Pumpkin Focaccia

Oct 01, 2025 • Erin McNaught

This pumpkin focaccia is a fall-friendly, pellet-grill bake that gives you two pans from one dough—one sweet, one savory. Pumpkin purée keeps the crumb moist and tender while a pinch of turmeric boosts that golden hue. We bloom the yeast, mix by hand, then build gluten with three quick bowl folds before an overnight cold proof for deeper flavor and that signature jiggly wobble. After dimpling and brushing with olive oil, choose your finish: brown-sugar–vanilla with hazelnuts and smoked flake salt, or garlic-rosemary butter with flaky salt and late-added pepitas so they toast, not burn. Bake on the top rack of the Yoder Smokers YS640s (or in a 400°F oven) until the center reads 185–200°F, then cool on a rack to keep the bottom crisp. Expect crackly, fried-in-oil edges and an airy, custardy interior that slices beautifully for snacking, cheese boards, or—our favorite—leftover turkey sandwiches. Just remember: caramelized sugar runs hot, so give the sweet pan a minute before you dive in.

What You’ll Love About This Recipe

Sweet & Savory, One Dough

Custardy crumb with crisp, fried-in-oil edges from cast iron.
Flexible schedule: overnight cold proof (up to 3 days) for flavor.
Two finishes: brown sugar–hazelnut with smoked salt, or garlic-rosemary butter with pepitas.
Pellet-grill bake on the YS640s for gentle, even heat (oven-friendly, too).
Three bowl folds = strong gluten and that satisfying focaccia wobble.

Easy Pumpkin Focaccia on the YS640s • Sweet & Savory Pumpkin Focaccia

Chef Erin McNaught

Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users

Cuisine

Italian

Servings

16

Prep Time

2 hours

Calories

218

Moist, golden pumpkin focaccia on a YS640s. Two finishes—sweet hazelnut or garlic-rosemary. Cold proof for flavor, crisp edges, airy crumb.

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Ingredients

Dough

350 g lukewarm water
2 tsp active dry yeast (or Caputo Dry Yeast)
1 (425 g / 15 oz) can pumpkin purée
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing and brushing
3 tbsp maple syrup, honey, or sugar
800 g bread flour (or Caputo “00” Pizzeria Flour), plus more as needed
10 g kosher salt (e.g., Jacobsen Pure Kosher Sea Salt)
1 tsp ground turmeric, optional (for color)

Savory Topping

½ cup melted butter
2 cloves garlic, microplaned
2 tbsp dried rosemary
Freshly ground black pepper
Flaky finishing salt, to taste (e.g., Noble Saltworks Oak Smoked Flaked Salt)
¼–⅓ cup pepitas (add late in bake)

Sweet Topping

½ cup brown sugar
½ cup John Henry’s Pecan Rub
½ cup chopped hazelnuts
1 tbsp Noble Saltworks Oak Smoked Salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

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Directions

Bloom the yeast in lukewarm water until it wakes up and bubbles. Whisk in pumpkin purée, olive oil, maple (or sugar), and optional turmeric. In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt. Pour dries into wets (bread dough plays nice either way) and mix with an open hand until a shaggy dough forms—no dry pockets.
Turn dough onto a lightly oiled surface and knead just until smoother. Oil a large bowl, add the dough, oil the top, cover, and rest 30–60 minutes at room temp until puffed.
Do three bowl folds to build gluten: with oiled hands, lift one side straight up so the ends tuck under, rotate 90°, repeat; that’s one fold. Rest 15 minutes; fold again. Rest 15; fold a third time. Dough should feel elastic with that “jiggly wobble.”
Cold-proof for flavor and scheduling: cover and refrigerate overnight (up to 3 days). This slow rise deepens color and taste while strengthening structure.
Line and oil two 12" cast-iron pans with parchment (oil under and over the paper so the edges fry to gold). Oil your hands, divide dough in half, and gently stretch each piece to fit a pan. Dimple thoroughly with fingertips, then brush with more olive oil. Proof until notably puffy and wobbly.
Heat the grill/oven to 400°F (205°C). For the sweet pan, lightly brush with oil first so sugar sticks and caramelizes without drying the crumb, then top with brown sugar, pecan rub, and hazelnuts; finish with a pinch of smoked flake salt. For the savory pan, combine melted butter, microplaned garlic, dried rosemary, and pepper; brush generously and finish with flaky salt. (Pepitas go on late so they toast without burning.)
Bake 35–45 minutes, rotating if needed; tent with foil if the top colors too fast. Add pepitas to the savory pan during the last 5–10 minutes so they toast. Temp the center to 185–200°F; this dough is moist, so the higher end is fine. Carefully lift from pans and cool on a wire rack to keep bottoms crisp. Caution: melted sugar is extremely hot—give the sweet pan a few minutes before slicing. Slice warm; it’s stellar for sandwiches tomorrow.

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Recipe Note

Recipe FAQ

Can I bake this indoors if I don't have a pellet grill?

Yes — a 400°F conventional oven works well. The cast iron pans still produce those crispy, fried-in-oil edges regardless of the heat source, and the crumb texture will be identical. What you lose on the pellet grill is the gentle, even radiant heat from all sides and the very subtle wood-smoke note the YS640s imparts. Both methods produce excellent focaccia; the pellet grill version has a slightly more complex background flavor that's easy to miss if you haven't tasted both side by side.

Why cold proof overnight instead of proofing at room temperature?

The overnight refrigerator proof (up to 3 days) does two things a room-temperature proof cannot. First, it deepens flavor — yeast fermentation at cold temperatures is slower and produces a more complex mix of organic acids and aromatic compounds than a fast room-temperature rise. Second, it strengthens gluten structure over time without any additional kneading, which is what produces the distinctive jiggly, springy texture focaccia is known for. The cold proof also makes scheduling easy — mix the dough the day before, refrigerate, and bake whenever you're ready within the 3-day window.

Why does the turmeric go in the dough rather than on top?

Turmeric's primary role here is visual — it amplifies the pumpkin purée's natural golden color to produce a more saturated, deep amber crumb that reads as clearly "pumpkin" when sliced. Applied to the surface it would create uneven color patches; mixed into the dough it distributes evenly throughout the crumb. The flavor contribution of 1 tsp in a dough this size is negligible — it's earthy at most and completely undetectable against the pumpkin, olive oil, and either topping. It's entirely optional and skipping it doesn't change the final taste.

Why add pepitas only in the last 5–10 minutes of baking?

Pepitas are high in fat and small in size — both factors that make them burn quickly at 400°F. Added at the start of baking, they would be dark brown and bitter by the time the focaccia is done. Added in the last 5–10 minutes, they receive just enough heat to toast to a light golden color and develop their characteristic nutty flavor without burning. The same principle applies to any small, high-fat nut or seed used as a focaccia topping — always add late.

Can I cook this Indoors?

We rate this a 4 out of 5 for cooking indoors. Great in the kitchen, better on the grill. A 400°F home oven with cast iron pans produces excellent pumpkin focaccia with the same crispy edges and airy crumb. The pellet grill's gentle, even heat and subtle wood smoke add a layer of complexity that's worth having if you own the equipment, but this recipe is explicitly designed to work in either environment.

Recipe Highlights & Insights

The three bowl folds replace intensive hand kneading and do it better for this style of dough. Each fold realigns the gluten strands in a new direction, building the network of proteins that holds the carbon dioxide gas produced by fermentation. Three folds spaced 15 minutes apart allow the gluten to relax between stretches, which means you can fold the dough farther each time without tearing it. The result after the cold proof is a dough with strong, extensible gluten that stretches easily into the pan rather than springing back — the hallmark of good focaccia structure.
The parchment-under-and-over oiling technique is what creates focaccia's signature crispy, golden edge. Oil under the parchment conducts heat through the paper into the base of the dough; oil on top of the parchment and on the dough itself ensures the bottom surface essentially shallow-fries against the hot cast iron. Without this oil layer, the base would steam rather than fry, producing a softer, paler bottom crust. The Lodge 12" cast iron skillets are ideal for this because cast iron maintains extremely even temperature distribution and holds heat consistently for the entire 35–45 minute bake.
The sweet and savory topping combination is the recipe's strongest creative move and the detail most worth emphasizing in content. Serving two flavors from one dough makes this appropriate for both sweet-leaning and savory-leaning guests at any fall gathering — the brown sugar–hazelnut–smoked salt version is essentially a dessert bread; the garlic-rosemary–pepita version is a cheese board staple. The Noble Saltworks Oak Smoked Flaked Finishing Salt bridges both variations by adding a smoke note that connects both pans to the outdoor cooking tradition without the pans ever needing to go on a grill.
The internal temperature target of 185–200°F is higher than most bread recipes recommend and is specific to this dough's high moisture content from the pumpkin purée. Standard bread is done at 190–200°F, but high-hydration enriched doughs like this one can seem underdone at lower temperatures because the pumpkin moisture needs more time to fully set. Pulling too early produces a gummy, slightly wet crumb that improves significantly if you let it go to the higher end of the range. The center probe reading rather than visual doneness is the reliable signal here — the golden top color develops well before the center is fully set.