I love sourdough and I love cinnamon scrolls so I have been keen to develop a cinnamon scrolls recipe using the great flavours of sourdough.
It’s been a labour of love, with lots of trial and error, but my latest version is really good and I’m very happy!
Like any sourdough recipe, it takes a bit of time, but those gorgeous soft brioche style scrolls are well worth the extra time!
The scrolls are filled with a butter brown sugar cinnamon mixture and sit in some gooey caramel while baking. Once baked the tops glazed with golden syrup and finally, when cool, drizzled with lemon icing.
Ingredients
Dough
400g strong flour
200g sourdough starter
8g salt
50g caster sugar
3 free range eggs, at room temperature
100g tepid milk
100g unsalted butter
Caramel Sauce
75g unsalted butter
125g light brown sugar
50g maple syrup
Cinnamon Filling
150g light brown sugar
1 heaped tablespoon ground cinnamon
100g unsalted butter, very soft
Golden Syrup Glaze
2 tablespoons golden syrup heated to use as glaze
Lemon Icing
Juice of 1/4 lemon
200g icing sugar or enough icing sugar to make a dripping icing
Method
In a large bowl add all the dough ingredients except the butter. Mix to a rough dough, cover and leave for 30 minutes to autolyse.
Using a dough hook of an electric mixer, knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until smooth and silky.
Now add butter, in small pieces, which needs to be very soft. You can soften the butter in the microwave. Mix using the dough hook until the mixture is smooth and elastic. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave to prove somewhere warm for 4 hours. The dough should have risen slightly.
To make the caramel, melt the butter, brown sugar and maple syrup in a small saucepan over a low heat.
Line a large baking pan with baking paper. I use 22cm x23cm (9 inch x 13 inch) pan. Spoon the caramel sauce over the base. You don’t have to use all the sauce – the more you use the gooier the scrolls will be. I sometimes only use half the caramel for a less gooey bottom.
Remove the proven dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured board. Using floured hands, gently stretch the dough to a rough rectangle, slightly less than the size of your pan.
For the cinnamon filling, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together.
Spread the very soft butter all over the dough rectangle. Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over the butter.
Now roll up the dough along the long side, as carefully as you can, as the dough is very soft.
Cut the long roll into 12 even pieces. Place the pieces into the baking pan, cut side up, on top of the caramel sauce, packing them in snugly together.
Put the pan into a large plastic bag to prove. Leave at room temperature for an hour then place into the fridge overnight or for 8-12 hours. Or, if you wanted to prove more quickly, leave in a warm place for 2 hours. I recommend the fridge prove as it really improves the flavour.
Half an hour before baking, preheat the oven to 160 degrees C fan or 180 degrees C non fan forced. Add a pan of water to the bottom of the oven to create steam for baking.
Take the pan out of the plastic bag and place the scrolls in the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the tops of the scrolls are golden brown but not burnt.
Once baked, remove from the oven. Brush the tops of the scrolls with the warmed golden syrup.
To make the lemon icing, mix the lemon juice with the icing sugar. You may need more or less icing sugar – use enough to make an icing of dripping consistency.
One the scrolls are quite cool, drizzle the lemon icing over the tops of the scrolls.
Remove the scrolls from the pan and peel off the baking paper. The scrolls will be sticky with the caramel sauce underneath.
Best eaten on the day while the scrolls are gooey. They can be microwaved gently the next day if you have any left over!
The Quirk and the Cool 