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Good things take time! I am a firm believer that sourdough should be a slow and treasured process, not something you should rush through.
Growing up, my dad always made sourdough pancakes, caramel rolls and coffeecake. He made other recipes too, but these are the ones I remember the most. They are comfort foods for me.
Now, it’s my turn to put my own spin on something of comfort and share it with you.
This cinnamon roll dough is incredibly versatile and not limited to just a cinnamon and sugar filling. You can fill it with your favorite home preserved jams. I have made this dough with blackberry jam and lemon zest. Strawberry jam would be a delicious option too!
Before we begin
I need you to know a few things. I am not a professional baker. I am self taught and learned from those who passed their skills on to me. I would rather have a technically imperfect loaf or roll that tastes amazing rather than a perfect loaf and it is bland and tasteless. I am a homebaker. I bake for my family and how my family likes sourdough
I believe sourdough should be fermented and that we harness its true power. You will not find “quick” recipes here. Rather I will teach you how to plan and bake so that you can enjoy sourdough, so that sourdough can fit into your life, but that sourdough doesn’t make your life revolve around it.
If you need a starter, you will need to make a starter or buy a starter.
For a step by step guide, I refer to my friend Meg as I don’t have a guide written yet. HEAD HERE to learn how to make a starter
You see my starter has been passed down from my great grandfather to my dad and now to me. I do offer the ability to purchase my starter if that’s something you are interested in. If so, you can PURCHASE A STARTER in my shop.
Sourdough Baking Rhythm
Whether I am making cinnamon rolls, bread or cookies. This is my sourdough rhythm.
Remove my starter from the fridge
Feed my starter according to the recipe
Let rest to become active
Once active remove my starting amount
Then get to mixing and into the rest of the recipe.
How to feed your starter
Now without fail, any time I share about how I feed my starter according to a recipe it always puzzles people. It is just basic math. So heres the example i have come up with:
If Boots needs to feed her starter, she looks to see what that recipe needs.
Boots discovers the recipe calls for 1/2c active starter (or approximately 113g)
Boots would then feed her starter 1/4 each water and flour (or 65g water and flour).
If Boots only keeps a small amount of starter, say 1/4 c starter then the math breakdown would look like
Starter + water + flour
1/4c + 1/4c + 1/4c or
65g + 65g + 65g
Once active then Boots would remove her 1/4 cup (her starting starter amount) and what’s left is what she would use to bake with.
Sweet Dough Ingredients
- 150 g active sourdough starter
- 50 g water
- 150 g milk
- 350 g all purpose flour
- 50 g cane sugar
- 8 g salt (code flouring)
- 113 g lard or butter
Filling Ingredients
- Filling:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1-2 TBSP cinnamon (I go for 2+ TBSP)
- optional 1-2 TBSP cocoa and 1/2 tsp cardamom
Cream Cheese Glaze Ingredients
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 4 ounces butter
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup-1/3 cup powdered sugar
Cinnamon Roll Steps
- Combine your active starter, water, milk, and sugar together
- Combine your dry ingredients of flour and salt
- To your dry ingredients, drop in dollops of lard and squish together to make the dough look like pea sized crumbles. This is the same action you would do if making biscuit or pie dough. (Alternatively, you can just mix everything together and then you will knead the dough. but I do like the texture better when you take the time to treat this like biscuit dough)
- Add your wet ingredients to your dry and mix to combine.
- I have done this both ways where I have stretch and folded the dough or kneaded gently for 2-3 minutes. The choice is yours. Stretch and fold every hour 3 times. OR knead for 2-3 minutes. But no longer or the dough gets way to sticky and messy. You just want this to be combined and work through any large pieces of lard or butter.
- let rest in the fridge for 24 hours
- Prepare a 9×13 pan with baking spray and preheat your oven to 400
- gently stretch your dough to 10×16 inch rectangle
- spread your softened butter across your dough using a silicone spatula and then sprinkle your cinnamon/sugar on top
- working from the longest side in front of you (rolling away from you), begin rolling your dough to form that signature swirl.
- slice in 1.5-2 inch slices and place into your baking dish. you should be able to go three wide by 4 long giving you 12 cinnamon rolls, set aside to rest for 1-2 hours or until just almost doubled in size
- bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes
- allow to cool and top with cream cheese icing or my cream cheese glaze
Cream Cheese Glaze Instructions
- In a pot over medium heat add your cream cheese and butter. Melt these two together and keep stirring. It looks funky but it smoothes out.
- Once the cream cheese and butter is melted, add in vanilla and stir. Then sprinkle and combine the powdered sugar.
- This mixture should be nice and creamy, pour over your cinnamon rolls. Store in the refrigerator
Bake Along Videos
Each day this week, I am breaking down the steps you should be taking to make cinnamon rolls. I like to visually show and verbally describe what it is that I am looking for when baking. While recipes are important, sometimes with sourdough they need to be a guideline. More so with baking bread, but I just find the more you harness your sourdough intuition the better baker you become. There are somethings, like bread, that the recipe is tried and true, BUT I live in a dry climate and at the moment its cold. House humidity and temperature impact the quality of your dough.
Each video, when available will be linked below and clickable.
- feeding my starter in preparation for baking.
- mixing my dough and fermentation
- fillings
- baking and the glaze
- YouTube playlist
Recipe
Long Fermented Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
I grew up with my dad making caramel rolls and now its my turn to create a cherished comfort food! Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 150 g active sourdough starter
- 50 g water
- 150 g milk
- 350 g all purpose flour
- 50 g cane sugar
- 8 g salt
- 113 g lard or butter
- Filling:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1-2 TBSP cinnamon (I go for 2+ TBSP)
- optional 1-2 TBSP cocoa and 1/2 tsp cardamom
- Glaze:
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 4 ounces butter
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup-1/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Combine your active starter, water, milk, and sugar together
- combine your dry ingredients of flour and salt
- To your dry ingredients, drop in dollops of lard and squish together to make the dough look like pea sized crumbles. This is the same action you would do if making biscuit or pie dough. (Alternatively, you can just mix everything together and then you will knead the dough. but I do like the texture better when you take the time to treat this like biscuit dough)
- Add your wet ingredients to your dry and mix to combine.
- I have done this both ways where I have stretch and folded the dough or kneaded gently for 2-3 minutes. The choice is yours. Stretch and fold every hour 3 times. OR knead for 2-3 minutes. But no longer or the dough gets way to sticky and messy. You just want this to be combined and work through any large pieces of lard or butter.
- let rest in the fridge for 24 hours
- Prepare a 9x13 pan with baking spray and preheat your oven to 400
- gently stretch your dough to 10x16 inch rectangle
- spread your softened butter across your dough using a silicone spatula and then sprinkle your cinnamon/sugar on top
- working from the longest side in front of you (rolling away from you), begin rolling your dough to form that signature swirl.
- slice in 1.5-2 inch slices and place into your baking dish. you should be able to go three wide by 4 long giving you 12 cinnamon rolls, set aside to rest for 1-2 hours or until just almost doubled in size
- bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes
- allow to cool and top with cream cheese icing or my cream cheese glaze (see notes for instructions)
Notes
My cream cheese glaze takes just a few minutes to warm and bring together. In a pot over medium heat add your cream cheese and butter. Melt these two together and keep stirring. It looks funky but it smoothes out. Once the cream cheese and butter is melted, add in vanilla and stir. Then sprinkle and combine the powdered sugar. This mixture should be nice and creamy, pour over your cinnamon rolls.
Store in the refrigerator
Additional Resources and Blog Posts
- High Hydration Long Fermented Sourdough Bread
- NO DISCARD Sourdough Method
- how to jumpstart your lagging sourdough starter
- Useful Equipment Needed for Baking Sourdough at Home
- The Best Sourdough Snickerdoodle
- Frequently Asked Sourdough Questions
- Dehydrated Sourdough Starter
- Sourdough Honey Oat Loaf Recipe Card
- Apple Butter Recipe with Boiling Water Canning Instructions
- Rainier Cherry Jam Recipe with Boiling Water Canning Instructions
- Amazon Store Front
