Sourdough cinnamon rolls

Name: Sourdough cinnamon rolls
Ingredients: 145 gram Wheat flour (12,5% protein content); 145 gram Wheat flour (10% protein content); 150 gram whole milk; 30 gram sugar; 17 gram butter (for mixing into the dough.); 1 gram salt; 30 gram butter (for laminating the dough.); 100 gram sourdough starter (wheat) (Make sure the starter is active and at it's peak ); 50 gram butter; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 30 gram sugar

June 3, 2020 13 Comments

We take our cinnamon rolls seriously here in Sweden.
We even have a dedicated day for the pastry, The cinnamon bun day, that we celebrate the 4th of October.

About 7 million cinnamon rolls are sold that day. That may not sound that much, but consider that we are only 10 million residents in Sweden.
And we have no idea how many buns are baked in our homes.

I don’t want to say it’s our national dish, but almost. They have been around as long as I can remember. They have been around long before I was born.
The classic Swedish snail-shaped cinnamon roll was introduced in 1920.

It’s a pastry with a history.
And I never bake them.
A shame if you ask me.

JUST A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT

But I didn’t want to crank out another recipe that looked more or less similar to the other 10 000 ones you can find on the internet.
I wanted some kind of original twist.
So I decided to make them naturally leavened.

That has also been done before. Quite many times, actually.
So I also decided to laminate the dough.

My grandma is probably turning in her grave now.

YOU DID WHAT? What kind of nonsense is this? That’s not the way to bake good old traditional cinnamon rolls.

Sorry grandma, but I think those traditional cinnamon buns needed a small facelift.
Besides, they taste ridiculously good.

Now, when I say laminated, I don’t mean layers upon layers. Just one or two folds to make the texture a bit crisp and flaky.
I still want it to be a cinnamon roll, not some kind of Danish pastry.

ABOUT FLOUR AND OTHER INGREDIENTS

MIXING THE DOUGH

I skipped the autolyse for this recipe and mixed all ingredients.
The dough needs some kneading so that all the butter is incorporated.
But the dough is stiff, and there is not that much butter, so it’s quite easy.
I kneaded until I got a smooth dough, looking like this.

BULK FERMENTATION

The dough was allowed to bulk ferment for 5 hours at a temperature of 80°F/27°C.
I didn’t perform any stretch and folds. I just left the dough alone.

ROLLING OUT THE DOUGH

The following steps are reminiscent of making puff pastry or croissant dough.
If you have never done that before and feel a bit nervous about it, don’t worry.
It doesn’t have to be perfect.
It doesn’t even have to be close to perfect.
If you look at the photos below, you will realize that.

It’s easier to roll out the dough into a rectangle if you shape the dough into a round and press a horizontal and a vertical indent with the rolling pin. Like a cross.

I rolled out the dough into a square, about 13×13 inches / 33×33 cm.
The measurements are not crucial.

You can roll out the butter as well, but It’s not easy. We are not using that much butter, so the layer will be quite thin and hard to handle.
I chose to use my cheese grater and place the thin slices directly on the dough.

After that, I folded everything into an envelope.

And after that, I folded the dough again into three.

I rolled out the dough into a rectangle with the measurements of
16x 8 inches / 40×20 cm and folded it into three again. Then the dough went into the fridge, wrapped up in clingfilm, for 15 minutes.

MIXING THE FILLING

Meanwhile, I prepared the filling. It’s nothing complicated. Just mix cinnamon with sugar and butter. Make sure you take out the butter from the refrigerator well before, so it is soft when it’s time to mix.

I repeated the process one more time, this time I rolled out the dough to a rectangle, about 12×10 inches / 30×25 cm.

Now it was time to spread the filling. As you can see, there is less filling on one of the sides. That will make it easier for the finished roll to stick together.

To get the typical Swedish look, I rolled the dough into a cylindric shape. There are other ways, but this is by far the easiest.
Before I started to cut the dough into rolls, I let the dough rest for 30 minutes with the seam side down in the refrigerator. This will close the seam a bit, and the rolls will hold together better during proofing and baking.

I cut the dough cylinder into 3/4″ / 2 cm thick rolls, placed them on parchment paper. Cover them with cling film and let them proof for 2-3 hours in room temperature, about 72-74°F/22-23°C

Before I baked them, I gave them a brush with egg wash.
In Sweden, it’s traditional to sprinkle with granulated sugar, but feel free to use icing or whatever you prefer.

15 minutes at 482°/250°C was enough for these rolls. Watch out at the end, so they don’t get burned. It can happen quickly.
Trust me, I know.

Try to let them cool a bit before you start to devour them.
Because they do taste good. Crisp and flaky on the outside and soft and delicious on the inside.
They taste just like cinnamon rolls should taste.

I think my grandma would have approved them.