Easy Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Focaccia

ByLaRee Colburn

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This easy sourdough cinnamon roll focaccia is absolutely delicious. Filled with cinnamon and sugar, and glazed with a light and fluffy cream cheese frosting, this bread is perfect to enjoy any time of the year.  What I especially love about this sweet treat is that it tastes just like sourdough cinnamon rolls, except that it’s easier to make.  

Simple and easy to make, this is one of my family’s favorite fall treats that I can make with minimal effort.  Similar to my artisan sourdough bread, this recipe is perfect for a batch of sourdough that may have accidentally gotten over-fermented. If that happens to you, as it does to all of us sometimes, just turn it into a delicious focaccia. 

plate of sourdough cinnamon roll focaccia

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • Healthy – made with long fermented sourdough for the maximum gut health benefits. 
  • Delicious – of all the sweet things that I make, sweet focaccia treats are some of our favorites.
  • Snack or Dessert – this sweet sourdough focaccia makes a great snack or the perfect dessert for any gathering.
  • Quick and Easy – If you need a last-minute bread for an evening meal, you can quickly whip up a focaccia in the morning using discard from your refrigerator, and have it baked in time for supper.

Ingredients

  • Flour- I like to use bread flour when making sourdough focaccia bread, but all-purpose flour works just fine too.  I prefer to source my flour from Azure Standard, but I can sometimes get good quality flour from Sam’s club as well.  You can also use whole wheat flour, but I prefer to mix it 50/50 with all purpose flour.
  • Water 
  • Salt- I prefer to use Redmond Real Salt, but use whatever you have available.
  • Sourdough Starter- Sourdough discard works just fine for making focaccia, but you can use active sourdough starter if that’s all you have available.
  • Maple syrup- This gives a slight sweet taste to the bread and adds more of the delicious maple flavor we all love.
  • Brown Sugar- You can also use cane sugar or regular sugar, but brown sugar has the best flavor in my opinion.
  • Cinnamon- Gives some added cinnamon sugar flavor that is absolutely delicious.  
  • Butter- I like to use butter on this focaccia instead of oil because it gives it a richer flavor.

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Tools

Favorite Sourdough Recipes:

How to Make Cinnamon Roll Sourdough Focaccia

Mix Ingredients

In a large bowl, add water, sourdough starter, maple syrup and flour.  

Mix until it comes together into a shaggy dough using a danish dough whisk.  

You can add the salt now, or when you do the first stretch and fold.  It doesn’t really matter for focaccia.  

Leave it for 15-30 minutes to “autolyse”.  This just means you’re giving the flour a chance to absorb the water and the starter.

Do one set of stretch and folds or a coil fold just to make sure the ingredients are well mixed.

Bulk Fermentation

Cover bowl with a loose fitting lid like a plate.

Leave it in the bowl at room temperature for 3-8 hours to let the dough rise in a bulk ferment.  It doesn’t matter if it over ferments, in fact, that’s really what you want for focaccia.  I oftentimes let the dough ferment overnight, and bake it the next morning.

Make The Filling

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon.  

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Melt butter and grease the bottom of the pan, saving about half of the butter for the top of the dough.

Transfer dough to the prepared pan.  I like to use a 12” cast iron skillet or a 9 x 13-inch pan.

putting cinnamon roll focaccia in pan

Cover the focaccia dough with half of the brown sugar/cinnamon filling.  Fold one side towards the center, and the other side towards the center, fully enclosing the filling.  Flip the whole batch of dough over and gently spread it back out.

making cinnamon roll focaccia

Allow the dough to do its second rise for an hour or two in a warm spot (depending on the temperature of your house).  You can also do the second proof in the refrigerator if you’re not wanting to bake it right away.

Drizzle melted butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the top. 

dimpled cinnamon roll focaccia

Dimple the surface of the dough with wet hands and spread it out towards the edges of the pan (see video).  This will allow the rest of the filling to be fully incorporated into the dough.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Bake

Bake at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Glaze

Combine powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl to make a thick glaze and drizzle over the top of the warm focaccia.

pan of sourdough cinnamon roll focaccia

Slice and Enjoy

For best results, wait until the focaccia is cool to slice.  Sometimes I can’t wait that long, and slice it sooner.   You’ll never eat anything more delicious!

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

If you make this recipe, be sure to come back and give a 5-star rating so others will know to try it too.  Happy baking friends!

piece of cinnamon roll focaccia

FAQ

Sourdough starter is a fermented mix of flour and water that has captured the wild yeast that is in your environment.  It uses this yeast to raise your bread so you don’t have to purchase store bought yeast.  As long as you have access to flour, water and salt, you can make bread and other delicious recipes like this sourdough focaccia.

Anytime you add a fermented element like sourdough to a recipe, it becomes more nutritious because it contains live probiotics and good bacteria that help with gut health and digestion.  Gluten and phytic acid are naturally present in wheat, and are usually what is to blame for people not being able to digest gluten well.  When the grain is fermented through the sourdough process, the gluten and phytic acid are broken down, making it easier to digest.  A lot of people that struggle with gluten intolerance (not people with celiac), can digest food made with sourdough without any issue, especially if the recipe is allowed to sit out for a few hours and “long ferment”. In addition, phytic acid is an anti-nutrient that blocks absorption of the nutrients found in wheat. During the sourdough fermentation process, the phytic acid gets broken down and the nutrients are more bio-available to the body. This is why baking with sourdough is so important for our health.

All purpose flour works just fine for making sourdough focaccia.  You can use any kind of flour you want though, it really is a flexible recipe.  

Sourdough focaccia is more flat than a regular loaf of sourdough bread, and can be made either sweet or savory.  A lot of focaccia’s are made savory with herbs, vegetables and salt, or sweet with fruit, sugar and usually a powdered sugar glaze.

Yes, long fermented sourdough focaccia is healthier than yeast bread because of the phytic acid that is broken down during the fermentation process.  A lot of people that are gluten intolerant can eat long fermented sourdough bread without any digestion issues.  Sourdough bread also has a lower glycemic index than regular yeast bread and when eaten with a meal it actually lowers the glycemic level of the entire meal. This is really important for people that are diabetic.  More information on the glycemic level of sourdough bread here.

Yes, you can. Since we’re not worried about building structure in the dough and creating a really open crumb like we do in a regular sourdough loaf, then discard works just fine.  In fact, I usually make focaccia with discard.

Yes!  And in fact, I do that a lot.  If you happen to over ferment your sourdough into a sticky dough, just turn it into a focaccia by spreading it out in a greased pan, dimpling it and adding in some sweet or savory toppings.

More Recipes Like This

pan of sourdough cinnamon roll focaccia

Easy Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Focaccia

This easy sourdough cinnamon roll focaccia is absolutely delicious. Filled with cinnamon and sugar, and glazed with a light and fluffy cream cheese frosting, this bread is perfect to enjoy any time of the year.  What I especially love about this sweet treat is that it tastes just like sourdough cinnamon rolls, except that it's easier to make.
Prep Time 8 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 8 hours 30 minutes
Serving Size 10 people

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Equipment

  • 1 Large Mixing Bowl
  • 1 Measuring cups
  • 1 Danish whisk
  • 1 Bench scraper
  • 1 Small bowl
  • 1 12" Cast-iron skillet or 9" x 13" baking dish
  • 1 parchment paper

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup sourdough starter (discard)
  • 1 1/4 cups warm water
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 Tbsp salt

Filling

  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 2 Tbl. cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup melted butter

Glaze

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbsp milk

Instructions

Mix Ingredients

  • In a large bowl, add water, sourdough starter, maple syrup and flour.  
  • Mix until it comes together into a shaggy dough using a danish dough whisk. 
  • You can add the salt now, or when you do the first stretch and fold.  It doesn’t really matter for focaccia.  
  • Leave it for 15-30 minutes to “autolyse”.  This just means you’re giving the flour a chance to absorb the water and the starter.
  • Do one set of stretch and folds or a coil fold just to make sure the ingredients are well mixed.

Bulk Fermentation

  • Cover bowl with a loose fitting lid like a plate.
  • Leave it in the bowl at room temperature for 3-8 hours to let the dough rise in a bulk ferment.  It doesn’t matter if it over ferments, in fact, that’s really what you want for focaccia.  I oftentimes let the dough ferment overnight, and bake it the next morning.

Make The Filling

  • Combine brown sugar and cinnamon.  
  • Melt butter and grease the bottom of the pan, saving about half of the butter for the top of the dough.
  • Transfer dough to the prepared pan.  I like to use a 12” cast iron skillet or a 9 x 13-inch pan.
  • Cover the focaccia dough with half of the brown sugar/cinnamon filling.  Fold one side towards the center, and the other side towards the center, fully enclosing the filling.  Flip the whole batch of dough over and gently spread it back out.
  • Allow the dough to do its second rise for an hour or two in a warm spot (depending on the temperature of your house).  You can also do the second proof in the refrigerator if you don't want to bake it right away.
  • Drizzle melted butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the top. 
  • Dimple the surface of the dough with wet hands and spread it out towards the edges of the pan (see video).  This will allow the rest of the filling to be fully incorporated into the dough.
  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Bake

  • Bake at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Glaze

  • Combine powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl to make a thick glaze and drizzle over the top of the warm focaccia.

Slice and Enjoy

  • For best results, wait until the focaccia is cool to slice.  Sometimes I can’t wait that long, and slice it sooner.   You’ll never eat anything more delicious!
  • Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
  • If you make this recipe, be sure to come back and give a 5-star rating so others will know to try it too.  Happy baking friends!

Notes

Simple and easy to make, this is one of my family’s favorite fall treats that I can make with minimal effort.  Similar to my artisan sourdough bread, this recipe is perfect for a batch of sourdough that may have accidentally gotten over-fermented. If that happens to you, as it does to all of us sometimes, just turn it into a delicious focaccia. 

I'm a homeschool Mom of 5, living out my dreams of growing a simple, sustainable life on our Nebraska homestead. I'm passionate about gardening, preserving, cooking from scratch and baking with sourdough. I enjoy milking Jersey cows and making our own dairy products. Come along with me as I share with you the skills you'll need to be successful at homesteading and frugal living.

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