Sourdough Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

These Sourdough Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls are soft, never dry, and bursting with that signature seasonal pumpkin spice flavor! They also feature an incredible browned butter icing that you'll want to lick from the whisk.

Let's be honest: sometimes seasonal recipes can be kinda gimicky. Is it really justifiable to add pumpkin spice to every single thing you bake from September to November (possibly yes)? Is pumpkin spice scrambled eggs actually a good idea?! (Hold that jar of spice!)

While that may be true of a small portion of recipes, these Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls definitely don't fall into that category.

The pumpkin puree keeps the dough nice and soft, the pumpkin spice blend lends an extra layer of flavor to the cinnamon-sugar filling, and the browned butter icing is seriously incredible. In other words, this is such a lovely fall breakfast or brunch treat that's worth the effort.

These were very well received by my family. Even though I made them twice within two weeks, the other day my daughter asked me when I was going to make them again. That...doesn't always happen when I'm recipe testing. Kids can get tired of recipes even if they're delicious if you have to make them multiple times in quick succession.

All of that to say, you should definitely put these on your autumn baking list! Okay, let's dive in and make them...

Jump to:

• Video Tutorial
• Ingredients
• Important Note About Sourdough Starter
• Step-By-Step Instructions
• Shaping the Rolls
• Top Tip
• Second Rise and Baking
• Quick Tip
• Important Note
• Frosting the Rolls
• Serving
• Variations
• Storing
• Sample Baking Schedule
• More Sourdough Breakfast/Brunch Recipes
• Breakfast Pairings
• Sourdough Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Video Tutorial

Here's a video overview of the recipe in case you learn better by watching a demo. The full written tutorial and printable recipe card are below!

Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to make the dough! I'll discuss the ingredients for the filling and frosting as we make them.

• Sourdough Starter: You'll want an active sourdough starter for this recipe, NOT discard (see note about starter below).
• Flour: I used organic all-purpose flour to test this recipe, but I'm sure any good AP flour will work here.
• Milk: Whole milk is ideal, but I'm sure you could get by with low-fat in a pinch.
• Egg: I use organic, pasture raised eggs when possible. If you're squeamish about letting dough with a raw egg sit out for multiple hours, make sure to use a pasteurized egg or leave it out and use a couple tablespoons of extra milk.
• Butter: I like a good, salty butter. If all you have is unsalted butter, increase the salt in the recipe by ⅛ teaspoon.
• Pumpkin Spice: Instead of using just cinnamon to flavor the dough, I used all the warm spices of a pumpkin pie blend. You can use a premade blend, or make your own pumpkin pie spice with my recipe! (BTW I accidentally included cinnamon in the ingredients lineup photo - just ignore please!)
• Honey: I used honey to sweeten the dough, but I'm sure you could substitute brown sugar, maple syrup, etc. Just make sure that you pay attention to the consistency of the dough and add more flour as needed!
• Salt: I use unrefined sea salt to test my recipes, so if you use table salt you may want to reduce the amount by about ⅛ teaspoon.
• Pumpkin Purée: Please use 100% pure pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie filling. They aren't the same thing! You could also use homemade pumpkin puree, but you'll probably need to adjust the flour amounts slightly to accommodate the difference in water content.

See recipe card for quantities!

Important Note About Sourdough Starter

This sounds super obvious to say, but your sourdough starter is the foundation of great bread. If your starter is sluggish and acidic, the texture and flavor of your cinnamon rolls will suffer.

Here is an important checklist to make sure your starter is ready to go for this recipe!

• Hydration: Make sure to feed your starter at 100% hydration for this recipe. This means you feed it equal weights, not volumes, of flour and water. I recommend starting with 60 grams of sourdough starter and feeding it 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water. This will leave you with a little extra starter in the jar to feed for your next bake!
• Type of flour: I feed my starter with organic all-purpose flour. If you want similar results to my sourdough pumpkin cinnamon rolls, please do the same!
• Starter activity level: You want a nice, active starter for this recipe, NOT discard. To ensure your starter is happy and ready to be baked with, make sure you feed it peak to peak 1-3 times before making this recipe (see note below for how to feed peak to peak). If you regularly feed your starter peak to peak, you don't have to do any extra feeds. But if you're pulling your starter out of the fridge, or you've been neglecting it on the counter for a while, you want to get it reactivated before using it to raise dough.

What is Peak to Peak Feeding?

Peak to peak feeding is simply making sure to always feed your starter when it reaches peak fermentation, or a little before or after. You can tell that your starter has reached peak fermentation when it has bubbles all throughout and on top, and has at least doubled in volume, and then just starts to fall again.

If you regularly feed your starter a long time after peak fermentation (it falls, loses its bubbles, and starts to smell acidic), your starter will become weak and acidic. If your starter is showing signs of being sluggish, make sure to feed it a few times peak to peak to get it happy again!

Step-By-Step Instructions

Place all of the dough ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer.

Make sure the butter is cooled sufficiently before adding it to the dough so it doesn't kill the sourdough starter!

Knead the dough with the dough hook on medium low speed until smooth and elastic, about 15-20 minutes. It will start out shaggy, and eventually mix into a lovely, smooth dough. The dough should clean the sides of the bowl.

Make sure to pay attention as the dough is kneading, and add more flour as needed to achieve the proper consistency.

Bulk Fermentation:

Transfer the pumpkin dough to a buttered glass or plastic bowl. I always just leave it in the stainless steel mixing bowl (without greasing first), but keep in mind that sourdough and metal technically don't mix well. So proceed accordingly!

Cover with a lid, damp tea towel, or piece of plastic wrap. Allow the dough the ferment and rise at room temperature until doubled in volume. This can take anywhere from 4-12 hours (depending on how active your starter is, and how warm your kitchen is), but 8-12 hours is typical.

I usually allow the dough to rise overnight for its first rise.

Shaping the Rolls

The next day (or later in the day, depending on when you started), mix together some brown sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl. Set the cinnamon filling aside for now.

Lightly grease or flour your work surface. This is a really soft dough, which results in lovely, soft cinnamon rolls. But it can also be a little trickier to work with.

Note: You can use softened butter instead of melted butter. Make sure it's really soft since the dough is delicate and hard butter will tend to scrape it up.

Slice the roll into 15 equal pieces. I like to use a sharp serrated knife here, but a sharp bench scraper or unflavored dental floss could also work.

Second Rise and Baking

Place the rolls in a buttered 13x9-inch baking pan.

I used a stainless steel pan to test this recipe, so if you use glass you may need to adjust the baking time a bit.

Cover and allow to rise until they almost fill the pan, about 2-6 hours.

30 minutes before the rolls are done rising, preheat your oven to 400°Fahrenheit (204° Celsius). Bake the risen rolls for 10 minutes. Without opening the oven, reduce the temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown and done all the way through.

You can check for doneness with an instant-read thermometer: insert it into the doughy part of a roll. It should register an internal temperature between 195° and 200°F (91°-93°C).

Allow to cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack for about 30 minutes before frosting the rolls. They should no longer be hot to the touch.

Frosting the Rolls

Now it's time to make that incredible browned butter frosting!

Sift the powdered sugar into a small to medium bowl. Set aside for now.

Brown 2 tablespoons of butter (see my How to Brown Butter post if you've never done it before - it's super easy!)

Pour the browned butter over the powdered sugar. Add some heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt.

Whisk everything together until completely smooth. You can adjust the consistency of the icing by adding more powdered sugar or milk/half and half/cream.

You want it to be thin enough that you can drizzle it over the cinnamon rolls, but thick enough that it won't run right off of them.

Now drizzle that amazing frosting all over your gorgeous pumpkin cinnamon rolls. Oh my word this stuff is so good.

This makes enough frosting to cover the rolls well, but if you prefer a heavy amount of frosting, you'll want to double it.

Serving

Serve the rolls warm with a little butter and a glass of cold milk.

These are best served fresh from the oven, but you can rewarm them in a moderate oven to refresh before serving.

Variations

If you prefer you can serve these with a cream cheese frosting (as I did for my classic sourdough cinnamon rolls). However, I highly recommend trying the browned butter frosting at least once!

Storing

These will keep at room temperature, well covered, for about 24 hours.

After that it's best to transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

You can also freeze the baked cinnamon rolls in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months.

Sample Baking Schedule

It can be a little confusing figuring out how to schedule out your sourdough bakes, so I did the work for you!

• 12:00 PM (Noon): Feed your sourdough starter.
• 10:00 PM that evening: Mix together the dough. Cover and set aside to ferment/rise.
• 8:00 AM the next morning: Shape the rolls and set aside for the second rise.
• 12:00 PM (Noon): Bake the rolls.

Keep in mind that the above times are estimates. If your kitchen is quite warm, you'll want to decrease the time between each step.

More Sourdough Breakfast/Brunch Recipes

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Breakfast Pairings

Here are some hearty breakfast mains and proteins to serve with these cinnamon rolls!