Tender, sweet, and naturally leavened, these sourdough cinnamon rolls are a dream! With a soft enriched dough and simple no-knead method, they’re also easy to make.
Photography by Alexandra Daum.
With just 8 ingredients, which you probably already have on hand, these sourdough cinnamon rolls are easy enough for beginners and oh-so-good. Fluffy, just sweet enough, and with two methods to suit your schedule.
We’ve been testing this recipe for a long time, over a year, and it’s exactly what we want in a cinnamon bun! Soft without being hard to work with (refrigerate before rolling!) and with just the right ratio of filling to dough. Like our sourdough dinner rolls, it’s an enriched dough, but it can actually be easier to work with than a basic sourdough.
This is seriously cozy food, and just the right thing to curl up with on a chilly day. If you’ve been thinking about upping your sourdough game, give them a try!
Ingredients
- Milk: full-fat for the best results (3.5% or 3.8%).
- Sugar: for the dough base, not the filling.
- Butter: this is melted into the milk for the dough, so no worries if it’s not at room temperature, but best if it is. It must be softened for the filling.
- Eggs: eggs need to be at room temp. If they’re cold, it’ll inhibit the rise of the dough.
- Sourdough Starter: fed and active (i.e. it floats in water) or use levain.
- Flour: plain white flour. Bread flour is not recommended for this recipe, as you want a softer crumb.
- Brown Sugar: for the filling.
- Cinnamon: none is added to the dough, just plenty in the filling.
Method
Heat the milk until just simmering. Add the milk to a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and butter. 
Whisk until the butter is melted. Add the starter. Whisk to combine. Add both eggs. Whisk to combine. Add the remaining dry ingredients. Stir until a shaggy dough forms. It will seem too wet – it’s not. Do three rounds of stretches and folds. Flip the dough smooth-side up in the bowl. Rise at room temp until doubled in size. Optionally, refrigerate overnight. Deflate the dough with your hands. Tip the dough out onto a work surface. Roll into a log. Turn and roll into a log from the other direction. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle. 
Brush with softened butter. Top with brown sugar. Top with cinnamon. From the short end, roll into a tight log. Flip seam-side up. Cut with dental floss or a very sharp knife. You should have 10 rolls. Place into a buttered baking dish. Rise until puffy. Bake until golden, and serve.
Tips and Notes
Most of the issues we see from readers with enriched sourdough recipes result from ingredients being cold when they’re added. Like any enriched dough, and virtually any cake, all ingredients should be at room temperature. If they’re cold, it will retard the sourdough, and it’ll take ages to rise.
If you’re not sure, please look at our post on how to stretch and fold sourdough. It’s a good guide for this method of gluten activation and will help if you need some step-by-step photos.
Use unflavoured or cinnamon dental floss to cut the rolls for the most precision. A very sharp knife is fine too.
The baking dish pictured slopes at the sides slightly, which causes the rolls to lose their shape a little bit. Straight sides won’t cause the same problem.
We don’t recommend using a stand mixer for this recipe, as it doesn’t require kneading.
We say to cut the log into 10 equal rolls, and only 8 are pictured. The two end rolls were baked separately as the dish was a touch too small.
Don’t place the rolls in a very warm place for the second rise, because all the butter will melt out. Room temperature is perfectly fine.
Room Temperature vs Chilling
Some of you may express some concern with eggs and milk being present in the dough while it proves at room temperature. This isn’t an issue, and it isn’t any different from any other enriched dough rising at room temp or in a proving drawer. The dough takes too long to prove in the refrigerator.
You have two options for the dough after it’s doubled in size: first, refrigerate the dough before shaping (there are benefits!) or second, shape it immediately and bake without any refrigeration.
Choosing the first option, to refrigerate the whole bowl of dough before shaping into rolls, has a couple of good qualities. Most importantly, it makes the dough easier to handle and will result in cleaner, neater sourdough cinnamon rolls. It also improves the overall flavour and ensures a fully risen dough.
The dough doesn’t need to be chilled overnight, but that’s often the easiest option for people – you can chill for a couple of hours, or up to 12 hours, or not at all. It is stickier and harder to shape at room temperature so keep that in mind.
Substitutions
Cane sugar and plain white sugar can be used interchangeably for the dough base. Dark and light brown sugar can be used interchangeably for the filling.
For dairy-free cinnamon rolls, use a good vegan butter and a non-dairy milk.
The type of starter you use doesn’t matter, as long at it contains gluten. White, whole wheat, rye, all good. If you’re worried about the rolls looking speckled with whole grains, simply make a levain from your whole grain starter with white flour.
More Sweet Sourdough Recipes
Sourdough Banana Bread
Sourdough Hot Cross Buns
Flourless Sourdough Brownies
Sourdough Waffles
Recipe
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Tender, sweet, and naturally leavened, these sourdough cinnamon rolls are a dream! With a soft enriched dough and simple no-knead method, they're also easy to make.
Ingredients
Dough
- 180 grams (6.3 oz.) whole milk
- 60 grams (2.1 oz.) butter
- 100 grams (3.5 oz.) sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 100 grams (3.5 oz.) active sourdough starter
- 460 grams (16.2 oz.) white all-purpose flour
- 5 grams (0.2 oz.) sea salt
Filling
- 112 grams (½ cup) softened butter
- 100 grams (½ cup) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Heat the milk in a small saucepan until just simmering.
- Add the milk to a large mixing bowl, then add the butter and sugar. Whisk to combine, until the butter has melted.
- Check the temperature of the milk mixture. If it's just warm to the touch or cooler, then it's fine to continue. If it feels hot, wait for it to cool down.
- Once the milk mixture has cooled enough, whisk in the eggs. Add the starter and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour and use a wooden spoon or spatula to mix until a soft, shaggy dough forms.
- Do three rounds of stretches and folds over the course of an hour, one round every 20 minutes. After this, the dough should be soft and relatively smooth.
- Place the dough smooth-side up back into the mixing bowl. Cover with a tea towel or plate, and set aside in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in size. Depending on ambient temperature and the strength of your starter, this can take anywhere from 4-10 hours.
- Once the dough has risen, you have two options. One, refrigerate for at least 2 hours before continuing. Two, skip the chilling step and move right to step 10, rolling and shaping. We recommend chilling.
- Place the risen dough into the refrigerator, in the mixing bowl (don't deflate the dough) and cover well. Chill for 2-12 hours.
- After chilling, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
Shape and Fill
- Grease a large baking dish with butter.
- Pat the dough into a rough round. Roll it into a log, then turn it so that it's seam-side up, and the short edge is facing you. Roll it into a log again from this direction. (This post on shaping boules may help, see the first several photos in the method section.)
- Roll the dough out into a large rectangle, about 30x40cm (12x16 in.) in size.
- Brush the softened butter onto the rolled out dough - this is why chilling is so helpful - then top with the brown sugar and cinnamon in an even layer.
- Roll the dough into a log again, working from the short end, and making sure it's rolled very tightly.
- Cut the log into 10 equal pieces with unflavoured dental floss or a very sharp knife.
- Place the rolls into the prepared baking dish, leaving a small space between each to allow for expansion during proving.
- Cover the dish with a tea towel and set aside at room temperature to rise for another 1-2 hours, or until puffy but not doubled in size.
Baking and Storing
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Place the baking dish onto the centre rack of your oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden in colour and the tops of the rolls feel firm to the touch.
- Remove the dish from the oven and cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Leftover cinnamon rolls will keep for up to 3 days at room temperature and freeze well in a sealed container, but are best fresh.
- If topping with frosting, do so immediately before serving. Frosted rolls will not store very well.
Notes
Measurements for the dough are provided by weight only as it's too easy for the recipe to fail when using unreliable methods like cup measurements. This is less important for the filling, so it's provided in grams and cups.
Most of the issues we see from readers with enriched sourdough recipes result from ingredients being cold when they’re added. Like any enriched dough, and virtually any cake, all ingredients should be at room temperature. If they’re cold, it will retard the sourdough, and it’ll take ages to rise.
The baking dish pictured slopes at the sides slightly, which causes the rolls to lose their shape a little bit. Straight sides won’t cause the same problem.
We don’t recommend using a stand mixer for this recipe, as it doesn’t require kneading.
We say to cut the log into 10 equal rolls, and only 8 are pictured. The two end rolls were baked separately as the dish was a touch too small.
Don’t place the rolls in a very warm place for the second rise, because all the butter will melt out. Room temperature is perfectly fine.
Room Temperature vs Chilling
Some of you may express some concern with eggs and milk being present in the dough while it proves at room temperature. This isn’t an issue, and it isn’t any different from any other enriched dough rising at room temp or in a proving drawer. The dough takes too long to prove in the refrigerator.
You have two options for the dough after it’s doubled in size: first, refrigerate the dough before shaping (there are benefits!) or second, shape it immediately and bake without any refrigeration.
Choosing the first option, to refrigerate the whole bowl of dough before shaping into rolls, has a couple of good qualities. Most importantly, it makes the dough easier to handle and will result in cleaner, neater sourdough cinnamon rolls. It also improves the overall flavour and ensures a fully risen dough.
The dough doesn’t need to be chilled overnight, but that’s often the easiest option for people – you can chill for a couple of hours, or up to 12 hours, or not at all. It is stickier and harder to shape at room temperature so keep that in mind.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 413Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 76mgSodium: 137mgCarbohydrates: 60gFiber: 2gSugar: 21gProtein: 7g
This is an approximation of the nutrition offered in this recipe, and is created using a nutrition calculator.
Victoria G says
These are the best!