For many families, Easter morning means cinnamon rolls. Cinnamon rolls are usually made from a soft straight dough, but a few years ago I carried a Sourdough Saturday theme through a whole year, over on my defunct site, Hestia’s Kitchen. Thus, I experimented with sourdough rolls. The end result was a little bit heavier roll than usual, but one with that added sourdough tang that sings on the tongue. If fact, I am becoming so enamored with the extra flavor that sourdough imparts that I may never eat a straight bread again – and sliced bread from the grocery store is now like the poor cousin that barely resembles the rest of the family.

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

• 2 cups of ripe sourdough starter (see how to make your own starter here)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp plain yogurt

In a large bowl or stand mixer bowl, combine the sourdough starter, milk, salt, sugar, and egg until well mixed. Add the flour and knead until dough has a satiny sheen; 8-10 minutes by hand, about 5 minutes when using a stand mixer.

Roll the dough into a 12 x 8 inch rectangle. Brush with melted butter. Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the dough. Distribute the chopped pecans over the cinnamon mixture.

Roll up the dough from the long side of the rectangle. Slice into one-inch thick rolls. Note – I find it’s easiest to slice the log in half, and then slice each half in half again. Then slice 3 rolls from each quarter of the log. That way I end up with 12 equal or nearly equal rolls. If I just start slicing willy-nilly from one end, I end up with some huge rolls and some miniature rolls! Maybe you have a better eye. If so, I am jealous. If not, my method works pretty well.

Place the rolls on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours.(At this point they can be placed in the refrigerator overnight and baked the next day.) Remove cover and bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes or until well-browned. Note – as you can see from the photo, I crammed all 12 rolls into an 8 x 8 inch pan. Thus, it took almost an hour to fully bake the rolls and still the ones in the middle were not done as well as I would like. I recommend you not do this! Next time I will use a baking sheet and place the rolls close together, but not like clowns in a VW bug!

Remove rolls from baking pan and let cool on a rack. While the rolls are still hot, combine the powdered sugar, vanilla and yogurt and drizzle over the rolls. Tangy yogurt goes well with the sourdough flavor, but you can also use milk to make the icing if you prefer. Let sit at least 15 minutes before tasting.

As I mentioned above, these rolls had really good flavor. They weren’t cloyingly sweet like some cinnamon rolls, and they didn’t have that cotton-candy texture that store-bought cinnamon rolls seem to have. I’ll definitely make them again.

This recipe was originally published on my old Hestia’s Kitchen blog. Republished here for your enjoyment!