Delicious sourdough cinnamon rolls made with discard sourdough starter to give them more flavor and make them softer and stay fresh longer. These rolls are quite amazing, I could not be happier with the results.
For a long time, I’ve been using a slightly modified version of Le Cordon Bleu’s classic sweet yeast dough (pate levée sucrée) to make cinnamon rolls. It makes outstanding rolls with a soft, airy, and slightly chewy texture. In this recipe, I successfully incorporated a sourdough starter to give the dough more flavor and to eliminate waste by utilizing a discard sourdough starter.
A ‘side effect’ of adding a sourdough starter in the dough is the improved shelf life, or freshness if you will. Lactic acid bacteria present in sourdough starters not only add flavor, but they create an environment that keeps spoilage bacteria off. Similarly, that’s why sourdough bread stays fresh longer than yeast bread.
Another cool thing about this recipe is how the filling is made and applied – a tip shared by a friend who learned about it in a culinary school. For the filling, he suggested using an equal amount of butter, brown sugar and white sugar. The ingredients are mixed together then sprinkled over the rolled-out dough. He didn’t specify the amount of cinnamon to use but I settled on about 20% of cinnamon which worked quite well.
To make a long story short, I like this filling a lot. It’s not as greasy as some other fillings I’ve tried and the combination of sugar, butter and cinnamon seems perfectly balanced. Though, tastes differ, so feel free to modify the ratios to suit your taste.
Finally, the icing. In my sourdough cinnamon roll recipe, I am using my all-time favorite cream cheese icing that I adapted from the Cinnabon copycat recipe. I made a few tweaks to it but the general idea is the same. This icing is divine. It’s creamy, tangy, and not overly sweet. A little bit of salt brings a nice balance to its taste, and some vanilla extract elevates the flavor. It sure beats the plain cream cheese and sugar icing or cloying fondant.
Useful tips
- This recipe requires rolling out the dough to a fairly large size, so make sure that your baking station has enough room for it, this will make the process much easier.
- To make the icing easily spreadable, try adding a little bit of milk to it. If you want it a little thicker, simply omit the milk.
- Apply the icing while the buns are hot. It will melt and roll down the rolls, making them moist and decadent. Then immediately serve while they are still hot.
- Cover and refrigerate any (cooled down) leftover sourdough cinnamon rolls. This way they will keep fresh for up to a week. At room temperature, they will stay fresh for up to 3 days.
- To reheat cinnamon rolls, place them in the oven at 325F until they are warm. You can cover them with foil to prevent browning.
Ingredients
- 100 g butter about 7 Tbsp; very soft
- 50 g sugar about 3 heaping Tbsp
- 80 ml milk about 5 Tbsp; 90F (32C)
- 200 g sourdough starter about 1 1/3 cup
- 3 eggs
- 10 g instant yeast about 2 tsp; also known as quick rise or rapid rise
- 450 g all-purpose flour about 3 cups using 'scoop and swipe' method
- 10 g powdered milk about 1 Tbsp
- 5 g salt about 1 tsp
Cinnamon filling
- 75 g butter about 5 Tbsp; room temperature
- 75 g brown sugar about 6 Tbsp
- 75 g white sugar about 6 Tbsp
- 16 g cinnamon about 2 Tbsp (plus more to taste; see notes)
Icing
- 113 g unsalted butter 1 stick, softened
- 125 g powdered sugar about 1 cup
- 70 g cream cheese about 5 Tbsp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp sea salt or kosher salt
- 2 Tbsp milk
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar together until smooth.
- Add the eggs, milk, and the sourdough starter and mix well.
- Next, add the dry ingredients.
- Knead the dough, adding a little flour as needed to prevent sticking. If the dough becomes too dry, sprinkle a little water on it. Continue kneading the dough until smooth and no longer sticky.
- Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
- Punch down and roll the dough out into a long rectangle, about 1/4 in thick, about 18" by 12".
- In a small bowl prepare the filling by mixing together the butter, white and brown sugar, and cinnamon.
- Spread the filling over the top of the rolled out dough.
- Roll the dough up along the long side and cut into 12 equal pieces.
- Place the rolls in large baking dish lined with parchment paper, cover and let proof at room temperature until double in size.
- Preheat oven to 400F. Once the rolls are proofed, bake at 400F for 20 - 30 minutes, until they become golden brown.
- Meanwhile, prepare the icing by creaming the icing ingredients in a small bowl.
- Once the cinnamon rolls are ready, take them out of the oven, then spread the icing over the tops. Serve while hot.
Nancy
Amazingly delicious! This is my go-to recipe for holidays or anytime we feel like a special treat. Also great for using up your sourdough discard! 😋
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Glad to hear it, Nancy. Enjoy!
Jody
After making the English muffins that were so wonderful I had to try the Cinnamon rolls. They look beautiful and the family is having a hard time waiting for them to cool.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Glad that you liked them, Jody. Enjoy!
Vickie Wallace
Can you tell approximately how long the kneading takes. I fear I will not get that step right, thank you
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
If kneading in a stand mixer – 5-7 minutes, if by hand 10-15 min. These are the usual approximate timings. To be honest, I never timed kneading for this dough, I just see how the dough feels and go from there. The rule of thumb is – if the dough is lax, wet and sticky, it’s not ready. When the dough becomes more elastic, clears the walls of the bowl, tacky to touch but not sticky, elastic, then it’s ready. In this recipe though, the dough is fairly forgiving… My 10-year-old made these cinnamon rolls using this very recipe about 3 times already and they always came out very nice.
Linda
How can I make this without the sourdough?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Substitute sourdough by 100g AP flour and 100g water or milk, the rest is the same.
Patti
The storm came through last night so I thought what better time to make those cinnamon rolls I’ve been meaning to make. So I did. I can without a doubt say they were by far the best cinnamon rolls I have ever eaten, and my friend who ate them fresh out of the oven with me said the same. He is usually a center of the road type person. The opposite of me. Everything is OK. Not this time. With every bite he said wow, wow, wow. How did you do this? I was just going to have a bite or two and more later and before I knew it mine was gone and I was eyeing another. Brilliant Victor!
Now in the interest of full confessions, and I can foresee getting kicked off this and any baking list for saying this, but I will be honest. I was quite tired. OK here goes. I made the dough with a bread machine. I had no idea what would come out but they could not have been any better if you had made them, Victor! haha.
I made a very thin icing and used just a fraction because I am not an icing girl, but it was vital to use some. And I made a little more of the filling that the recipe called for since there just can’t be too much cinnamon filling, and I used half light and half dark brown sugars.
Thanks for this amazing recipe. Now I will go and order some pants in a size bigger. I can see my future!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
🙂 Happy to hear it, Patti. I love it when my readers discover something new and delicious on my blog. Hey, bread machine or not, it’s the joy of making truly tasty food and enjoying it. You can make a loaf of bread, or a roll, dozens of different ways. I think what’s really important for any home baker is to find a way to do it in the most convenient way, only then you will be making it again and again… in the end, that’s the most important thing.
Thanks for emailing me the picture, those rolls look absolutely terrific. I am hungry!
Patti
Very true. I already have friends asking for more. I was much less precise than usual, didn’t weigh anything. And of course I used instant yeast ’cause of the bread machine. It is a very forgiving recipe. I do have a proofing setting on my oven. I think it would make an old shoe rise. 🙂
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
😉 Good oven helps a lot, for sure.
Avery
I just baked these earlier today and they came out beautiful and delicious! I’ve tried several different recipes of sourdough cinnamon rolls, and even though my kids have liked them all, yours are their favorite. I got some Saigon cinnamon for the first time and it worked great in the recipe. I did retard the dough in the refrigerator overnight prior to setting it out for about 3 hours to come to room temperature prior to rolling out. My 7year old daughter likes how soft the rolls are on the inside and my 11 year old son who is a young food critic and finicky about cream cheese icing gobbled his roll up. These are nice when there’s no rush to make them, and I’m wondering if they’d work just as well with active dry yeast that’s been proofed since I have surplus of it. My kids and taste buds thank you for this recipe but by pandemic waistline does not.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You are so very welcome, Avery. Glad you guys enjoyed these cinnamon rolls. Happy baking!
Ryan
Finally had enough sourdough discard to make these yesterday. Followed recipe with no deviations and….they came out great! Seriously wonderful rolls. Thank you for the recipe.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You are very welcome. Happy baking!
Lily
Hi victor, I tried your no-knead sourdough, chocolate baguette, French baguette it was super duper good 🥰🥰 thanks for sharing such a amazing recipes.
Now back to the main topic this is my first time to try your sourdough cinnamon roll. Questions, for icing, can I do away the Cream cheese? What is your pan size for this recipes? if I decided not to go with icing as topping would the roll become very dry, if is so, how to prevent the dryness? I like cinnamon rolls very much of cause I prefer moist than hard and dry. 😬
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Lily,
sorry for the delayed response. The pan is the standard 9″ by 13″. Yes, you can get away with just cream cheese, there is no right or wrong here, tastes differ. To prevent dryness, let them cool to room temp and then cover tightly with Saran wrap. It would help if you press the plastic against the rolls to leave as little air there as possible. Refrigerate them. It will help keep them moist and will extend their shelf life.
Happy baking!
Eric
Love your lessons in bread making. I took it up when COVID prevented me from making my annual pilgrimage to France, where I feast on the many breads (and cheeses, and wines).
Question about the sourdough cinnamon rolls: what would be the best way to start the work in the evening allowing you to bake them in the morning without having to get up at 3:00. I want to take warm rolls to work with me in the morning. Thank you, Victor.
Eric
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Glad to hear it, Eric. To bake these in the morning you’d need to cold-retard overnight. I haven’t done this with this recipe but I do this with my French baguettes most of the time. You may need to make some tweaks but the idea is to prepare the dough as usual, let it ferment until the fermentation gets going, look for a 50%-75% volume increase, surface blisters and lactic acid aroma. Cover and refrigerate overnight at about 38F. This will yield even more flavor. Check in the morning, it should have risen more. If not fully doubled (the temp may be too cold), let sit at room temp until it does, then proceed with the rest of the steps. Something like that. I will play with this recipe and add more notes sometime in the future. Would love to hear your experience with this method as well.
Arleen
Instead of sugar in the filling I used Lankato sugar substitute. I am trying to cut out most sugars in our diet. I was very pleased with the results & will:mLe these again.
Alane
Can you make this without the sourdough discard? What would you replace it with?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Poolish. The night before, in a small bowl, mix 1 tsp of yeast, 120g water and 120g flour. Cover and refrigerate. The next day, use it as if it were a sourdough starter. You will get a very good flavor. I suggested 120/120 as some will be left behind on the walls of the bowl. You could do 100/100 in a large bowl, then add the rest of the ingredients to it the next day. Your choice.
Patricia
Hello Victor,
Tonight, I made these cinnamon rolls, although halved the recipe. Used 2 eggs (instead of 1-1/2 eggs), and then after mixing all the ingredients with hand mixer & dough hooks, realized that might be too much “liquid” b/c the dough was still somewhat sticking to side of bowl, so I added 1TBL of wheat flour and kept kneading with dough hooks. Anyway, it seemed to mostly pull together into ball and then gave it the 2hour rest&rise. The dough handled just lovely rolling it out to 12×18 on marble pastry board without any problem, and they baked up beautifully. I did add commenter-Sarah’s suggestion for water-honey-cinnamon in bottom of pan and think that helped keep them moist. I loved the cinnamon filling and next time I’ll double the amount…..I like a lot of cinnamon goo:)
Btw, the bun tops were browning too quickly so I covered with foil until bun interior reached 200d-F…..is that correct finished temp or is that overbaked?
Thank You for the great recipe; excited to eat one with icing for brkfst!
~ Patricia
Natasha
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. The cinnamon rolls turned to be the best I’ve ever tried or baked. Used the exact proportions including cinnamon (in grams not spoons). I think it just can’t be better!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Happy to hear that, Natasha. Enjoy.
Paul
I’m going to try this recipe today, but I had a question. My sourdough discard jar is in the fridge. Do I need to let it get to room temp before making this recipe?
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Paul, I’ve always usead mine at room temp but it can be cold as it’s used for flavoring in this recipe, not for leavening.
Michele Archer
I love your recipes but I’m not sure how long to kneed the dough for the cinnamon rolls. I’ve made baguettes but with just my own sourdough… very good and the rustic sourdough peasant bread , even better. I made my own starter and it’s really good
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Michelle, glad to hear that you like my recipes. As far as kneading time, I do it until the dough is silky smooth. In a mixer, it takes about 3-4 minutes or so. By hand, 4-5 minutes I’d say. Basically, when the dough starts to gather into a ball and becomes smooth, it’s ready to go.
Jennifer Spencer
The dough is wonderful! Lovely, softer than I usually bake and I am pleased with it – I will use the dough recipe again, no question, and thank you. But the remonce (filling) is so full of cinnamon that it actually burns my mouth. I made the filling at half strength (20 g cinnamon, not 40 g) and it was way, way too much. Other recipes I have used call for 7-10 grams, maximum. I will say that I ground my cinnamon fresh, so it’s possible that my spices are more potent than the recipe assumes, but still, that’s a lot. Make the dough as is – it’s great – but unless you want a red-hot-candy cinnamon bun, ease way up on the cinnamon. After all that work to make these, it’s frustrating not to enjoy them entirely.
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Thanks for the feedback, Jennifer. It really depends on the cinnamon and its freshness. Back when I was developing this recipe I had a bag of cinnamon in the pantry that I am sure wasn’t the best quality and nor was it that fresh. To get decent flavor I ended up adding 5 tablespoons. No complaints from anyone. Since then I’ve switched to Saigon cinnamon that carries a stronger, spicier kick and I do use about 2 tablespoons of it now in this recipe to get good flavor. But, it’s a good point. I will adjust the amount in the recipe and make a note for others to keep this in mind.
Sarah
This is a decent recipe. My first time making sourdough cinnamon rolls. I’ve been making traditional cinnamon tolls with my grandmother since I can remember. There are a few things I did different. I use honey withy my sugar in the filling and reduce the sugar a bit. Also, my grandmother taught me that to always put a little water, honey and cinnamon mix in the bottom of the pan. Makes the bottles sticky and gooey. I’ve always down this and did it here too. Made a huge difference where without this step cinnamon rolls always seem dry. We also generally use muffin tins to make the easier for giving. A deeper pan for when we are going to eat them at home and don’t care for presentation. I’ve never put frosting on my cinnamon rolls. But it’s popular and so I’ve had to learn. These were good. Not sure if they are Grandma good though.
Maureen
In the cinnamon rolls is that 1&1/3 cup of sourdough? I’m looking forward to trying these!
Thanks Maureen
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Hi Maureen, yes, that’s 1 and 1/3 cup (1.33 cups). Happy baking!
Katherine T Baker
Sorry I reread and you meant to cream the sugar and butter. Duh…
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
No worries. Hope they turned out great. These a huge hit at our home.
Kathy Baker
Your first directions say to combine butter, sugar and cream??? I don’t see cream in the list of ingredients!!! Did you omit cream from the ingredients or what?
Sarah
I had a problem with this step too. I think she means cream butter and sugar…
Mayra
I had to read it a few times too! Lol. I was so stressed out that i didn’t have cream! Then i realized what it was saying and had to laugh at myself a bit 🙂
Suzie
These look amazing!!! 😍 I already have a go to recipe for Cinnamon Rolls, but am learning to use all of my sourdough discard in different recipes, so this is perfect! I also really apreciate recipes with grams 😊 Am definitely going to try this 🤗
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Enjoy!
Dana
I made this recipe without any changes and it turned out amazing. I’ve tried many cinnamon roll recipes, but my family said this was their favorite. It’s now my go-to recipe for a special weekend treat 🙂 Thank you so much!
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
You are very welcome, Dana. Glad you liked my cinnamon roll recipe. Happy baking!
Marie
OMG these are heavenly! I did make some changes because I had to. No powdered milk so I just skipped it. No yeast so I just used my young sourdough discard. I put the mixed unkneaded dough in the frig overnight and let it rise for a couple of hours at room temp. When it had more than doubled I did lots of stretch and folds. It stared out very sticky so I kept sprinkling on more flower. I didn’t have quite enough cinnamon so I added some cardamom, cloves & nutmeg to the mix. My first time making enriched dough but not my last. Put them in the frig to last a week? I don’t think mine will make it through tomorrow. Thank you for the recipe. .
Victor @ Taste of Artisan
Wow, you really got creative with it. Glad you liked the recipe. Thanks for the feedback and happy baking!