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Cranberry Pumpkin Seed Sourdough Bread is the perfect loaf for the holidays — festive, flavourful, and full of texture. Sweet-tart cranberries pair beautifully with the colour and crunch of pumpkin seeds, making this bread a delicious sweet or savoury addition to your Christmas table.

This loaf was a popular addition to my micro-bakery sourdough rotation. I love the colourful combination of the sweet dried cranberries and crunchy pumpkin seeds.

It is delicious fresh from the oven with a slab of honey or toasted with a generous amount of butter. I would highly recommend making this loaf for the coming holiday season and let me know if it’s a hit!

Why You’ll Love This Cranberry Pumpkin Seed Sourdough

it’s sweet and crunchy
can be served as a sweet or savoury side
uses a simple base recipe
everyone will be talking about it at Christmas dinner
would make the best leftover turkey dinner sandwich!

Bronwyn’s Sourdough Notes

This is your loaf! I’m here to share my tips, experience, and what’s worked for me — but sourdough is wonderfully flexible. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or just starting out, feel free to experiment and make this recipe your own. There are countless ways to make a great loaf of sourdough, and my goal is simply to help you find the methods and rhythms that suit you best.

Water: If you can drink it, you can bake with it. I’ve used city, tap, well, and filtered water — all with great results. Don’t overthink it.

Salt: Use whatever fine salt you have. Unrefined salts like Himalayan or Redmond Real Salt support fermentation beautifully, but table salt works fine too.

Sourdough Starter: Start bread with an active, bubbly starter for best results. Learn more about your starter here.

Temperature: Dough rises best around 23–26°C (73–79°F) dough temperature.
Colder = Slower fermentation (6-12 hours)
Warmer = Faster fermentation (3-6 hours)
Adjust with warm or cool water depending on the season.

Flour: I always do a blend of standard all-purpose flour and freshly-milled whole grain flour as my whole wheat flour. Use whatever flour works for you.

Hydration: In summer, I use cooler water and slightly less. In winter, warmer water and a touch more can help balance fermentation speed.

Autolyse: This step involves holding back salt and sourdough starter at the mixing stage. I prefer a simpler variation — I mix in the starter right away but hold back the salt for 30–60 minutes. This short rest gives the dough time to hydrate and relax, especially important when using whole grain flour, which takes longer to absorb moisture.

Sourdough Starter

If you’re here, I’m assuming you have a sourdough starter and generally know how to use it. It is beyond the scope of this post to teach you how to create and maintain a sourdough starter.

If you haven’t made one already, read my post on how to make a sourdough starter from scratch.

Once you have an established sourdough starter and you know how to identify when it’s active or needs a fresh feeding, you’re pretty much good to go. It doesn’t matter much whether its thin, batter-like, or stiff, a healthy starter will make healthy bread.

If you have a sourdough starter but are having trouble understanding it, learn more with the ultimate guide to understanding your sourdough starter.

Freshly Milled Flour

The whole wheat flour in all of my baking recipes is made with freshly milled whole wheat flour. While store-bought whole wheat works just fine in terms of texture and flavour, the nutritional value of freshly milled flour is far superior — it’s full of the natural oils, vitamins, and minerals that are lost once flour sits on a shelf.

If you live in the city, you can often find fresh-milled flour at local bakeries or specialty grocery stores.

If you’re in the country or have access to whole grains, consider milling your own. You can start small with what you already have — a powerful coffee grinder or blender can get you going. A great next step is a KitchenAid grain mill attachment, perfect for small batches.

If you fall in love with fresh milling (like I did), investing in a Harvest NutriMill is absolutely worth it. I use mine almost daily — it’s both beautiful and practical.

When you’re ready to invest, get your Harvest NutriMill using this link and use my code BRONSBREAD20 at checkout for $20 off your order!

Bronwyn’s Sourdough Schedule

night before

feed sourdough starter

The night before I want to mix dough, I take my sourdough starter from the fridge and feed it with enough flour and water to mix dough with.

morning

mix dough

I mix my dough in the morning with an autolyse and a couple series of stretch-and-folds.

late morning

bulk ferment

Late-morning/afternoon is when I let my dough bulk ferment. I can leave or keep an eye on it throughout the day depending on temperature.

late afternoon

Shape

Mid-late afternoon is usually when my dough has reached double in size. This is when I pre-shape, let bench rest, and final shape.

evening

final rise & overnight ferment

At this point, my loaf is in it’s vessel. I’ll asses if it’s the size I want it to be, if it’s warm and it will grow in the fridge overnight, etc. I may give it 30-90 minutes more on the counter and then place in the fridge.

next day

bake

With my loaf tucked away in the fridge, no longer proofing, I can bake it at any point in the day. Fresh for breakfast or served warm with dinner!

Ingredients

White flour: Just simple all-purpose is what I use.
Whole wheat flour: I like a blend of freshly milled grains but whole wheat from the store is fine too.
Water: Good ol’ drinking water.
Active Sourdough starter: Essential for a fluffy loaf. If you don’t know when your sourdough starter is active, learn more here.
Salt: The best quality salt you have because sourdough bread deserves the best.
Dried Cranberries: Sweetened or unsweetened.
Pumpkin Seeds: Green and hulled!

Materials

Medium-Sized Mixing Bowl: A heavy set ceramic mixing bowl would work best.
Bowl Cover: Anything that covers and seals the bowl and covers your loaf for final proofing. I use these reusable elastic bowl covers.
Dough Whisk (optional): It is cleaner to get things started with a dough whisk or spoon but it’s definitely not necessary.
Plastic Bench Scraper: I find this tool very handy for cleaning and scraping the dough out of the bowl. It can also be used for dividing dough and pre-shaping.
Metal Bench Scraper: I use this tool for dividing dough, pre-shaping, and cleaning the table. Not essential though, as the plastic bench scraper can serve similar purposes, but I like using both.
Kitchen Scale or Measuring Cups and Spoons: I prefer using a kitchen scale but if measuring cups and spoons is all you have then that’s all you need to get started.
Banneton Basket: I like a 10″ basket for my artisan loaves.
Razor Blade, Bread Lame or Sharp Knife: I haven’t found a bread lame I really like so I just use razor blades as is.
Dutch Oven: For baking your artisan loaf. It is the best vessel for trapping steam and giving your dough a nice strong rise.
Cooling Rack: For cooling down your loaf.

FAQ

No, you don’t. However, I do recommend it for any loaf that contains whole wheat flour. Holding back the salt helps hydrate the grain, resulting in a softer, fluffier loaf.

Of course, this is your loaf! I’d recommend sunflower seeds, walnuts or chopped almonds!

Yes, however the texture may be slightly different. Hold back some of the water during the mixing stage as it there is no bran or wheat germ to hydrate.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Mix – Add water + starter to your bowl, mix until dissolved. Add white flour, whole wheat flour, dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds. Mix until no dry bits. Rest 30–60 minutes (autolyse).

Add Salt – Add salt with a splash of water, squeeze in until fully integrated and dissolved. Rest 30 minutes.

Strengthen – Perform a series of stretch and folds. Let rest for another 30 minutes.

Strengthen (pt.2) – Perform another series of stretch and folds.

Bulk Ferment – Let the dough rest until doubled in size, jiggles, and has a domed surface. (Warm 4–6 h; cool 8–12 h.)

Shape – Pre-shape into a ball and let it bench rest for 20–30 minutes. Final shape into the shape of your banneton basket (oval or round). Flour your banneton basket and place your loaf in it, seam side up.

Proof Options

Same-day: cover and let rest on the counter at room temperature until risen and puffy (1-3 hours).

Cold proof: cover and let rest on the counter for 1-2 hours and then refrigerate 8–24 hours for enhanced flavour, fermentation & easy scoring.

Score & Bake

Preheat your oven to 500°F with the Dutch Oven inside. Gently remove your loaf from the banneton basket onto a large piece of parchment paper by flipping it over so seam side is down. Once preheated, carefully place your loaf into the hot Dutch oven by using the sides of the parchment paper. Bake for 20–25 minutes covered, then drop the temperature to 375°F and bake for 10-15 minutes uncovered, until dark golden crust is achieved.

Cool – 1 hour minimum before slicing to ensure the crumb has fully set and then enjoy with a generous amount of butter!

How to Store

Once it has cooled down completely: Store cut-side down on cutting board 1–2 days; then cloth or plastic bag 3–4 days. Freeze in plastic for longer storage, sliced or unsliced.