Buttery and Addictive Pumpkin Spice Bubble Bread (No-Knead Recipe by Kat Lieu)

Turn the kiddos in your life into pumpkin spice addicts this holiday season, so they won’t be ashamed to order aromatic (albeit expensive and always seasonal) pumpkin spice lattes. In fact, they’ll do it proudly and enjoy every tongue-searing sip!

I recommend using organic canned pumpkins for this recipe. It’ll only take minutes to make the pumpkin spice mixture. I’m heavy-handed with the cardamom. It makes the pumpkin spice unforgettable and simply irresistible. Feel free to change up the spices if you don’t have cardamom or nutmeg in your pantry. Ginger also goes well in the pumpkin mixture.

I also love buttery bread, but feel free to skip double wash the bubble buns (I washed them with melted butter and oat milk pre-balke, and butter after baking. You could just wash them with milk of choice right before baking, or use butter or a beaten egg.) You can also make these bubble buns 100% vegan by using vegan butter, vegan condensed milk, and plant-based milk of your choice. Lisa Kitahara of Okonomi Kitchen recommends using soy milk. And by the way, I was super inspired to make no-knead bubble bread after watching one of Lisa’s reels on Instagram!

If you want to skip the pumpkin spice mixture and make a plain no-knead bubble bread, you can easily do that too. Scroll down for the recipe note on how to make plain bubble bread, or even a S’mores version!

Happy holidays and happy baking, fam! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, and check out this reel for step-by-step visuals.

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Yield

24 to 30 mini bubble bread buns

Author

Kat Lieu

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

18 Min

Inactive time

2 Hour

Total time

2 H & 48 M

Print

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Buttery and Addictive Pumpkin Spice Bubble Bread by Kat Lieu

You can't go wrong, especially with pleasing the kiddos this holiday season, with this deliciously addictive pumpkin spice no-knead bubble bread. You can mix this dough in a bowl with chopsticks, a spatula, clean hands, or anything really. And trust me, there's no kneading and no "knead" to use a stand mixer! This dough will be magically elastic and the gluten will develop properly thanks to high-protein bread flour (proteins absorb liquid, like sponges). This bubble bread is inspired by Japanese chigiri pan (ちぎりパン). These mini buns will be light, soft, and feathery, and if you don't want to make pumpkin spice bubble, make a plain version or even a s'mores or tiramisu version! The possibilities are endless. Use vegan substitutions to make this bread vegan (like plant-based milk instead of dairy milk, vegan butter, and vegan condensed milk). Happy holidays and happy baking, friends!

Ingredients US Metric

• 1 can organic canned pumpkin
• 1/2 can sweeten condensed milk, adjust to taste, depending on how sweet you like your pumpkin pies (vegan condensed milk is OK)
• 1 cup milk of choice (I used oat milk. You can try soy or coconut milk)
• 1 teaspoon miso (red or white)
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, adjust to taste
• 1 teaspoon cardamom, adjust to taste
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, adjust to taste
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or vegan butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• About 135 g milk of choice (I used oat milk)
• 2 to 3 g active dry yeast
• 200 g bread flour
• About 20 g granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon miso
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened (vegan butter is OK)
• Milk of choice for washing and butter for coating the bread
• A handful of mini marshmallows (optional)

Instructions

1. In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, mix to combine all the pumpkin spice ingredients. I recommend you always cook your canned pumpkin as the heat will help get rid of the subtle tinny can taste. Occasionally stir the mixture and remove from heat once bubbles form around the edges.
2. You will use only about 70 grams of the pumpkin spice mixture. Store the remaining mixture in an airtight container, refrigerate, and use it within a few days. Alternatively, freeze the mixture for up to 3 months.
3. What can you do with the extra pumpkin spice? You can use it to make bread, pumpkin pie, cakes, cinnamon buns! Be sure to visit our site again for our miso pumpkin pie recipe!

1. Add the milk of choice and 70 g of the pumpkin spice mixture to a large mixing bowl and mix until combined. You want this mixture to be a little warmer than body temperature (about 110°F), so microwave the mixture as needed, in 20-second bursts. Add the yeast and a pinch of sugar. Set aside for a few minutes. Once the mixture foams and bubbles, sift in the bread flour and sugar and mix. Add the miso and butter and mix everything until a tacky dough forms. This should be a wet, sticky dough, and there's no need to knead it. Just mix with a spatula or a pair of chopsticks. If you find the dough to be too shaggy and dry, add a little bit more milk, a teaspoon at a time. Form the dough into a ball and cover. I like to cover my bread dough with a damp lint-free towel, though plastic wrap will also do. Let rise at warm room temperature for about 60 to 70 minutes, until roughly doubled in size. You can also let the dough ferment overnight in the fridge. Just be sure to let it warm up a bit at room temperature before you shape the dough.
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. After the dough has doubled in size, lightly flour your hands and a work surface, and turn the dough out. You can gently mix it and shape it into a smooth ball, then roll it out into a small flat rectangle. From here you can take a pastry cutter or scraper (or knife) and cut the dough into about 6 even strips, 1-inch wide each. Then cut the dough again, this time 4 to 5 perpendicular strips, so that you end up with about 24 to 30 dough rectangles.
4. Working one at a time, form each dough rectangle into a smooth ball. You can place 1 to 2 mini marshmallows in the center of each rectangle to add a surprise pop of sweetness. The marshmallow will melt in the oven, but they will make the bread taste very good, especially for kids. Place each mini dough ball onto the prepared baking sheet, with little space in between each, You want to form sort of a honeycomb shape on the baking sheet, and you want the mini bubble bread to puff into each other as they proof. Optionally brush the dough balls with melted butter and let proof for about an hour in warm room temperature.
5. About 25 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 325°F (or 160°C) with a rack in the center.
6. Feel free to wash the bubble buns with milk of choice before baking, to give them an extra wash of hydration. Alternatively, dust them with some bread flour. Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes, depending on if your oven runs hot or cold, until the tops are golden (it is a little harder to tell with the orange pumpkin spice color of these buns).
7. Enjoy them warm and brush with melted butter again, optionally, or use maple butter. Your kitchen will smell like buttery autumn and spices, and feel so inviting to all your guests and loved ones.

Notes:

To make a s'more's version of this bread, skip the pumpkin spice mixture, and use about 170 g milk of choice and 230 g bread flour (instead of 200 g). Add a piece of chocolate and marshmallow to the dough square, and dust the tops with cocoa powder after baking. Drizzle with chocolate syrup, optionally. Enjoy!

Recommended Products:

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pumpkin spice bubble bread, bubble bread, milk bread, pumpkin spice bread, pumpkin spice, autumn baking, thanksgiving baking

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Review and remake of our recipe

Baker Sharon Chiong raved about our recipe and loved how the marshmallows, while melted, gave the pumpkin bread a sticky, sweet surprise center!

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About the Baker

Kat Lieu is the founder of Subtle Asian Baking and this website modernasianbaking.com, and she is the author of Modern Asian Baking at Home. Currently, Kat is a full-time author and recipe developer. Follow her on instagram and check out her blog Phil and Mama.

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