The homemade sourdough cinnamon rolls are by far one of the popular posts on the blog. However, I have to say these homemade sourdough cinnamon buns top the cinnamon rolls in, well, everything! They are simply amazing and are currently everyone’s favorite. They have a slight crunch on the top; the middle is super soft and light, bursting with cinnamon flavor; and for the finale, the bottom is slightly sticky, just enough to dip the crunchy tops in for that extra sweet cinnamon flavor. With a hot cup of coffee or tea, what is not to love and enjoy? Simply irresistible!
Making the Dough for the Homemade Sourdough Cinnamon Buns
Since these homemade cinnamon buns are the sourdough version, they require more time and care. But no worries, it is not overly complicated.
The two most important things to have on hand are 1) a lively and bubbly sourdough starter and 2) a stand mixer.
The lively sourdough starter will produce light and airy buns, and the stand mixer comes in handy when you need to incorporate butter into the dough. Of course, you can do this part by hand, but it is immensely more effortless with the stand mixer.
Since this is an enriched dough containing eggs, butter, and milk, you should separate the dough-making process into two sections.
First, you will do an initial mix of all the ingredients but excluding butter, and do the initial development of gluten by mixing the dough until smooth and shiny.
Then, in the second step, you will further enrich the dough by incrementally (1 tablespoon at a time) adding the butter. Here, the incremental part is essential. If you add more butter, the dough will slide alongside the bowl, and it will be hard to incorporate into the dough properly.
The final dough should look very smooth and shiny.
Transfer the dough to a buttered proofing bowl. Fold the dough using the coil method several times to form a nice ball and cover the bowl. The dough temperature at this point should be around 25°C (77°F).
At this point, you will start the bulk fermentation, which spans over 3.5 hours, where you should do a coil fold after the first two hours. After this, you should place the dough in the fridge for overnight cold fermentation.
The cold overnight fermentation will allow the dough to ferment further, albeit at a much slower pace. Also, the dough will be much easier to shape the following day since it is cold.
How to Shape the Cinnamon Buns
I don’t know about you, but I am a visual person. So instead of butchering words further, I made a short slideshow of sorts. It takes you through the main steps of shaping the buns.
Regarding the two leftover edges, I baked them. You can discard them if you wish as they don’t have a uniform amount of filling. However, I generally have a hard time discarding any of the dough.
Proofing & Baking the Homemade Sourdough Cinnamon Buns
Prove these sourdough cinnamon buns in a warm area. Oven with a light on is perfect for this, especially in winter days.
They should prove for about 2.5 hours at about 26ºC (78ºF).
Before baking, brush them with the egg wash mixed with a bit of date syrup. The date syrup gives that beautiful, consistent color.
It is best to bake them at 200ºC (400ºF), with the preheated oven at 250ºC(482ºF).
They are small and bake individually. So, a high initial temperature will give them a boost and leave them very light in the middle.
The baking time is relatively short, at about 15 + 4 minutes. You should check them at around the 15-minute mark and keep an eye for these additional 4 minutes.
One way of checking whether the buns are baked is to insert a clean toothpick into the center of a middle bun. If the toothpick comes out clean, they are done.
Storing the buns
If you, by some miracle, have any cinnamon rolls left you can store them in an airtight container. They do keep really well. Next day you can reheat them in the microwave. They are very tasty without the reheating as well.
Another great way to reheat them is in a bamboo steamer for just a minute or so. This makes them extra soft.
Related Recipes
If you try these sourdough cinnamon buns please leave a comment below. Also, there are some other yummy sourdough recipes you might like:
- Homemade Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
- Homemade Sourdough Doughnuts
- Sourdough Parker House Dinner Rolls
- Triple Citrus Babka With Cream Cheese, Poppy Seeds, and Cranberries
- Sourdough pumpkin burger buns
- Sourdough pumpkin pancakes with caramelized apples
- Sourdough Carob Babka
- Pumpkin Kamut Calendula Sourdough Bread
Happy baking!
Sourdough cinnamon buns
Equipment & Tools
- Stand mixer
- Muffin tray
- Kitchen scale
- Kitchen ruler (optional)
INGREDIENTS
Dough
- 190 g whole milk (room temperature, Note 1)
- 2 eggs (~ 110g, room temperature)
- 35 g maple syrup
- 250 g sourdough starter (mature, 100% hydration)
- 500 g T00 flour (Mulino Marino)
- 10 g salt (kosher)
- 115 g butter (unsalted, room temperature)
Filling
- 50 g butter (melted)
- 190 g light brown sugar
- 1½ tbsp cinnamon (Ceylon)
- ⅛ tsp salt (kosher)
Other
- 1 tbsp butter (unsalted)
- 1 egg (small)
- ¼ tsp date syrup
INSTRUCTIONS
- Gather all the ingredients.
Prepare the dough
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl of a stand mixer, except for the flour and butter.Add flour and mix at low speed until there are no dry bits of flour in the dough (see Note 1). Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
- Mix on low speed for 5 minutes. Check for gluten development with the windowpane test (Note 2),
- Add butter incrementally, 1 tablespoon at a time, while mixing on speed 4. After 5 minutes of mixing turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Continue mixing for another 2 minutes of speed 4. Lower the speed for one notch and mix for another 1.5 minutes. Lower the speed for another one notch and mix for another 1.5 minutes.
- The dough should be ready if the sides and the bottom of the bowl are clean and the dough has formed a cohesive shiny and smooth mass. The dough should be elastic and shiny, passing the window pane test.The desired dough temperature should be 25°C (77°F).
Bulk fermentation
- Transfer the dough to a clean buttered bowl. Fold the dough using the coil method to form a ball.
- Rest for one hour after which another coil fold should be done. The desired dough temperature should be 25.5°C (78°F).
- Rest for another hour after which do one more coil fold. The desired dough temperature should be 25.5°C (78°F).
- Rest the dough for another hour and a half.
- Place the dough in the fridge for cold fermentation overnight.
Prepare the filling (next day)
- Melt the butter on low heat in a small saucepan. Set aside.
- Add the melted butter and the rest of the filling ingredients to a small food processor and process until all the sugar chunks are broken down and the mixture is uniform and almost powder like. Set aside.
Making the buns (next day)
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and brush the muffin pan. Set aside.
- Dust the clean working surface with some flour. Take the dough from the fridge, scrape it from the bowl, and place top-down on the working surface. Dust it with the flour and start rolling it out, from the middle outwards, applying light pressure to form a rectangle measuring about 50cm (20in) by 40cm (16in). Remove the excess flour from the dough and the work surface using a brush.
- Sprinkle the filling evenly over the ⅔ area of the dough along the longer edge.
- Fold the clean ⅓ of the dough over the ½ of the area with the filling.
- Fold the remaining ⅓ of the area with the filling over the dough forming a flat log.
- Cut the "log" into 12 pieces plus the 2 extra pieces of the edges. Discard the edges.
- Cut each piece lengthwise into three ribbons leaving the top (½in) uncut.
- Make a braid, and starting from the top (the uncut part), fold the braid under itself, forming a "round" shape. Place each bun in the muffin pan. Cover the pan with the plastic foil and set it aside to prove.Prove the buns at around 26ºC (78ºF) for about 2.5 hours or until they are soft and light to touch.
Baking the rolls (next day)
- Preheat the oven to 250ºC (480ºF).
- Once the buns are proofed, make the egg wash by whisking one egg and the date syrup until there are no traces of the date syrup. Lightly brush the cinnamon buns.
- Place the buns in the preheated oven and immidiately turn the oven down to 200ºC (400ºF). Bake fo 15 minutes. Check the buns and bake for another 4 minutes or until they are golden on top. The toothpick should come out clean if inserted in the middle of the bun.
- Serve the buns after they have cooled down a bit.
NOTES
- After the initial mix of the ingredients the dough should be on a softer side and a bit sticky. Due to the differences in flour (and its absorption abilities) and also the weight of the eggs, the dough consistency can deviate a bit and be a bit too dry. If this happens add some more milk. I suggest you start adding 5 grams of milk and only after this additional milk is mixed into the dough you should add more if needed. Note that once the dough has relaxed and the butter is added in the second stage the dough will be softer. So please take care not to add too much additional liquid at this stage.
- If you can slowly stretch the dough without breaking and see the light and the gluten strands through it, that means the gluten has developed well. If the dough breaks almost immediately as you start stretching it then knead for several more minutes and test again. The dough should be elastic and easy to stretch. For a more efficient test, let the dough rest for a minute or so before performing the test.
Katy
I was so interested in this recipe because it was something different rather than regular cinnamon rolls. The process was a bit time consuming but so worth it! I would suggest combining the butter and cinnamon sugar mix to create a paste for the filling. I think this may help it not be so messy when braiding the dough. Also, I did use the 00 flour but I am wondering why do this? I always thought 00 flour was for pizza. I look forward to hearing back from you!
Ita
Hi Katy,
I am glad the rolls turned out great! It is one of my favorite recipe to make in cold autumn and winter days.
Yes, you can definitely make the paste for the filling and spread it with a spatula onto the dough. Personally, I prefer the “dry” method simply because I am done faster, but yes then when you make the buns it takes a bit more patience. Usually there is not much excess filling that spills, but whatever filling scatters around I just add to the bottom of the muffin tin for the next bun.
The 00 flour is super fine flour usually with higher protein content suitable for pizza and bread, as you say. I did test this recipe using the all purpose flour and farro flours, and some other combos, but what I found is that if using the finer flour such as 00 I get extremely light and tender final product. With the all-purpose flour the final structure was more cake-like (smaller round holes, still light but not like with 00), while with 00 I get light elongated strains of dough. But for this to be achieved, the fermentation, especially with sourdough and no addition of yeast, has to be perfect, meaning no under or over-fermenting.
Happy baking!
Ita
Also, I forgot to mention in the comment above, adding milk, eggs and butter in the dough, will partly distort the strength of the dough (ease up the gluten bonds), so in the end you will not end up with a chewy cinnamon bun, but rather something pleasant.
Furthermore, bread flour, like 00, is not the same everywhere in terms of its strength. I have tested quite a lot of different bread flour over the years and it is amazing how they all produce noticeably different dough. So it really depends; best is to try it out. Don’t forget to write notes for yourself, they come in handy later on :))
Grace
I was trying to figure out where the 50g of butter in the filling ingredients is added. Is it just for brushing inside the muffin pan or should it be added to the sugar cinnamon mix?
Ita
Hi Grace,
The 50g of butter in the *filling* section of the recipe should be melted and then mixed with all the other filling ingredients. I will reword the recipe to make it more clear.
The 1tbsp of butter in the *other* section of the recipe is for brushing the inside of the muffin pan.
Happy baking!
Rosalie
Is it possible to put the ingredients in cups and spoonsful?
Ita
There is a link to the right of Ingredients heading where you can change measurement units.
Helen
I’ve made these every Saturday for the last 4 weekends and they come out perfect every time. They’re a huge hit with my family and friends. Thank you for the great recipe and the detailed instructions. It’s a time-consuming process but the buns are worth it.
Ita
Hi Helen,
You are very welcome and I am really glad you and your family like the recipe.
Happy baking,
Ita
Suzanne
This looks so good! What a great recipe to make for guests or to enjoy yourself!
Vanessa
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Tonia
These were delicious, thank you for the recipe!
I halved the recipe and ended up with 10 rolls. So good with coffee!
Ita
Thank you Tonia!
I am glad you enjoyed the buns.
Happy baking,
Ita
Karen
Hi! Wondering how you bake the next day if you have a 2.5 hr. Rise once the buns are formed? Do you rise 2.5 hrs and then pop them in the refrigerator overnight? Then bake straight out of the fridge? Thinking for a morning breakfast.
Thank you!
Ita
Hi Karen,
The recipe, as is, is more for brunch in terms of timing. If you want the buns for an early breakfast what you can do is to start with the whole process much earlier in a day so that you finish with the shaped buns, cover them and place in the fridge overnight. Then bake next day earlier in the morning.
Couple of things to consider with this process:
– after bulk fermentation the dough will be room temperature, so it will be much harder to handle then if it comes straight from the fridge. To make this a bit easier and less messy, you can pop it in the fridge for about an hour before shaping, just to cool it down a bit. For this to work even better, try to use a larger rectangular container for the dough, so that there is more dough surface for a quicker cooling process. Also the shape will not be round but rectangular which will make for easier rolling of the dough. Also note that the dough will further rise in this extra hour in the fridge, so keep an eye on the dough.
– after shaping the buns you should prove them for about 2/3 of the time (this you need to see how long it will take given the temperature of your kitchen). It should be a bit faster than what is stated in the recipe since there was no full fridge fermentation for the dough to cool off completely. Cover them and place in the fridge overnight.
– next day in the morning, while you preheat the oven take the buns out from the fridge (leave them covered) so they slightly come to room temperature before you brush them and bake them.
Hope this helps. Let me know how they turned out.
Happy baking,
Ita
Jill Maciulla
This recipe looks and sounds delicious! I was wondering if you could offer some advice. I’ve tried twice to make sourdough in my 8 quart kitchen aid mixer and both times the dough ends up nice and smooth, but never seems to rise very much during the bulk fermentation. My starter is 3+ years old and works beautifully on hand made doughs but I just struggle with the mixer. Any suggestions?? Thanks!
Ita
Hi Jill,
Mixer can have a big impact on the dough. There are several things to consider:
– Starter Vitality: Even though your starter works well for hand-mixed doughs, the environment created by the mixer might not be ideal for it. Ensure your starter is at its peak activity when you use it and consider doing a float test before adding it to the mix. It should be very bubbly and have a nice creamy smell. Try adding the autolyse process into the routine, to develop strength at earlier stage.
– salt: Adding salt too early can inhibit yeast activity. Ensure that you’re adding salt after the autolyse stage or after the flour has hydrated properly (after the initial mixing stage). You need to ensure that the gluten network starts to develop without the presence of salt.
– Dough mixing: Hand mixing is very gentle while the mixer is more aggressive, which can lead to degassing. Start with a slower speed and watch the dough change shape. If the hydration level is not too high the dough should start to come to shape and slowly start to cling to the dough hook. Note that over-mixing can lead to the dough heating up due to friction, which can affect the yeast activity. This can result in over-oxidation, which can affect the flavor and color of the dough. On the other hand, under-mixing may not develop the gluten enough which is necessary for trapping the gases produced during fermentation
– Hydration level: In order to not overmix and mix on lower speeds, try lowering hydration a but 2.5-5%. This will enable shorter mixing time and it should allow you to mix at lower speeds. Watch the dough change shape and note the time it took to do this.
– Dough temperature: The temperature of your dough is critical. If it’s too cold, the fermentation will be slow. Ideally, the dough should be around 75-78°F (24-26°C) after mixing. If your kitchen is cool, you may need to find a warmer spot for the dough to rise. You can use dough proofer to control the temperature. If you don’t have one, place the dough (covered) into the oven with just the light on – it creates enough heat to create a nice warm environment for the dough.
– type of dough: note that dough fermentation also depends on the type of dough, breads vs. enriched dough (with milk, butter, etc) which directly affects the fermentation time and gluten formation.
Hope this help. Let me know how it turned out.
Happy baking,
Ita
Abigail
Hi! Just curious if you left the dough to rest at room temp or in a warmer climate like a proofing box? It’s about 68 degrees Fahrenheit in my kitchen but I’m wondering if it would be better in my proofing box at like 77 degrees Fahrenheit?
Ita
Hi Abigail,
Yes, you can generally, place the dough in a warmer environment to proof for a shorter period of time. In this case make sure of the following:
– adjust the timings for the recipe (shorten it accordingly) else the dough will over ferment
– use warmer proof environment once the gluten is properly developed, else it might not develop fully and you will be left with denser cake-like cinnamon buns, loosing the airy structure
– use warmer proof for the bulk fermentation and/or final proof – make sure at both times the dough is fully covered (it dries much faster in warmer open air spaces).
Happy baking,
Ita
Cheyenne
What can be substituted for the T00 flour? I have king arthurs bread and unbleached all purpose.
Ita
Hi Cheyenne,
T00 is super fine flour (almost powder like) where the protein content can vary (it does not necessarily have to be very high in protein).
If you don’t have T00 flour, you can consider using a mix of King Arthur’s bread and unbleached all-purpose flour, with a higher proportion of bread flour. For example, 3:1 = bread:all-purpose.
The goal is to end up with a smooth but strong flour which will provide, once properly fermented, a silky, smooth and not chewy buns structure. You need strong flour to have a nice airy shape for the buns, but at the same time you don’t want it to be chewy (which some bread flours can result in).
Hope this helps.
Happy baking,
Ita
Olivia Lawrence
These look awesome! Thank you!
Susan
My store doesn’t carry date syrup, is it something you make?
Ita
Hi Susan,
No, I don’t make date syrup. I get mine from a local organic store.
Instead of the date syrup you can use 1/2 tsp of light brown sugar – make sure it is completely dissolved before brushing else it might burn and it will taste bitter.
Also you can skip the date syrup as well. The color will not be as in the photo but it will still taste the same, which is more important 😉
Happy baking,
Ita
Cindy
Hi when you are mixing in your mixer, do you use the paddle attachment or dough hook? Thank you
Ita
Hi Cindy,
I use dough hook.
Andrea
Amazing rolls- favorite so far (cooked just right outside with super soft flavorful inside).
I may need to find a deeper cupcake pan- when these cooked the filling spilled out and over into the bottom of the oven and burned.
Ita
Hi Andrea,
I am really glad you like the rolls and sorry about the spill.
You can use an old baking tray to place underneath the cupcake pan or on the bottom of the oven, or yes if you have a bigger cupcake pan it would be even better not to lose any of the juicy filling 🙂
Happy baking,
Ita
Aimee
I loved these!!I had a hard time with the butter cinnamon sugar mixture. Mine was more clumpy did I not pulse it long enough? If I do it dry instead do you just crumble butter over the mixture? One more question do you store in the fridge?
Ita
Hi,
I am really glad you liked the buns.
For the clumpy filling: yes you can try pulsing for a big longer. Another way is to melt the butter and let it cool almost to room temperature – it needs to be pliable. Then using a cake spatula spread the butter evenly. Finally sprinkle the dry mixture all over the butter. It should stick to it.
When you roll the dough make sure to roll it tightly in a way that there are not gaps, but not too tight as to distort the dough.
Hope this helps.
Happy baking,
Ita