Last Updated on August 26, 2025

These Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls are made with a buttery brioche dough, which gives them a pull-apart, soft, and fluffy texture. Top with a brown butter cream cheese frosting for the best sourdough cinnamon rolls ever!

As they bake, your kitchen will take on a mouth-watering, buttery, cinnamon aroma. The cinnamon rolls are decadent but balanced with a slight sourdough and cream cheese tang.

I like to make these in a cast-iron skillet for even baking, caramelized edges, with a fluffy interior.

👉 Fan of cinnamon? Try out my Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins, Sourdough Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls, or this Sourdough Gingerbread Cake with Cranberries!

For another great cast-iron skillet recipe, try this easy Sourdough Honey Cornbread.

Sourdough cinnamon rolls with brown butter cream cheese frosting close up

👍 Why You’ll Love These Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Soft, pull-apart texture made with an enriched sourdough brioche dough similar to my Sourdough Brioche Bread, Sourdough Brioche Hamburger Buns, and Sourdough Dinner Rolls with Rosemary.
Made with a nutty brown-butter cream cheese frosting (or even the chai cream cheese frosting in my Sourdough Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls)
Perfect balance of sweet and tangy, which is why people love sourdough dessert recipes.
Can bake in a cast-iron skillet so you get slightly crispy edges and even baking.

Close up of sourdough cinnamon rolls with brown butter cream cheese frosting in cast iron skillet

⏰ Sample Baking Schedule

The table below is a sample baking schedule for the rolls that works well for brunch cinnamon rolls. Many steps are flexible, depending on your own day-to-day schedule.

For example, you can make the levain the night before by using a smaller amount of starter and higher ratio of flour and water.

You can also proof the dough overnight in the refrigerator for up to two days to bake on your own time.

For morning rolls, you’ll want to fill and shape the cinnamon rolls the night before, proof them overnight in the fridge or cool room temperature and bake them early in the morning.

Steps	Time
1. Make Levain	9:00am
2. Mix Dough	2:00pm
3. Bulk Fermentation	2:30pm-7:30pm
4. Overnight Cold Proof	Overnight and up to 48 hours
5. Fill, Shape, and Final Proof	Next day, 7:00am-12:00pm
6. Bake	12:00-1:30pm

🛠 Tools Needed

See below for more information, recommendations, and possible substitutes.

Cast iron skillet, rolling pin, and baking scale

Baking scale
- Measuring by weight ensures your ingredients are measured correctly.
Stand mixer (recommended)
- Brioche is much easier to mix with a stand mixer. If you do mix by hand, note that it may take longer.
Rolling Pin
10″ Cast-iron Skillet
- A 10-inch cast-iron skillet holds 8 sourdough cinnamon rolls, but you could use a 10” springform or cake pan as well.
Brød and Taylor Folding Bread Proofer (optional, but helpful)
- This folding proofing box by Brød & Taylor is a game changer to keep your sourdough starter and doughs at the perfect temperature while proofing.

🛒 Ingredients Needed

Click on the toggles below for more information, recommendations, and possible substitutes.

Ingredients for sourdough brioche including levain, milk, eggs, yudane, sugar, flour, salt, and butter

Bread flour
- Bread flour has a higher protein and gluten content, which is good for a strong brioche dough as highly enriched doughs like this need quite a bit of gluten strength.
- If you don’t have, you can substitute with all-purpose flour.
Sourdough Starter
- You need active sourdough starter, not sourdough discard, for this recipe. Learn how to make a sourdough starter from scratch and my top sourdough starter tips.
Granulated sugar
Salt
Eggs
Whole milk
- Use whole milk for richness and the best texture.
Unsalted butter, room temperature
- It’s essential that the butter be softened for mixing into your brioche dough. Otherwise, it can be hard to incorporate.
Cinnamon
- Can make sourdough cardamom rolls or use other warming spices.
Dark brown sugar
- Adds molasses flavor to the cinnamon sugar filling.

Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese, softened
- I like full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese for the best consistency and flavor.
Powdered sugar
Unsalted butter
- The butter in the frosting is browned for an intoxicating caramel aroma. It’s the trick for flavor in these Sourdough Pumpkin Maple Cookies, Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Sourdough Hot Cross Buns, and homemade Sourdough Oatmeal Cream Pies.
Vanilla extract

Another frosting option would be to top with this fluffy Sourdough Frosting!

👨‍🍳 How to Make Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Follow along with this visual and detailed guide to help you make the best cinnamon rolls possible. As always, adjust as necessary to fit your own schedule, ambient temperature, and rate of fermentation.

1. Build the Levain

Mix 30g sourdough starter, 30g bread flour, and 30g warm water in an empty jar.

Cover and let set in a warm location (between 75-80ºF) for about five hours until bubbly and ripe. The levain should at least double in size during this time.

Note: I always make a levain separate from my sourdough starter for recipes. But, if you’d prefer to skip this step, simply use 80-90g active sourdough starter when you mix the ingredients in step 3.

2. Make Yudane

Now, make the yudane at the same time as you make your levain (or at least 5 hours before you make the dough).

This quick and easy boiled water and flour mixture will make the rolls super soft.

Place the bread flour in a small, heatproof bowl and pour the boiling water over it.

With a silicone spatula, mix the flour and boiling water until the flour gelatinizes and forms a thick paste.

Cover and set aside to cool.

Pouring boiling water into flour bowl for yudane

3. Mix the Dough

Once the levain doubles add all of the brioche ingredients except the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.

Then, mix the dough in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment on low speed.

At first, the dough will be dry until the flour starts to get hydrated. After a few minutes, the dough will be wet and shaggy.

Brioche dough ingredients just starting to mix in stand mixer — Beginning to mix brioche dough

Brioche dough on dough hook after a few minutes of mixing — Beginning to mix brioche dough

Increase the speed to medium and continue mixing for about five more minutes. When done, the dough should be smoother, more cohesive, and mostly clear the sides of the bowl.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed.

4. Add Butter and Mix

Slice the room temperature unsalted butter into at least eight pieces.

Note: When making most enriched dough, it’s very important that the butter be softened at room temperature (68-70ºF). As a result, room temperature butter will incorporate best into the dough. You’ll know the butter is soft enough when it leaves a slight impression or indentation if you press on it with your finger.

Slab of softened butter on butter knife over stand mixer — Softened butter on butter knife

Softened butter in stand mixer bowl — Softened butter on butter knife

With the mixer on medium speed, add the butter one piece at a time until it is fully incorporated into the dough. Let the dough mix at least a minute or two before adding in the next piece of butter.

As you’re mixing, the dough will scrape the butter against the sides of the mixing bowl.

Adding the butter should take at least 10 minutes in total. Meanwhile, the dough will develop more gluten which is essential so the dough rises properly.

Finally, once the butter is added, continue mixing for about five or so minutes or until the dough is silky smooth, does not stick to your finger, easily slides off the dough hook, and passes the windowpane test.

Silky brioche dough on dough hook at end of mixing — Silky brioche dough on dough hook at the end of mixing

Hand pulling sourdough brioche dough for windowpane test — Silky brioche dough on dough hook at the end of mixing

What is the windowpane test?

The windowpane test is a useful tool to know if enough gluten has been developed in a dough.

To perform the windowpane test, gently pull up a small portion of the dough between your fingers. If the dough quickly tears, it has not developed enough gluten. Mix the dough for a few more minutes.

The dough passes the windowpane test if you’re able to stretch it into a thin, translucent film that light can pass through without breaking.

5. Bulk Fermentation

Next, transfer the dough to a medium mixing bowl for Bulk Fermentation, gather into a round, cover, and place in a warm location to proof. I proof my doughs in my Brød & Taylor proofer set at 78ºF.

After one hour, perform a series of stretch and folds in the dough.

Simply pull up a portion of the dough in four different sections and fold it down onto itself.

The stretch & fold will strengthen the dough during bulk fermentation.

If you notice the dough is still very slack after another hour, feel free to add an additional stretch & fold in another hour.

Proof the dough for about 5-6 hours total at 78ºF. The dough will double, dome, and you should see a few bubbles on top.

Overhead of proofed brioche dough in mixing bowl

Notes:

Because this is an enriched dough, it can take longer to proof and may not double. Ideally, the dough is placed in a warm & humid environment like a bread proofer or in an oven with the light turned on. 75-80ºF is the ideal temperature range for sourdough yeasts. If cooler, the dough will take longer to proof. If warmer, it will proof faster and the butter will be to soft.
Unlike My Everyday Sourdough Bread recipe, this dough is unlikely to overproof unless left in a warm environment for hours longer than called for (in which case the dough can spoil). You will degas the dough the next day, so getting this first proof exactly correct is less critical than making an artisan-style sourdough bread.

6. Cold Overnight Proof

With the dough covered, place it in a cold refrigerator for an overnight proof and up to two days.

Note: There are many benefits of chilling this dough overnight. First, the cold proof, or retard, slows down fermentation and gives the sourdough brioche bread a more complex flavor. Secondly, rolling out chilled dough is much easier than rolling out room-temperature dough. Lastly, proofing it overnight allows you bake it at a later time that best fits your schedule.

7. Make Cinnamon Sugar Filling

Making the cinnamon sugar filling couldn’t be easier!

Mix the cinnamon and the dark brown sugar together in a small bowl and set aside.

Leave aside 2 TBS of unsalted butter to soften at room temperature while you roll out the dough.

Butter or oil a cast iron skillet or other baking pan and set aside.

8. Roll out and Shape

Remove the cold sourdough brioche dough from the refrigerator. Lightly flour a clean work surface and turn the dough out onto the floured surface. Then, flour the top of the dough.

Using your hands, pat the dough into a roughly 8″ square. This will degas the dough some before rolling out.

Next, use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out the dough into a rectangle about 16″ long by 10″ wide. The dough should still be cold at this point and easy to roll out. If it starts sticking at all to the surface or the rolling pin, just flour it a little more.

Sourdough cinnamon roll brioche dough patted into square on counter with flour — Dough patted into square

Sourdough cinnamon roll brioche dough rolled out into a rectangle with rolling pin on counter — Dough patted into square

Note: I like to roll this dough out using my rolling pin to gently push down and away from myself. Flour the surface of the dough, flip it over, and continue rolling out. Once the dough is at the right measurements, I rotate it 90º so the long side is facing me. This helps with rolling up the dough in a couple steps.

Add Cinnamon Sugar Filling

Smear 2 TBS softened butter all over the surface of the rolled-out dough. The butter will help the filling stick to the dough and won’t ooze out like melted butter does.

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar filling on top of the butter until the surface is covered in the brown sugar filling. Then, pat the sugar filling into the softened butter so it sticks.

Sprinkling cinnamon sugar filling on rolled out sourdough brioche dough

Roll Up Dough & Slice

With the long side of the dough facing you, roll up the dough into a long roll about 16″ long.

As you roll up the dough, be sure to roll it up snugly so that you get many swirls and so the filling does not spill out.

Rolling up Sourdough cinnamon roll brioche dough with cinnamon sugar filling into a log

Once the dough is completely rolled up, place it seam-side down on the counter.

Slice the log into 8 equal-sized cinnamon rolls. You can slice with a sharp serrated knife or dental floss for very even slices.

Each cinnamon roll should be about 2″. To get even slices, it helps to gently mark where each cinnamon roll will be cut with a slight indentation on the dough. It’s okay if the rolls aren’t perfect though. They will fill out as they proof and bake.

Finally, place one cinnamon roll in the center of the cast iron skillet (or another round pan) and the remaining seven cinnamon rolls evenly around the center roll.

A cut swirl from a Sourdough cinnamon rolls after slicing

Tip: Use unflavored dental floss to make the smoothest cinnamon roll cut without losing any filling, tearing or smooshing the rolls. Simply slide a long piece of dental floss under the cinnamon roll log. Cross the two ends of floss over the cinnamon roll and keep pulling until the floss slices the cinnamon roll. Repeat with the remaining pieces.

9. Final Proof

Cover the cast iron skillet or other pan and place it in a warm location for its final proof like a bread proofer or an oven with the light turned on.

At 78ºF, proofing typically takes about 5 hours for these sourdough cinnamon rolls. It can be a little sluggish because of the high amount of butter in the dough and has taken up to an hour longer to proof for me before.

At the end of proofing, the cinnamon rolls should be doubled, feel full of air, and fill up the entire skillet. If you take a floured finger and gently poke a roll, it should leave a slight indentation.

Eight sourdough cinnamon rolls at the start of proofing in a cast iron skillet — Rolls at the start of proof

Eight sourdough cinnamon rolls in a cast iron skillet at the end of proofing — Rolls at the start of proof

10. Bake

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

When the oven is preheated, beat an egg and a splash of water together in a small bowl to create an egg wash. Brush the tops of the cinnamon rolls with a light egg wash. An egg wash will help the cinnamon rolls get golden brown and shiny.

Once the oven is preheated, place the skillet in the oven and bake the sourdough cinnamon rolls for 25-30 minutes.

When done, the tops should be golden brown. The internal temperature should read 195-205ºF if using an instant-read thermometer like the Thermapen.

Let the cinnamon buns cool for at least 30 minutes on a wire rack.

Therapen checking temperature of sourdough cinnamon rolls

Sourdough cinnamon rolls in cast iron skillet baked with frosting in background

11. Make the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Make ahead: You can also make the brown butter cream cheese frosting up to three days ahead and store in the refrigerator. Whip up before using.

As the cinnamon rolls cool, set aside the cream cheese to come to room temperature.

How to Make Brown Butter

To make the brown butter, melt unsalted butter in a small skillet (ideally a light-colored pan so you can see the butter browning) over medium heat.

Swirl the pan and stir continuously with a silicone spatula as you heat the butter.

After a few minutes, the butter will start to foam. Pay attention as it browns quickly!

Keep stirring the butter as it turns from yellow to golden brown. Brown specks, the milk solids, will become visible and start settling in the pan, and the butter will smell like caramel.

Remove from the heat and pour the browned butter out of the pan and into the bowl of a stand mixer or into a medium mixing bowl. Be sure to scrape all of the delicious, brown specks into the bowl!

Lastly, let the brown butter cool to room temperature.

Spatula stirring melted butter in a saucepan — Stirring melted butter in saucepan

Bubbling butter in saucepan — Stirring melted butter in saucepan

Mix the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

In the same bowl with the cooled brown butter (a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or in a medium bowl with a hand mixer), mix together the brown butter and room temperature cream cheese on medium speed. Mix the butter and cream cheese for a couple of minutes until it is light and fluffy.

Add a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the bowl until incorporated.

Dump the powdered sugar into the bowl.

Pulse in the powdered sugar slowly on the lowest speed (on and off, on and off quickly). Mix the frosting for a couple minutes until all of the sugar is combined and you have a fluffy, decadent frosting.

Spatula stirring brown butter cream cheese frosting in bowl

Spoon the frosting on top of the cooled or slightly warm cinnamon rolls.

Alternatively, set the frosting aside in a small bowl to let individuals add as much frosting as they want to their roll!

Finally, pull apart the Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls and enjoy!

Close up of a baked Sourdough cinnamon roll swirl without frosting

Smearing frosting on Sourdough cinnamon rolls with a butter knife

How to Serve

These rolls are buttery, decadent, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

I like to serve these cinnamon rolls slightly warm, all frosted, and straight in the cast iron skillet. Set the skillet on the serving table and it’s a rustic and impressive brunch centerpiece!

The brown butter cream cheese frosting barely melts on top of the cinnamon rolls, so you get a gooey and perfect cinnamon roll. Furthermore, people can pull apart their own rolls which is part of the fun.

In addition, you can also serve the frosting on the side and let people spoon their own amount on top.

If you’re interested in another gooey sourdough recipe, check out my Sourdough Maple Pecan Sticky Buns!

Hand holding up a sourdough cinnamon roll

How to Store

Enriched doughs can stay quite soft for a few days if stored properly. For example, by using the yudane method and natural sourdough yeast, these sourdough cinnamon rolls can last up to three days unfrosted at room temperature or longer if refrigerated or frozen.

For maximum flavor and texture, the buns are best eaten the day they’re baked. If unfrosted, the rolls can keep wrapped with plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or beeswax at room temperature for up to three days.

If frosted, wrap and place them in the refrigerator for four to five days. Lastly, since the frosting has dairy, the cream cheese frosting should be refrigerated after being out for a couple hours.

Can you Freeze?

Unfrosted, baked sourdough cinnamon rolls freeze well.

Pull apart individual rolls and store them in a freezer safe bag for at least a couple of months.

Reheat in a toaster oven or the oven and frost before serving.

Bite taken from a Sourdough cinnamon roll on a plate

❓ FAQs:

Can I double the recipe?

This recipe makes eight sourdough cinnamon rolls. You’re welcome to double this recipe to make 16. You can bake all 16 rolls in a 9×13″ baking dish or use two skillets.

Can you make cinnamon rolls in advance?

Yes. You can mix, proof, and place the dough in the refrigerator for up to two days in advance.

Finally, the brown butter cream cheese frosting can be made and refrigerated up to three days in advance.

Why did the cinnamon filling leak?

It’s normal for cinnamon roll filling to leak some during proofing.

If the butter or temperature is too warm though, the filling can pool up considerably. Make sure your rolls don’t proof in a hot environment or they will leak.

Interior of a sourdough cinnamon rolls made with brioche dough on a plate

Did you make this recipe?
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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38 Comments

Katie Johnson says:

January 16, 2026 at 8:10 pm

This was a little complicated but well worth it. Absolutely delicious! They didn’t last no time around our house.

1. Brandon Cochran says:
  
  January 19, 2026 at 1:09 pm
  
  Thanks Katie!
  
Sarah says:

December 22, 2025 at 6:15 pm

I am making these for the first time for Christmas. I have been playing with a few different recipes. Have you tried pouring heavy cream over the rolls before baking before? I have done it in the past and it was an amazing addition. Do you think it would add anything to this recipe or maybe mess it up?

1. Brandon Cochran says:
  
  December 22, 2025 at 8:44 pm
  
  You could add a small amount! I think these brioche cinnamon rolls are rich enough as they are that the heavy cream isn’t needed when I make them, but up to you and your tastes.
  
Barbara says:

December 19, 2025 at 3:33 pm

can you refrigerade after fianl skape and final fermentation and bake the next morning?

1. Brandon Cochran says:
  
  December 21, 2025 at 8:12 am
  
  You can! They may need to rise longer in the morning if they’re not puffy, so you may want to give yourself a little extra time just in case they haven’t risen much in your refrigerator.
  
Debbie says:

October 24, 2025 at 6:14 pm

These are INCREDIBLE sourdough cinnamon rolls. In fact, the fluffiest, softest cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had. And I’ve had a lot of them. Easy recipe with detailed instructions. Appreciate the attention to detail.

Maureen says:

June 1, 2025 at 11:12 am

This recipe is amazing. Thank you so much for the perfect instructions. I have never tasted a better cinnamon roll, they were light, fluffy and so delicious. The frosting is out of this world. I can’t believe they came out of my oven. These are enjoyable to make, and eat. This recipe will definitely be on my baking rotation.