Description
Irresistibly soft and tender, sourdough cinnamon rolls—naturally leavened for easier digestibility and elevated flavor. Mix them at night and bake them fresh in the morning.
Ingredients
Dough
- 3/4 cup milk (or plant-based milk)
- 1/2 cup active sourdough starter, bubbly and freshly fed- see notes
- 1/4 cup honey (or sub maple syrup)
- 2 large eggs
- 8 tablespoons butter, melted, cooled.
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups all-purpose flour (use half bread flour and half all-purpose for the best texture and loft) spooned and leveled
Filling
- 2 tablespoons softened butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 4 teaspoons cinnamon
Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese (room temp)
- 4 tablespoons butter (softened or room temp)
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, more to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- At night, make the dough. In a large bowl or stand mixer using the whisk attachment, whisk milk, starter, honey, eggs, salt, and butter until combined. Switch to paddle attachment and add the 4 cups of flour, a cup at a time and mix, scraping down the sides, incorporating all the flour- you’ll have a thick, craggy, sticky dough.
- Knead. Let the dough rest 15 minutes, change to the dough hook, and knead for 7-8 minutes on medium-low (2nd setting). Dough should be smooth, elastic, and pull completely away from the sides of the bowl. (Feel free to knead the dough by hand on a floured counter). If it continues to stick to side of the bowl, add a tablespoon or two of flour, knead for a minute or so, and repeat as needed, until it pulls away.
- Long Overnight Rise. Form a ball, coat it in melted butter (or olive oil) and cover it at room temperature for 12 hours, or until almost doubled. If it overproofs, it can get unpleasantly sour- so better to go slightly under.
- Roll and Fill. Pour the dough onto a floured surface and roll it out using a rolling pin into a 12×16-inch rectangle. Brush with softened butter. Mix cinnamon and brown sugar together in a small bowl, and sprinkle over the butter. Roll the dough starting at a shorter edge. Pinch the outer seam together and place it seam side down. Using a bench scraper or knife, cut into 12 equal pieces and place them in a butter-greased 9×13-inch baking pan.
- Second rise. Let rise 1-1½ hours or until puffed.
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Bake. Bake on the middle rack until golden (25-27 minutes) and internal temp reaches 200°F.
- Frost: To make the cream cheese frosting, whip the cream cheese and butter together until creamy and smooth using the paddle attachment, then add the powdered sugar, salt and vanilla. Spread some frosting over the rolls while they are still warm. Save any extra to serve on the side.
Notes
Starter– feed your starter in the morning to make this at night. You do not want an overly “sour” dough- it does not taste good- so freshly fed and peaked is best. You’ll know your starter is active and bubbly if it doubles in size within 6-8 hours of feeding.
Butter– you can make this with less butter in the dough- for example, cut back to ¼ cup and add ¼ cup milk. It works, but the dough is not as tender or rich. My taste tester (husband) preferred the more buttery dough. Of course. 😉 My opinion is that if I am going to make cinnamon rolls, I might as well make them delicious with all the butter. You do you.
Proof in refrigerator. Yes, you can long proof this in the refrigerator- you’ll have to watch and gauge it, a glass bowl is helpful here. Pull it our when it’s almost doubled. Be careful not to overproof, as this will affect the flavor negatively.
Cinnamon– I personally like to sub half of the cinnamon with cardamom– it’s a Scandinavian thing. Do as you like.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: one cinnamon roll
- Calories: 396
- Sugar: 20.1 g
- Sodium: 368.3 mg
- Fat: 17.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 10.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 52.9 g
- Fiber: 1.6 g
- Protein: 6.7 g
- Cholesterol: 76.5 mg
