Traditional Cinnamon Rolls… with a Twist

If you’ve read the recipes for my pumpkin or white chocolate rolls, you already know the twist coming your way for these traditional cinnamon rolls.

What’s the twist?

You really want to know?!

Sourdough starter!

I promise they’re delicious and so soft.

If you are a sourdough newbie, check out my directions for how to make your own starter in my blog post about my sourdough bread.

Have you noticed a theme to all of my baking? It all comes back to that jar of sourdough starter!

Dough:

• 1 stick butter
• 400 grams All Purpose Flour
• 125 grams Active Sourdough Starter
• 160 grams Milk
• 20 grams Honey (or agave)
• 1T Cinnamon

Filling:

• 165 grams of Brown Sugar
• 2T Cinnamon
• 2T Butter, melted

Glaze:

• 1 cup Powdered Sugar
• 2T milk (I use 1% but you can use whatever milk you have on hand)
• 1T Butter, melted

Instructions for Night Before:

1. Let stick of butter come to room temperature. Add flour to the bowl and cut the flour into butter with a fork to incorporate evenly throughout.
2. Add the sourdough starter, honey (or agave, I’ve used both without noticing a difference), milk and cinnamon. Use a spatula to incorporate ingredients until all the flour is incorporated. Knead dough until soft and smooth.
3. Let sit overnight.

Instructions for the Morning of Baking:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter baking dish (I use an 8×8 glass Pyrex baking dish).
2. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set to the side.
3. Punch down dough from yesterday and knead again into a round ball. Flour a flat surface to use for rolling out dough. Use a rolling pin to roll dough into a rectangle roughly 18 inches x 12 inches.
4. Brush melted butter onto the rectangle of dough leaving approximately one inch around the edges. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mixture on the butter and coat the dough evenly.
5. Tightly roll the dough from one of the short sides so that the dough forms a log. Cut the log into 9 even slices. Place the rolls into the buttered dish. (I have split the log into 12 before to fit into a larger dish, but cooking time will need to be reduced to 25 minutes if you do this).
6. Let rise at room temperature for about an hour.
7. Cook rolls for about 35 minutes (or until the tops are golden brown). Check the bottom of your pan to make sure your rolls aren’t burning on bottom.
8. While rolls are cooking, make the glaze by adding the powdered sugar to a bowl and adding the milk and melted butter. Mix until the glaze is glossy and smooth.
9. Pour glaze over warm rolls and enjoy!

Let me know if you make these yummy rolls! I can guarantee that once you start, you won’t stop!