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I baked this today, and it turned out great.  I forgot to add the walnuts though! :-(. The recipe contains some milk powder, sugar and a small amount of butter, and the crumb is like a brioche, very soft and with distinct sour notes.  The pumpkin accents the sour flavor, giving Your sourdough a twist.

Here’s the recipe (using a KA mixer):

2 hours before mixing your dough:  Slice the pumpkin into chunks, boil WITHOUT SALT until soft.  Use a mixer to purée and let it cool down to room temperature.  I use a pressure cooker for this and it takes 4 minutes in the pressure cooker from the moment the steam valve shows until the moment you stop the cooking altogether.

Ingredients:

• AP Flour 1,000 gr
• Water 600 gr
• Salt 20 gr
• Sugar 100gr
• Butter 70 gr
• Milk Powder 50 gr
• Pumpkin Purée (Room Temp) 290 gr
• Sourdough Culture 500 gr
• Pumpkin seeds: 100 gr
• Walnuts 100 gr

Instructions:

1. All ingredients in the KA bowl EXCEPT Butter AND Seeds.
2. Knead on #1 speed with dough hook for 2 minutes, until mixed.
3. Increase speed to #3 for approximately 7 minutes, until you see the dough coming off the walls. Adjust water / flour as required, and don’t be shy to adjust.  If your dough is a shaggy mess after 2-3 minutes on #3, you’ll need a little more flour so it can come off the walls 3-4 minutes later.  Check gluten and knead a bit longer if needed until you have good gluten development.
4. Fold the butter in, cut in small chunks, little by little.  Do not add more butter unless the previous batch is incorporated into the dough.
5. Fold the nuts in.  To avoid tearing the dough, you can do this by hand on a lightly floured work surface.  Fold half of the nuts and make a letter fold. (4-sides), then the rest of the nuts and a second 4-side fold.
6. Let it ferment at room temperature (I use a Proofer set to 25C) for one hour.  You can do one Stretch & Fold after 30 minutes being extra careful that the nuts do not tear the dough.
7. Chill overnight.  I use a closed, oiled plastic container for this.
8. Next morning take out from fridge, let sit (closed) at room temperature for one hour, then pre-shape.
9. 30 minutes bench rest.
10. Final shaping followed by final proofing for around 1-2 hours, depending on room temperature.  In my case it’s usually closer to 2 hours.
11. Bake (Steam or Dutch Oven highly recommended) at 190C for 15 minutes and an additional 10-15 minutes at 230C.  I know the temperatures look wrong, especially the initial 190C.  These are the ones I use.  Bear in mind that the dough contains sugar and milk powder, so it can turn dark and set real fast if your temperature setting is too high.
12. Take out from the oven and let it sit for at least one hour before consuming.

And some pictures.....  It came out really beautiful today.

I made a beautiful boule too.....

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my son does (I love it as well :-).  Stay safe all.

I wanted to put this  where I could lose it and possibly find it again using search for Glazing or Primer

Here is the Rose Levy Beranbaum’s take on brushing on a crust

Type of Glazes and Toppings
A crisp crust: Water (brushed or spritzed)
A powdery, rustic chewy crust: Flour (dusted)
A soft velvety crust: Melted butter, preferably clarified (1/2 tablespoon per average loaf)
A crisp light brown crust: 1 egg white (2 tablespoons) and 1/2 teaspoon water, lightly beaten and strained (the ideal sticky glaze for attaching seeds)
A medium shiny golden crust: 2 tablespoons egg (lightly beaten to measure) and 1 teaspoon water, lightly beaten
A shiny deep golden brown crust: 1 egg yolk (1 tablespoon) and 1 teaspoon heavy
cream, lightly beaten
A shiny medium golden brown crust: 1 egg yolk (1 tablespoon) and 1 teaspoon milk, lightly beaten
A very shiny hard crust: 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch and 6 tablespoons water: whisk the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of the water. Bring the remaining 1/4 cup
water to a boil and whisk the cornstarch mixture into it; simmer for about 30 seconds,
or until thickened and translucent. Cool to room temperature, then brush on the bread
before baking and again as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Note: When using an egg glaze, it goes on most smoothly if strained. I like to add a pinch of salt to make it more liquid and easier to pass through the strainer.  An egg glaze will lose its shine if using steam during the baking process.  My preference is to use Safest Choice pasteurized eggs.

I feel like I should share a HK style bread recipe on this site as someone from HK so when my mom requested some coconut buns, I decided to make it immediately. This is a kind of very typical and popular enriched bread in HK and though I only crave it at very rare occasions, my mom adores it wholeheartedly. I modified the traditional recipe by nixing butter and decreasing sugar in the dough while adding sourdough and tang zhong for flavour and tenderness respectively. An egg is skipped in the filling and condensed milk replaced the sugar. 

For Mom: HK Style Coconut Bun with Tang Zhong and Sourdough 

For filling:

150g     43%      Desiccated coconut

150g     43%      Sweetened condensed milk

50g      14%       Melted butter or ghee

1/4 tsp     -         Vanilla extract

A pinch    -         Salt

A pinch    -         Turmeric (for colour since eggs are used traditionally)

For tang zhong:

20g       6%      Whole wheat flour

100g     29%    Water

10g       3%      Sugar

For dough:

350g    100%     Whole wheat flour

150g     43%      Water

50g       14%      Evaporated milk

30g        9%       Starter

10g      2.8%      Vital wheat gluten

5g        1.4%      Salt

<120g      -         All of the tang zhong

For glace:

15g       4%      Honey

15g       4%      Warm water

______________

370g     100%     Whole Grain

300g      86%     Total hydration (some water in the tang zhong is evaporated)

Combine all ingredients for the filling and adjust the consistency to a thick but spreadable paste by adding just enough water. Keep refrigerated until needed. Mix together the flour and water for the tang zhong and heat over medium-low, stirring continuously until thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the sugar. Let cool to room temperature.

Mix thoroughly the starter and the tang zhong. Pour in the water and evaporated milk slowly while stirring at the same time. Combine roughly the flour, vital wheat gluten and salt for the dough with the wet mixture and let ferment overnight for 10 hours.

Stretch and fold the dough for a few times then let rest for 20 minutes. Flour the dough and stretch it lightly into a 30x30cm square. Dot the filling onto the dough, leaving some space on one edge then spread it evenly with a spoon. Roll the dough from one of the edges with filling to the edge with reserved space and pinch the edges together gently. Divide the dough into 4 equal cylinders and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet with the side with fillings exposed facing up. Flatten them slightly and let proof for 1 hour. Meanwhile, combine the honey and water for the glaze and preheat the oven to 400°F.

Bake at 400°F in the middle rack for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 190°F. Brush the honey mixture over the hot buns and let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

The coconut, condensed milk and butter produce a wonderful aroma which makes this bread addictive and irresistible. As much as we want to cut down on the fats, you just cannot skimp on the butter as it is what gives this bread its signature flavour. This recipe is already a healthified version with very few compromises but any more reduction on the fats or sugar would yield an unpleasant result. The bread is very soft and moist which goes especially well with this somewhat chewy filling.

As this is a pretty heavy kind of bread, this to me is only a once-in-a-while treat but as for my mom…that might be a different story!