• 60 ml of lukewarm milk
• 60 g + 1 tbsp. tbsp brown sugar
• 20 g of fresh baker’s yeast
• 500 g of flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp. teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 1 egg
• 100g butter at room temperature

Material

• food twine

For gilding

• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp. tablespoon of milk

For decoration

• 5 cinnamon sticks

Prepare the pumpkin brioche dough.
Cut the squash into cubes, then steam them for about 20 minutes, until they become soft. <
Mash the diced squash with a fork to reduce them to a puree.
In a bowl, mix the milk, 1 tbsp. tablespoons of brown sugar and fresh yeast. Let sit for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon in the bowl of your food processor.
Add an egg and the milk-sugar-yeast mixture. Knead until you obtain a homogeneous ball of dough. Add the squash puree, then knead again.
Cut the butter into cubes, and add them little by little to the dough, kneading. Stop kneading when the dough is smooth and no longer sticks to your fingers.
Form a ball and leave to rest for at least 1 hour in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, in a warm room or an oven heated to 30°C.
When the dough has doubled in volume, press it with the palm of your hand to degas it.
Divide the dough into 10 pieces

Shape the brioches into slightly flattened balls.
Cut 10 long kitchen strings. Wrap a string loosely around a ball of dough. Tie a knot where the thread crosses, then wrap it again, shifting it a quarter turn. Tie a knot at the intersection. Seen from above, this should form a cross on the dough. Repeat the operation 2 more times diagonally. Finish by tying the ends of the string.
Shape the remaining 9 brioche balls.
Place them on a baking tray, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise for 1 hour.
Brown the brioches with beaten egg and milk.
Bake for 12 minutes at 180°C.
Break the cinnamon sticks in half and stick each end into the buns, to imitate the stalk.
Wait for the buns to cool before removing the strings.

Our pumpkin bun ideas

What we love about this recipe is that it has endless variations. For example, you can fill it with a mixture of butter and cinnamon, like cinnamon rolls, or add chocolate chips. Note, the shaping technique also works with bread dough, pizza dough, or puff pastry. Perfect for making Halloween puff pastries for example. All you have to do is stuff them with compote, squash puree or tomato sauce and that’s it.

Right away: here are 6 pumpkin bun recipes to inspire you.