Sourdough Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Chai Cream Cheese Frosting

Build the Levain:
In a clean jar, mix the sourdough starter, bread flour, and water.
Cover and set in a warm location (between 75-80ºF) for about five hours until it is at least doubled and bubbly.
Alternatively, skip this step and mix 120g of active sourdough starter into your dough.
40 grams Sourdough Starter, 40 grams Bread Flour, 40 grams Water
Mix the Dough:
Scald the milk in a small saucepan until just about boiling and pour into the bowl of your stand mixer bowl. Let cool to just warm or room temperature.
Add the pumpkin puree, egg, and all of levain to the bowl with the cooled milk and mix. Then, mix in the bread flour, sugar, and salt.
Mix on low speed for a few minutes until the flour is incorporated and the dough comes together into a mass.
Cover with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes to further hydrate.
120 grams Whole Milk, 183 grams Pumpkin Puree, 1 Egg, Levain, 500 grams Bread Flour, 50 grams Granulated Sugar, 10 grams Kosher Salt
Add the Butter and Mix:
Slice the room-temperature butter into pieces and while continuing to mix the dough on medium speed, add one piece of softened butter to the bowl at a time until each piece is fully incorporated into the dough.
Continue to mix the dough for 10-15 more minutes until the dough passes the windowpane test, is smooth, tacky, and easily slides off of the dough hook.
56 grams Unsalted Butter
Bulk Fermentation:
Transfer the dough to a medium bowl, cover, and place it in a warm location for bulk fermentation. At 78ºF, bulk fermentation takes about 6 hours (longer if cooler).
Bulk fermentation is complete when the dough is doubled, domed in the bowl, and smooth.
Overnight Proof:
Cover the bowl and place it into a refrigerator to proof overnight and up to 48 hours.
Make the Cinnamon Sugar Filling:
The next day, butter or grease your baking pan and line it with parchment paper with a couple of inches overhang on the long sides.
In a bowl, mix together the softened butter, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour until you have a filling like wet sand. Set aside.
150 grams Dark Brown Sugar, 1 ½ TBS Ground Cinnamon, 1 TBS Bread Flour, 56 grams Unsalted Butter
Shape and Slice the Cinnamon Rolls:
Turn out the cold dough onto a clean surface. Use a rolling pin to roll it out into a rectangular slab about 12x18".
Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar filling over the surface of the dough, leaving a ½ inch border on the sides.
Carefully roll up the dough lengthwise into a long 18" log, seam-side down. Trim the ends. Then, use a ruler, knife, or dental floss to make slight indentations on top of the dough to guide you where to divide it into 12 equal-sized pieces.
Shimmy the dental floss under the log, wrap two ends over top of each other and pull to slice the rolls. Alternatively, use a bread knife to slice.
Tip: If your dough is warm, it may be hard to make clean slices. Refrigerate or freeze the log for 10 minutes before slicing if it's not cool.
Final Proof:
Arrange the slices onto the baking pan in a 4x3 grid, tent with foil, and place in a warm location for the final proof.
At 78ºF, the final proof takes about 3.5-4 hours. The rolls are finished proofing when they've almost doubled in size, touch each other, and poofy. If you poke the rolls with a floured finger, they should leave a slight indentation and feel full of air.
Bake:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC).
Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes until the filling just starts to bubble and tops haven't browned. If using an instant-read thermometer, the dough temp should be between 190-200ºF.
Cool on a wire rack before spooning on the frosting.
Make the Chai Cream Cheese Frosting:
Combine all of the frosting ingredients together in a mixing bowl and use a spatula to press and mix it together into a smooth, spreadable frosting. Add a tsp of heavy cream or milk into the frosting if you like a runnier frosting.
113 grams Cream Cheese, 56 grams Unsalted Butter, 170 grams Powdered Sugar, 1 pinch Kosher Salt, 1 tsp Vanilla Extract, 1 ½ tsp Chai Spices

Sourdough Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Chai Cream Cheese Frosting

Equipment

Ingredients

Levain

Sourdough Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Dough

Cinnamon Roll Filling

Chai Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions

Notes