High Hydration Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
These long fermented Sourdough Cinnamon Buns are dangerously delicious. Giant, billowy cinnamon rolls topped with a wonderful glaze, these are the bakery quality cinnamon buns that dreams are made of. The secret ingredients makes them worth every ounce of work and every calorie.
Let me be super honest with you. These sourdough cinnamon buns are not your average cinnamon roll.
- These long fermented cinnamon rolls take a whopping three days to make!
- The dough is very wet, and very sticky. You need to be familiar with working with high hydration doughs in order to make these.
If that is not your cup of tea, then I suggest checking out my regular sourdough cinnamon roll recipe. It is easy and delicious!
However, if you are ready for a good challenge and want the best dang cinnamon buns of your life, you are in the right place!
These cinnamon buns are worth every second of work, and worth the sticky dough, trust me!
The secret to these super soft, billowy, huge cinnamon buns is … mashed potatoes!
Yeah, I know that sounds really weird, but trust me! The mashed potatoes helps the cinnamon buns stay extra soft, puffy, and billowy.
They are exactly like a big bakery cinnamon bun, but they have that extra special sourdough flavor to them, and are just so amazing.
Other great cinnamon and sourdough bread recipes to try:
How to make these soft sourdough cinnamon buns:
This recipe is simple to make! For the full set of directions, please scroll down to the recipe card below. This is just a general overview on how to make it to help you plan.
Levain:
- Mix the ingredients together let it sit at room temperature 12 hours (or overnight).
Dough:
- Mix the dough together following the directions in the recipe card below.
- Allow the dough to rest in the bowl (covered) for 20 minutes.
- After the rest, mix for another 2-3 minutes to help develop the gluten. The resulting dough will be very moist and sticky.
- Turn the dough into a large bowl that has been lightly coated in oil.
Bulk Fermentation with Stretch and Fold
- Cover and allow to ferment in a cool location (about 55-65 F) until doubled (this will take 8-12 hours).
- Every 4-6 hours, lift the dough to stretch it, and then fold it onto itself. Each time you do a stretch and fold, you will want to stretch it 3-4 times.
Filling:
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, vanilla extract and heavy cream.
- In another bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon.
Assembly:
- Turn the dough out onto a well floured couche and dust it lightly with flour.
- Roll the dough out into a rectangle (how large you roll it depends on how thick you want your rolls and how many spirals you want).
- Brush the sheet of dough with the butter/cream mixture and then sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar.
- Roll up the dough, using the couche to help it roll onto itself.
- Using a piece of unflavored dental floss, or a clean thread, cut the log into 12 rolls. Note: these rolls are BIG rolls. They are meant to fill up your whole 9×13″ pan and are meant to feel huge. If cutting them into 2″ feels excessive to you, you can cut them down to 1.5″ or even 1″ and you will get even more cinnamon rolls. But I promise you, 12 rolls that are 2″ thick does work!
- Place the rolls into a greased baking pan or casserole dish.
- Brush the tops of the rolls with a little melted butter and then cover with plastic wrap.
- Let the rolls proof in the refrigerator overnight.
Baking:
- In the morning, bake the rolls straight from the fridge in a preheated 400 degree oven for 25-35 minutes (if your rolls are really thick it might take a little longer).
- Once out of the oven brush the rolls with a little more melted butter to help keep them soft.
Cinnamon Roll Glaze:
- Whisk together the ingredients, adding just enough milk to make a fluid glaze that flows thickly and smoothly off the end of the whisk. You don’t want so much a thick frosting as you do a nice glaze.
- Use the whisk to drizzle the icing over the rolls and serve warm.
Baker’s Schedule
This recipe takes a bit of time, so its important to understand how the timing will work so you can adjust your schedule. I like to think about when I want them to be done, and then work backwards to know when to start.
Day One:
- Make the levain – 12 hours
Day Two:
- Mixing the dough – 10 minutes
- Autolyse – 20 minutes
- Mixing – 3 minutes
- Proof – 8-12 hours (with stretching and folding every 4-6 hours)
- Assemble the rolls – 20 minutes
- Overnight proof in the fridge – 12 hours
Day Three:
- Baking – 25 minutes
- Cool and frost – 20 minutes
*NOTE: The timing of this schedule is dependent on the temperature of your house. Dough will proof faster in a warmer house, and slower in a colder house. Watch the dough here, not the clock! For reference, the temperature of my house is 70 F.
The secret to making high hydration sourdough cinnamon buns:
Ok, here it is! The secret to these cinnamon buns (and other things)!
Since the dough is so sticky, it is really important to use a well floured baking couche (or a heavy piece of linen or canvas – I have even used a well floured cheesecloth in a pinch).
Wash it, flour it, and never wash it again. If anything sticks to it, just scrape off anything that happens to cling to it.
Then when you are done, shake it out, fold it up, and store it in a ziplock bag. This will save you sooo much hassle and headache, I PROMISE! You can also use this method for making other things, including Povitica!
What kind of sourdough starter do I use for this recipe?
This recipe uses a 100% hydration sourdough starter. That means a sourdough starter fed with equal parts flour and water. For this specific recipe, it does not matter if you use a fed and active starter or inactive discard. Both will work since you are making a levain.
You can use a starter that is fed with any kind of flour. For more information on what that means, make sure to read my guide on how to feed a sourdough starter.
Storage Information
These sourdough cinnamon buns can be stored in a covered container on the counter for up to 3 days.
New to sourdough? Read my Ultimate Guide to Sourdough for Beginners to answer all the questions you have!
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High Hydration Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Levain:
- 340 grams all purpose flour unbleached
- 340 grams lukewarm water
- 150 grams 100% hydration sourdough starter
Final Dough:
- 113 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
- 130 grams mashed potato no butter or milk is needed here, just potato
- 3 large eggs
- 42 grams honey
- 13 grams vanilla extract (1 Tablespoon)
- 195 grams buttermilk or whole milk
- 700 grams flour
- 21 grams salt
Filling:
- 170 grams unsalted butter melted
- 85 grams cream
- 600 grams dark brown sugar
- 6 grams cinnamon
Cinnamon Roll Glaze:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 TBSP vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 4 TBSP whole milk
Instructions
Levain:
- Mix the ingredients together in a large bowl.150 grams 100% hydration sourdough starter, 340 grams lukewarm water, 340 grams all purpose flour
- Cover and let sit at room temperature 12 hours (or overnight).
Final Dough:
- In your stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter.113 grams unsalted butter
- Add in the eggs, honey, vanilla and mashed potatoes.3 large eggs, 42 grams honey, 130 grams mashed potato, 13 grams vanilla extract
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix until well blended.
- Add the milk and levain, mixing until well blended.195 grams buttermilk or whole milk
- Gradually add the flour and salt to the bowl.700 grams flour, 21 grams salt
- Swap out the paddle attachment for the dough hook attachment and continue mixing the dough is well blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Allow the dough to rest in the bowl (covered) for 20 minutes.
- After the rest, mix for another 2-3 minutes. The resulting dough will be very moist and sticky.
- Turn the dough out into a large lightly oiled bowl.
- Cover and allow to ferment in a cool location (about 55-65 F) until doubled (this will take 8-12 hours).
- Every 4-6 hours, lift the dough to stretch it, and then fold it onto itself.
- Towards the end of the fermentation period you can ready the filling.
Filling:
- In one bowl combine the melted butter and cream.170 grams unsalted butter, 85 grams cream
- In another bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon.600 grams dark brown sugar, 6 grams cinnamon
- Set aside.
Assembly:
- Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour in order to help make handling easier.
- Turn the dough out onto a well floured couche and dust it lightly with flour.
- Roll the dough out into a rectangle (how large you roll it depends on how thick you want your rolls and how many spirals you want).
- Brush the sheet of dough with the butter/cream mixture and then sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar.
- Roll up the dough, using the couche to help it roll onto itself.
- Using a piece of unflavored dental floss, or a clean thread, cut the log into 12 rolls, about 2" thick each. If you cut them into 1" or 1.5" thick you will have more rolls but will need to use an additional pan.
- Place the rolls into a greased baking pan or casserole dish.
- Brush the tops of the rolls with a little melted butter and then cover with plastic wrap.
- Let the rolls proof in the refrigerator overnight.
- In the morning, bake the rolls straight from the fridge in a preheated 400 degree oven for 25-35 minutes (if your rolls are really thick it might take a little longer).
- Once out of the oven brush the rolls with a little more melted butter to help keep them soft.
Cinnamon Roll Glaze:
- Whisk together the ingredients, adding just enough milk to make a fluid glaze that flows thickly and smoothly off the end of the whisk.3 cups powdered sugar, 1 TBSP vanilla extract, 1/3 cup heavy cream, 4 TBSP whole milk
- Use the whisk to drizzle the icing over the rolls and serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls – Slightly adapted from (Not So Humble Pie, Moutaindog @ The Fresh Loaf)
I’m glad I used a fraction of the vanilla called for in the dough and the icing as it would have overpowered the cinnamon flavor. If you want to bake in a conventional 13×9 pan, you should cut the recipe by 1/3. I decided to make 16 rolls in 13×9 and 8” pans and am glad I did. There was way way too much filling!! I had a huge pool of brown sugar at the bottom of the pans. Cut in half at least and increase the ratio of cinnamon to sugar. I’ve had best luck with recipes that have a little flour in the filling to help keep it from melting out. I love the delicious challah recipe on this site and wrote a good review for that since it’s my go to challah bread recipe. But I’ll sadly be throwing away the cinnamon rolls I made with this recipe.
Hi Margie, Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback on the high-hydration sourdough cinnamon rolls. I’m sorry to hear the recipe didn’t meet your expectations—your experience is important to me, and I truly appreciate your detailed insights! The cinnamon rolls are designed to be large and billowy, and the recipe makes 12 that fit snugly into a 9×13 pan. You can absolutely cut them thinner and make more rolls that are smaller, though! While it sounds like you preferred making 16 rolls and using additional pans, the original recipe has been thoroughly tested to fit and bake evenly as written. I strive to balance the filling so it adds a gooey, rich flavor without leaking, and I’m sorry to hear your results were different. Factors such as pan material, rolling technique, or bake time can sometimes cause variations. It is important that the butter is completely room temperature before it is mixed with the cream and spread on the dough, and that the rolls are baked straight from the oven so that the filling is cold to help minimize seeping. I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the challah recipe—it’s one of my favorites, too! I hope you’ll give these cinnamon rolls another shot, as the base dough creates such soft, fluffy rolls that many readers have loved. If you have any questions or need tips, please don’t hesitate to reach out—I’m always happy to help!
What kind of flour do you use for these? I’ll assume all purpose since I want to make these soon. They look amazing. But so many sourdough recipes use at least part bread flour, I wanted to confirm. Thanks!
Yes, all purpose flour! You want these rolls to be nice and soft and fluffy, and bread flour would make them too hearty.
Hi!!! I’m a newbie with a fabulous potato sourdough starter and I’m wanting to make your cinnamon rolls. Do you have a recipe with measurements in cups/spoons instead of grains? Thanks!
Hi Hannah! You bet! I would recommend starting with my other sourdough cinnamon roll recipe (you can search for it with the search box!) This particular recipe you are commenting on uses a high hydration dough and is tricky to work with! The other recipe uses cups as measurements and is much easier to work with!