Now that we’re at the tail-end of pandemic, sourdough isn’t quite as “in” anymore, but it certainly is still super tasty! I was lucky to be gifted some sourdough starter from my coworker. My starter traveled to me from Ohio and had been maintained for almost 50 years! As I’ve been experimenting with creating the perfect loaf of sourdough bread, I’ve found myself leftover with a lot of leftover, “inactive” starter. I’ve been experimenting with the discard and it’s perfect for cinnamon rolls!
Ingredients
Sourdough discard – Make sure that you’re using discard that hasn’t been fed yet! The “sourness” of your cinnamon rolls will depend on the last time you fed your starter. If you have been regularly been using your starter, your rolls will not be very sour. If you haven’t been using the starter and it’s been sitting in the refrigerator for a few weeks, your cinnamon rolls will be more sour.
Cinnamon – A lot of cinnamon roll recipes really only have cinnamon in the filling. I think that cinnamon rolls are the best when there is cinnamon in the dough as well.
Icing – I generally tend to skip the icing when it comes to cinnamon rolls and I’d continue with this cinnamon roll recipe! I generally like my desserts to be on the less sweet side so I think these are perfectly sweet.
Sourdough Discard Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- 1 Stand mixer optional
Ingredients
Dough
- 1/2 cup milk warmed
- 1 cup sourdough discard
- 2.5 tsp yeast
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
Filling
- 1 cup butter softened, divided
- 1/2 cup brown sugar divided
- 2 tbsp cinnamon divided
Instructions
- Bloom yeast in milk. Stir mixture.
- When mixture starts to foam, add sourdough starter, eggs, butter, and sugar.
- Mix until thoroughly combined.
- Add flour, salt, and cinnamon and mix until just combined.
- Leave dough to rise in the refrigerator overnight.
- The next day, split the dough in half. Roll out to ~9×16" rectangle.
- Spread half the softened butter evenly onto the dough.
- Sprinkle half of the brown sugar and half of the cinnamon onto the dough. roll dough into a log and cut into 12 rolls.
- Repeat dough rolling, butter spreading, sugar/cinnamon spreading with the second half of the dough.
- Place cinnamon rolls in a 9×16" pan, leaving space between the cinnamon rolls.
- Leave in the refrigerator to rise again overnight.
- The next day, remove from the refrigerator ~30 minutes prior to baking for cinnamon rolls to come to room temperature.
- Bake at 350F for ~20 minutes, when tops are golden brown. Serve warm!
Try some other desserts! Beet Cinnamon Rolls or Peach Galette