Sourdough Apple Cinnamon Rolls

These sourdough apple cinnamon rolls are soft, fluffy, and filled with juicy apples and a buttery cinnamon sugar swirl. Topped with a crunchy oat streusel and finished with sweet vanilla glaze, they’re the perfect cozy twist on a classic cinnamon roll.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Sourdough Recipes

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 30

Fermentation Time 12

Total Time 13 30

Servings Rolls

Calories 591kcal

Author Kate Freebairn

Equipment

Stand Mixer
Rolling Pin
Baking Pan (I've used a USA Pan Bakeware Rectangular Cake Pan measuring 9" x 13")

Ingredients

Dough

500 g Bread Flour
100 g Sourdough Starter
200 g Milk (warm)
7 g Salt
1 Egg
1 Egg Yolk
50 g Granulated Sugar
115 g Butter (softened at room temperature)

Apple Filling

100 g Butter (melted)
250 g Apples (green apples, peeled and diced)
100 g Brown Sugar
3 g Cinnamon (ground)

Streusel Topping

45 g Brown Sugar
40 g All Purpose Flour
60 g Raw Sugar
40 g Rolled Oats
95 Butter (cold, cubed or grated)
3 g Cinnamon (ground)
200 g Heavy Cream

Vanilla Glaze

150 g Powdered Sugar
5 g Vanilla Extract
40 g Milk

Instructions

To make the dough

Add the warm milk, sugar, sourdough starter, egg + yolk, vanilla, salt, bread flour and butter to the bowl of your stand mixer and knead to a rough dough using the dough hook attachment. Leave the dough to rest for around 30 minutes.
Now knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (speed 1-2 for around 2 to 3 minutes). Cover the bowl and allow the dough to bulk ferment at room temperature. You want the dough to rise around 30% and feel soft to the touch.
Once the dough has finished bulk fermentation, you will need to fill and shape the sourdough apple cinnamon rolls.

Rolling and Filling the Dough

Before you roll out the dough you need to make the filling. Add the diced apple, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter to a small bowl and mix together until it's well combined.
Turn the dough out on to the counter. It shouldn't be sticky and be easy the handle. Do not use flour when rolling out the dough.
Gently roll the dough out into a rectangle. 20" x 12" is a good size to aim for.
Spread the filling all over the dough, leaving a 3" gap on one of the long edges. You need to leave a gap so that dough will stick to itself when you roll it.
Once the filling is spread, roll the dough into a log, starting on the opposite long edge to the gap you've left.
Roll the dough into a tight log, using the unfilled dough to seal the log. You can spray a little water on the part where the dough joins if you want to - but the dough should stick to itself without it.
Lay the log out with the seam underneath.
Cut the log into approximately 12 pieces (you can measure and divide by 12 if you want them to look even - or just go freehand if you're not too fussed).
Place the rolls into a baking dish. They don't need to touch, they will touch once they start to proof.
I've used a USA Pan rectangle cake pan measuring 9" x 13". Any baking or casserole dish measuring 9" x 13" is perfect. I don't recommend using anything smaller than this.

Second Rise

Cover the baking dish containing the rolls with a damp dish towel or plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise. The dough is enriched, so it will take a little longer than normal (especially since we are dealing with sourdough).
While the dough is proofing, you can make the streusel topping.

Streusel Topping

To create the streusel topping, add the brown sugar, raw sugar, cinnamon, all purpose and butter to a food processor and blitz until it resembles wet sand. Once it's well combined, add the oats and mix together (I don't use the food processor for this part as it chops up the rolled oats too finely).

Baking

Once the sourdough apple cinnamon rolls are proofed and puffy, preheat your oven to 180C/356F.
While the oven is preheating, pour the heavy whipping cream into the bottom of the baking dish (try not to let it touch the top of the rolls). Then evenly distribute the streusel topping across the top of the sourdough apple cinnamon rolls.
Bake the rolls for 30 minutes at 180C/356F. Once they're golden brown, remove from the oven and drizzle in vanilla glaze.

Vanilla Glaze

Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk to a bowl and whisk until glossy.

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