Hop to Recipe
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!
5 from 3 votes
Sourdough cinnamon buns
Light and sweet with a soft cinnamon flavor, these sourdough cinnamon buns are a must-have weekend treat. The perfect companion to a warm cup of coffee or tea!
Prep Time45 minutes mins
Cook Time19 minutes mins
Fermentation5 hours hrs 30 minutes mins
Total Time6 hours hrs 34 minutes mins
Servings 12 buns
Calories: 269.3 kcal
Print Recipe
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.
Did you make this recipe? I would love to see!Tag @itacdonev and hashtag #aifoodieland on instagram!
Nutrition Facts
Sourdough cinnamon buns
Amount per Serving
Calories
269.3
% Daily Value*
Fat
2.5
g
4
%
6
%
Trans Fat
0.1
g
Polyunsaturated Fat
0.5
g
Monounsaturated Fat
0.6
g
Cholesterol
30.5
mg
10
%
Sodium
386.1
mg
17
%
Potassium
124.9
mg
4
%
Carbohydrates
54
g
18
%
Fiber
1.7
g
7
%
Sugar
18.8
g
21
%
Protein
7.5
g
15
%
Vitamin A
93.8
IU
2
%
Vitamin C
0.1
mg
%
Calcium
72.1
mg
7
%
Iron
0.7
mg
4
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. Substituting any ingredients may change the shown nutrition information.
