Name: Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ingredients: 6-7 cups white all purpose flour; 1/2 cup powdered milk; 2 cups warm water; 1/3 cup sugar; 2 eggs; 1 1/2 tbsp yeast; 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened; 1 tbsp salt; 1 cup sourdough starter; 2 1/2 cups brown sugar(or as much as you want to taste); 2 tbsp cinnamon(to taste); 8 oz softened cream cheese; 1/2 cup softened butter; 5-6 cups powdered sugar; 1 tbsp vanilla extract; 2 tbsp milk or heavy cream

Yes, you heard that right, I am sharing my sourdough discard cinnamon rolls recipe! Now, if you have stopped by here before, you may have seen my original cinnamon roll recipe, which also doubles for my crescent roll recipe. Its an amazing roll recipe. And I have adjusted it, to give them a bit more flavor and give you the chance to use up some of that sourdough starter you might have! I will be sharing my true sourdough cinnamon rolls recipe soon!

Oh my gosh these sourdough cinnamon rolls are amazing! They are light and fluffy and take less time to make than traditional sourdough breads. They are ooey, gooey, soft and fluffy. Pretty much the perfect treat. Topped with cream cheese frosting, these are amazing~

If you are just getting familiar with sourdough or don’t even know where to begin, check out this comprehensive post all about sourdough and sourdough starters.

Sourdough starters are amazing, and you can do so much with them. I love the amazing flavor and health benefits it adds to my breads.

Now, this isn’t a true true sourdough, where you have to let it sit overnight and do its thing. I have a dutch oven sourdough bread recipe like this and its amazing, but its hard to plan this overnight stuff sometimes.

This sourdough cinnamon rolls recipe is the perfect combination of ease and sourdough. Plus you get the wonderful benefits of the sourdough. These sourdough cinnamon rolls are so good and quite similar to my regular cinnamon rolls, except they have more flavor, I swear. They also have a really soft and delicate texture. Almost a creamy texture. Gosh I love them.

I pretend that since they have the sourdough in them, they are healthy, right?

So, lets talk about how to make these sourdough cinnamon rolls:

Watch this video to see how I make these cinnamon rolls from start to finish…

This dough starts out with warm/hot water. You do not want it boiling. if your water is too hot, it will kill the yeast. This is common with any recipe you use yeast in. The yeast needs warm water, and some kind of sugar to be fed.

You want to put the warm water, sourdough starter, sugar, salt, powdered milk, and 2-3 cups of flour in a mixer. Mix until all is well combined.

Add the eggs, one at a time.

Once they are mixed in with the dough, add one more cup of flour.

Mix that in, and then add the yeast, add it slowly and make sure it mixes in well.

Once the yeast is mixed in, you can finish adding the rest of the flour. I like to add it slowly.

You want this dough to be sticky. If you stick a knife in it and it pulls away easily and stretches, it is ready.

You want to knead the dough for about 4-5 minutes until the gluten is developed.

Transfer the dough into a large bowl or keep it in your mixing bowl if it is large enough for the dough to double in size. I like to pour a small amount of vegetable oil on the dough, scrape it from the sides and create one neat ball. Cover with plastic wrap and set someplace warm to rise. Once it has risen punch it down, cover it with the wrap again and let rise again.

After the second rise, its time to roll out your cinnamon rolls.

I roll my dough out into a large rectangle. You want to roll it out until it is about 1/4- 1/2 inch thick. It depends on how thin you want your layers. I like mine a bit thicker.

You are going to roll the long end, so you will want to roll out a rectangle wide enough to roll up and create that swirl~

Once you have a nice rectangle, melt 3 tbsp butter. Brush it all over the dough with a pastry brush. Leave a very small amount of butter to use to seal the cinnamon rolls.

Take 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 tbsp (or more if you like cinnamon and make a layer over the entire rectangle, all the way to the edges.

Take the long end of your dough and begin to roll it, over itself, until you reach the end of your dough. Use the small amount of butter and brush it on the end of the dough and then wrap the end of the dough to seal it. I then roll it over so that the seam is on the bottom.

I use a piece of thread to cut my rolls. Slide the piece of string under the end of the dough and bring it up and cross it and pull. It will cleanly and neatly cut the dough without smashing the roll like a knife would do.

Lay them out on a greased jelly roll pan or large baking sheet pan. You can get 24 on the pan. I can get 24 rolls out of the long rolled dough.

Bake them for about 30 minutes. But check them at 20 minutes and every couple minutes after that. They should be light golden brown on top.

Yummy light and fluffy cinnamon rolls! Make these today, they are so amazing!!

Once they come out of the oven, make the frosting, I use my cream cheese frosting for my cinnamon rolls.

GET THE FULL SOURDOUGH CINNAMON ROLL RECIPE BELOW:

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

How to make the most amazing, soft and fluffy sourdough cinnamon rolls ever! These are so tasty and don't take as long as traditional sourdough.

4.50 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Course Appetizer, bread, Dessert, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine American

Servings rolls

Ingredients

6-7 cups white all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered milk
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1 tbsp salt
1 cup sourdough starter
2 1/2 cups brown sugar(or as much as you want to taste)
2 tbsp cinnamon(to taste)

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 cup softened butter
5-6 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk or heavy cream

Instructions

Put your warm water, sourdough starter, sugar, powdered milk, salt, 3/4 of the stick of butter, and 2-3 cups of flour in your stand mixer.
Mix with the paddle until all ingredients come together. I use my KitchenAid
Add your eggs, 1 at a time.
Mix well, then add 1 cup of flour.
Once that flour has been mixed in, add your yeast slowly
Once the yeast is mixed in, add the rest of your flour slowly. This dough will be very sticky, but that is what you want! Do not use too much flour or the rolls will be dense.
I usually end up using 6 cups of flour. Yours may be different. But let me make something clear. Make sure you are not packing your flour down before using. I like to fluff mine up, or you can use a whisk to lighten it. Do not flatten and level off the measuring cup, this will give you an overage of flour. Keep the flour light and fluffy.
Once you have the rest of the flour mixed in, you want to let the dough need for 3 or 4 minutes usng your dough hook.
Next, you can transfer the dough into a large oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit and rise until it doubles in size. The rise time could take 30 minutes to an hour to even 2 hours. I like to put it somewhere warm.
Once it has risen to double its size, punch it down and let it rise one more time.
Once it has risen a second time, you are ready to roll out your dough to make your cinnamon rolls.
Making the cinnamon rolls is pretty easy. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle using a rolling pin. You want your dough to be about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. I use my Roulpat to roll my doughs and bread out. It is an amazing kitchen essentia
Take the brown sugar and cinnamon and mix together in a bowl. Melt the other 1/4 stick of butter.
Brush the melted butter onto the dough. You may need a bit more depending on how much you want to use. I start with 1/4 of a stick and melt more if needed.
Sprinkle an even layer of the cinnamon sugar filling on the entire dough rectangle.
Starting at the long end of the dough, begin rolling it up. When you get to the end, brush a small amount of butter or water on the end of the dough. Take the end and stretch it over the roll all the way down the dough roll.
Use a piece of thread to cut the cinnamon roll. Take the thread and slide it under the roll, bring it up and across, twisting the thread, cutting the dough all the way through. This gives you a clean cut and does not smash the dough.
Place your cinnamon rolls on a greased sheet pan. I use the 12 by 18 size. This will hold 24 cinnamon rolls. 4 across, 6 down.
Once they are all cut and in place, cover the pan with plastic wrap while the oven preheats to 35p degrees. Let the dough rise for about 20 minutes.
Cook them in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Check them at 20 minutes. If you tap them and they feel squishy, they need more time. I check them at 20 minutes and then ever minute after that.
You want them to be light brown on the top, and when you tap them they are soft but somewhat firm.
Take them out of the oven and let them cool for a bit while you make the frosting.
Use my cream cheese frosting for these cinnamon rolls. Its the perfect compliment.
Apply the cream cheese frosting while the cinnamon rolls are still warm. This allows the thick frosting to melt a bit into the cracks of the cinnamon rolls.
Eat them warm, eat the cold. They are amazing! You can freeze these and eat them whenever you want!