• In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together the pumpkin, butter, and salt.
• Add the flour, salt, and herbs to the bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top.
• Pour in the warm water, and, using the dough hook, mix until a shaggy dough comes together, about 2-3 minutes.
• Increase the speed to medium and knead for 10 minutes. The dough will be shiny, smooth and will wrap around the dough hook. You may have a little dough sticking in the bottom of the bowl, and that's just fine.
• With oiled hands, gather the dough into a ball and plop it back into the mixing bowl. Oil the top, and let it rise in a warm place (I like to use the microwave with the surface light on and a just-boiled mug of water in it) until at least doubled. This is an Ebullient Dough, so it will probably only take about an hour to 1 1/2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 425F and put a baking stone on a rack in the center of the oven. If you have a pizza stone, preheat that as well.

Shaping

• Now you have options. You can portion your dough into 16 3oz balls to make rolls, or cut it into two 1 1/2 pound pieces to make loaves. Or, as in the photo with the sage leaf imprints, cut the dough into 3 1 pound pieces to make boules.
• For 3 oz rolls: with oiled hands, shape each piece into a round and then tighten up the outer membrane by pushing each roll between your hands, using the friction of the countertop to tighten it up. Place 8 on each of two half-sheet pans and dust the tops with flour (or do the herb imprints if you'd rather).
• For two loaves: Press each piece of dough out into a rectangle shape and then roll up tightly. Fit each coil into an 4 1/2" x 8 1/2" loaf pan and dust the tops with flour (or do the herb imprints)
• For 1 pound rounds: With oiled hands, form each piece into a rough round, gathering the excess dough underneath to keep the top somewhat taut. Place each rough round, gathered side down, on its own piece of parchment on a rimless cookie sheet, cookie shovel or pizza peel.
• Regardless of which shape/s you made, cover and allow them to rise in a warm place until puffy, about 45 minutes to an hour.

To Bake

• Bake the rounds directly on your pizza stone, or place the loaf pan/half-sheet pans in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, and then reduce the temperature to 375F to finish baking. Loaves will be nicely risen, some of the flour on top will have turned beige from the heat of the oven. and the internal temperature should be right around 200F. For rolls, total baking time will be about 15-17 minutes. Loaves take about 25 minutes, and rounds about 20, but use your instant read thermometer to make sure.
• Cool to room temperature. Enjoy within a day or two. To keep longer, put in a freezer bag and suck out the air with a straw before sealing. Freeze for up to a month. Thaw in the sealed bag until the bread reaches room temperature.

To Make the Optional Herb Imprints

• Brush the back of a sage leaf with your egg yolk glue. Press it gently into place. Keep gluing and placing until you have 3 sage leaves glued onto each loaf.
• Liberally sprinkle flour all over the top of the loaves. Cover each loaf with plastic wrap and let sit out until puffy, about 30 minutes. The design on your bread won't be as defined now.
• Put two of the loaves in the fridge. Take the remaining loaf and sprinkle some extra flour right over the leaves.
• Take a pastry brush and gently brush off a fair amount of the flour. Make sure to brush any off the parchment, because it will burn in the oven.
• Carefully peel the sage leaves off.