Easy Homemade Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

If you haven’t tried sourdough cinnamon rolls you are going to want to start now! They are soft, fluffy and oh so sweet. Homemade sourdough cinnamon rolls are such a warm comforting snack.

It’s like a big hug in your stomach. These are a great treat to make for family and friends and everyone will love them. There are a few components to this recipe but nothing too hard I promise!

I like to keep things simple if I can help it. So, let’s start with what you will need for this recipe!

Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Video

What You Will Need

Flour: You will need some flour for this recipe. I use white Khorasan flour for all my baking needs it’s a light fluffy ancient flour. But any sort of light white flour will work well like white spelt or plain white.

Sourdough Starter: You will of course be needing a sourdough starter to get this recipe fermenting. It’s preferable to use a starter that has been fed somewhat recently. If your starter is still bubbly it will work for this recipe just fine!

Milk: Any milk with fat in it will do. We want the fat that’s what makes it softer and more delicious. You want that extra good fat in your cinnamon rolls so much better than water.

Butter: You will need a bit of butter for this recipe! The butter will be softened or melted.

Sugar: I use rapadura sugar because it’s a healthier sugar compared to others and has more minerals. It tastes very similar to brown sugar. You can use whatever sugar you like but the rapadura sugar gives this cinnamon roll a really nice taste.

Cinnamon Powder: Don’t skimp on the cinnamon on these cinnamon rolls

Egg: You will need just one large egg. The egg makes for a nicer softer dough.

Baking Soda and Baking Powder: Will help your Sourdough cinnamon rolls to rise!

Vanilla: This is optional but oh so delicious!

Tips For Making Fluffy Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

1. Make sure you give your dough time to rise anywhere from 8-12 hours should do. This will affect the density of your dough.
2. Adding milk instead of water add more fats into the mixture making for a softer cinnamon roll.
3. You will want to use a bubbly starter for best results. If the starter has bubbles in it, it should be good to go.

How To Make Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

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1. The first thing you want to do is mix your sourdough starter, milk, sugar and egg together. Then add the melted butter and give it a good mix with a whisk or dough whisk. I love my dough whisk!

2. Then add the flour one cup at a time and continue mixing until you can no longer mix with your whisk or dough whisk anymore. You will now oil up your hands and finish incorporating all the ingredients until it’s a nice ball. It shouldn’t be sticky should be somewhat on the harder side.

3. Oil a bowl and place your sourdough ball in the bowl and cover with cling wrap or wet tea towel until it doubles in size. This can take 8-12 hours depending on the temperature of your house.

4. Take out the butter and place in a bowl so it can soften while the sourdough ball is fermenting.

5. Once your ball has doubled in size add the baking soda and baking powder to it. This can be a bit difficult but can be done. Once it’s well incorporated take it out and flatten to a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.

6. Add sugar and cinnamon to your butter and give it a good mix. Cover your flattened sourdough ball with the cinnamon sugar mix. You can add chocolate chips at this point as well if you want!

7. Roll the dough lengthwise up and cut into 12 equal parts.

8. This is optional! If you want to make a buttery sugar glaze melt butter, sugar and mix cinnamon in a pot until melted. Pour this mixture onto the bottom of your pan. Or you can do a cream cheese topping instead!

You can whisk together cream cheese, cream, vanilla and sweetener of choice and pour on top when rolls are done baking!

9. Preheat oven to 180C/ 355F. Place sliced cinnamon rolls in your pan. And allow to rise for another 30 minutes until the oven has heated up.

10. Cook cinnamon rolls between 20-25 minutes in the oven. Should look golden brown.

11. Take them out and flip the rolls over with tongs before the glaze goes hard and it sticks to the pan. If you didn’t do the cinnamon glaze, you can pour the cream cheese topping now onto your cooked sourdough cinnamon rolls.

12. Let cool slightly and enjoy. I love to add a bit of cream to ours, it’s so good!

How To Store Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

You can store your sourdough cinnamon rolls several ways.

You can leave them out on the counter in an airtight container for up to 3 days. As long as they don’t have a cream cheese topping, they are fine to leave out. You want them in an airtight container, so they don’t dry out to quick.

You can place them in the fridge in an airtight container and will last about a week in the fridge. Now they go harder and are not as nice to eat straight out of the fridge.

I heat the oven and put a little butter, water or cream on them to make sure they stay soft when reheating. They come out delicious this way like fresh!

You can freeze sourdough cinnamon rolls. Once they have completely cooled down store them in a freezer ziploc bag. They can last several months in the freezer.

When you want to use them take them out of the freezer, let them defrost a bit and then reheat them in the oven until they are nice and soft!

Questions And Answers

What Can I Use To Bake Cinnamon Rolls In?

You can use several things to bake your cinnamon rolls in. You can use a good old fashion 12 in cast iron skillet. A large baking tray, or spring formed pan will be fine as well.

If it’s safe to place in the oven and has some sides to hold your cinnamon rolls in it should be fine to bake them in.

Why Are My Sourdough Cinnamon Not Fluffy?

If you didn’t allow your sourdough rolls to double in size properly the mixture won’t have enough air in it allowing it to be fluffy.

You want to make sure you allow ample time for your cinnamon rolls to double in size when they are fermenting for the air bubbles to form.

Why Didn’t My Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls Rise?

If you pour really hot liquid in your mixture you can kill of the sourdough bacteria that helps to make this recipe rise. If it’s really cold, it can take a lot longer for this recipe to double in size like it should as well.

Let me know in the comments if you give this recipe a try and how it went!