Orange Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

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These soft, pillowy sourdough cinnamon rolls, infused with bright orange zest and a hint of natural tang, are the perfect balance of cozy and fresh. The slow-fermented dough bakes up tender and flavorful, wrapping layers of fragrant cinnamon sugar and citrus warmth into each spiral. Topped with an orange glaze, these rolls are full of fresh orange flavor that your family will love.  This orange cinnamon roll recipe is perfect paired with a glass of fresh orange juice for breakfast or for a special occasion like Easter or Christmas morning.

What Are The Health Benefits Of Sourdough

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.

What kind of flour is best for chocolate cinnamon rolls?

Bread flour will give you the fluffiest and softest cinnamon rolls, but you can make cinnamon rolls with a variety of flours including whole grain or all purpose.

Be sure to watch our full tutorial on how to make your own sourdough starter here.

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Ingredients

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Tools

How to Make These Fluffy Orange Cinnamon Rolls

To make the orange dough, in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the first six ingredients.

If using a mixer, start mixing on low and slowly add the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

If you’re not using a mixer, add the flour to the other ingredients in the bowl and knead until the dough comes together into a nice ball.  Stretch and fold or knead the dough every 15-30 minutes for a couple of hours.  This will develop the gluten similar to how the mixer develops it by mixing.

Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough using a rolling pin to ¼” thick in the shape of a rectangle.

Spread the butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and orange zest on the dough (see video).

Roll up dough, beginning with the long end of the rectangle.

Using a sharp serrated knife, cut rolls into 12 equal pieces.

Place in a greased cast iron skillet or baking dish.

For the long fermented version:

Cover with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place overnight.  If you need to wait longer than overnight to bake them, place them in the refrigerator, and pull them out to finish rising a couple of hours before baking.

You can also freeze the cinnamon rolls at this point, and take them out of the freezer to raise and bake later on.

For the quick version:  proceed with baking.

Baking The Orange Rolls

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place rolls in the prepared pan. Bake rolls for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

While the rolls are baking, mix up the cream cheese frosting.

Remove from the oven and spread the frosting over warm rolls. 

Serve with a cool cup of orange juice or milk.

Savor every bite!  Store any leftovers in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to one week, although I know they'll never last that long.

If you try this recipe and love it, please come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @wagonwheelhomestead21 

Tips

• To gain all of the health benefits from making these with long-fermented sourdough, be sure to allow them to bulk ferment at room temperature overnight.  This will ensure that most of the phytic acid and gluten in the flour are consumed by the sourdough starter making these much easier to digest especially if you are gluten intolerant.
• If your sourdough starter is really thin, you may need to add a little more flour to this recipe.  I always mix them until the dough pulls away from the sides of my mixer bowl, or until it’s not super sticky if mixing up by hand.
• You can mix these sweet rolls in a mixer (my favorite is a Bosch), or just mix up the dough and do a series of kneading or stretch and folds every few minutes for about an hour to develop the gluten in these rolls.  Then just roll them out, shape and allow to rise until double and then bake.
• You can use string to cut the orange cinnamon rolls if you’d like, but I find that cutting them with a knife works just fine for my family.
• The cinnamon sugar and other filling ingredients can be mixed together first and then spread on the dough, or added individually as shown in the video.
• It is perfectly safe to add the eggs to this dough and still allow the dough to bulk ferment at room temperature overnight because the good active bacteria in the sourdough starter will prevent any bad bacteria from forming on the eggs.

FAQ

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