Sourdough Discard Cinnamon Rolls

These no wait sourdough cinnamon rolls are made with sourdough discard and ready in under an hour! There's no yeast, no long fermentation and absolutely no proofing required. Just soft, tender cinnamon rolls filled with buttery cinnamon sugar swirls and topped with delicious cream cheese frosting. Perfect for when you're craving homemade cinnamon rolls but don't have hours to spare!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Sourdough Discard

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Total Time 45

Servings Rolls

Calories 488kcal

Author Kate Freebairn

Ingredients

No Wait Dough

350 g All-purpose Flour
50 g Granulated Sugar
15 g Baking Powder
3 g Baking Soda
5 g Salt
130 g Buttermilk (see notes for alternatives)
150 g Sourdough Discard
70 g Butter (melted, cooled)
1 Egg

Filling

50 g Butter (soft)
100 g Dark Brown Sugar
8 g Ground Cinnamon

Frosting

100 g Cream Cheese (block, not a spreadable tub)
30 g Butter (soft)
80 g Powdered Sugar
5 g Vanilla Extract

Instructions

Preheating the oven to 200ºC (390ºF). Line a cast iron skillet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set this aside.
In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sourdough starter, melted butter and egg. It should should be well combined and have minimal lumps.
Now, pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and bring together using a spatula. The dough won't be like the sourdough you're used to, this is quite a sticky dough (it's sort of like biscuit dough).
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Lightly dust some flour over the top and gently use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a rectangle (approximately 25cm x 35cm or 10" x 14". Try not to add too much flour here - a stickier dough leads to fluffier rolls.
Once the dough is rolled out, spread the softened butter from the filling ingredients all over the rectangle of dough, leaving a 1 inch strip on one of the long sides of the dough. Then sprinkle the dark brown sugar and cinnamon all over the butter you just spread out.
Carefully roll the dough into a log, starting from the long edge opposite the one where you left a gap without filling. If the dough is a little sticky, use a metal dough scraper to gently lift it as you roll.
Once you've rolled the dough into a log, cut it in half. Cut each half in half again to make 4 equal pieces, then cut each piece in half once more. You'll end up with 8 cinnamon rolls. Place the sourdough discard cinnamon rolls into the cast iron pan you prepared earlier. I place one at the centre and the other 7 around the outside.
Bake the rolls for 25 to 30 minutes at 200ºC (390ºF) or until just starting to brown on top.
While the no wait sourdough cinnamon rolls are baking, add the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract to the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until light and fluffy. Set aside until the rolls are baked through.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before smothering in the vanilla cream cheese frosting.

Notes

Buttermilk - if you don't have any buttermilk, add a splash of white vinegar to the same amount of milk and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Use this as a simple buttermilk alternative.

Sticky Dough - this is a sticky dough. Try to just lightly flour your counter top to be able to roll it out and use a metal dough scraper to lift it up and roll it. You don't want to add too much flour to this as the more flour you add, the drier the dough becomes. Stickier dough will give you light, fluffy no wait sourdough cinnamon rolls. No one wants dry, stodgy cinnamon rolls!

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