Sourdough Cinnamon Twist Bread Or Wreath
This super easy sourdough cinnamon twist will be one of your favorite breakfasts in no time! Easier to make than cinnamon rolls, it can be made the night before so you can quickly bake it fresh for breakfast in the morning, or you can bake it right away for a quick dessert. You can mix this twist up in a mixer, or in a bowl and just do some quick stretch and folds by hand to develop the gluten. There is also the option to make this with discard or active sourdough starter. I make many of these sourdough cinnamon twists every week during the summer to sell at our local farmers market, and this twist is usually requested for at least one holiday breakfast throughout the year.
Similar to cinnamon rolls, but easier to make, these sourdough cinnamon twists also make great Christmas presents for your neighbors or anyone else on your list.
If you’re looking for a more traditional frosted cinnamon roll, be sure to check out my recipe for sourdough cinnamon rolls. And we also love to make sourdough sticky buns, so be sure to check out that recipe too!
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.
Be sure to watch our full tutorial on how to make your own sourdough starter here.
For more of our favorite sourdough recipes, check out the sourdough portion of our website: Sourdough.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar Filling Ingredients
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here
Tools
Favorite Sourdough Recipes:
How to Make A Sourdough Cinnamon Twist
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 speed and slowly add the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
When 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.
If you plan to let this twist rise overnight, you don’t need to add the baking powder and baking soda. If you plan to bake these right away, you’ll need to add the baking powder and baking soda to the dough so that it will rise as it bakes.
Assemble The Twist:
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. Try to make the rectangle at least 20 inches long. The longer the rectangle, the more room there will be in the center of your braid or wreath.
Spread the filling ingredients on top of the dough (see video).
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Roll the dough up, beginning with the long side of the rectangle. Pinch the dough together and turn it seam side down.
Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log of dough in half lengthwise (see video). You may have to cut it more than once to get all the way through the log of dough.
Beginning on one end, carefully pin the two halves of the log of dough together. Then “twist” the two halves over and under each other until you get to the other end of the log of dough.
Bring the end of the dough around in a circle to meet where you began making the twist and pinch it together.
Gently transfer it to a piece of parchment paper. This makes it easy to take it in and out of the pan, especially if you’re baking a lot of these at one time for gifts.
Place in a greased 12-inch cast-iron skillet, on a baking sheet or in 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Pro tip: if you’re baking a lot of these, you can fit two of them side by side on baking sheets, and then place one baking sheet on each rack of your oven. Using this method I can bake 6 of these at one time in my oven.
If Allowing To Rise Overnight:
Cover with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap and let the dough rise on the counter or 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 these rolls at this point, and take them out of the freezer to raise and bake later on.
To Bake:
The next day or when you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.
While the twist is baking, mix up all the frosting ingredients in a small bowl using a hand mixer.
Spread the frosting on the warm cinnamon twist when it’s fresh out of the oven.
Serve warm with a cup of coffee or tea from Farmhouse Teas.
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 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.
- 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
More Recipes Like This
Sourdough Cinnamon Twist Bread Or Wreath
Equipment
- 1 Stand mixer You can mix these rolls up by hand, but I usually use my favorite Bosch mixer and just mix up the dough while I’m cleaning up supper dishes in the evening. This makes the rolls fast and easy to make.
- 1 measuring cups and spoons
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 sharp knife
- 1 cast iron skillet
- 1 Hand mixer for making the frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup water or milk
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar or honey
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 4-5 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder optional only use if baking right away
- 1 tsp baking soda optional only use if baking right away
Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 2 Tbl. cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 Tbl. vanilla
- 2-3 Tbl. milk (can add more to make a thinner frosting)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tbl. Leftover coffee optional This will give the frosting the best flavor.
Instructions
- 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 speed 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.
- If you plan to let this twist rise overnight, you don't need to add the baking powder and baking soda. If you plan to bake these right away, you'll need to add the baking powder and baking soda to the dough so that it will rise as it bakes.
Assemble The Twist:
- 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. Try to make the rectangle at least 20 inches long. The longer the rectangle, the more room there will be in the center of your braid or wreath.
- Spread the filling ingredients on top of the dough (see video).
- Roll the dough up, beginning with the long side of the rectangle. Pinch the dough together and turn it seam side down.
- Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log of dough in half lengthwise (see video). You may have to cut it more than once to get all the way through the log of dough.
- Beginning on one end, carefully pin the two halves of the log of dough together. Then "twist" the two halves over and under each other until you get to the other end of the log of dough.
- Bring the end of the dough around in a circle to meet where you began making the twist and pinch it together.
- Gently transfer it to a piece of parchment paper. This makes it easy to take it in and out of the pan, especially if you're baking a lot of these at one time for gifts.
- Place in a greased 12-inch cast-iron skillet, on a baking sheet or in 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Pro tip: if you're baking a lot of these, you can fit two of them side by side on baking sheets, and then place one baking sheet on each rack of your oven. Using this method I can bake 6 of these at one time in my oven.
If Allowing To Rise Overnight:
- Cover with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap and let the dough rise on the counter or 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 these rolls at this point, and take them out of the freezer to raise and bake later on.
To Bake:
- The next day or when you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.
- While the twist is baking, mix up all the frosting ingredients in a small bowl using a hand mixer
- Spread the frosting on the warm cinnamon twist when it's fresh out of the oven.
- Serve warm with a cup of coffee or tea from Farmhouse Teas.
- 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
Notes
- 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 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.
- 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.
Did you let the dough rise, and for how long, before you rolled out to make the twist? I see it says to let the twist rise overnight on the counter but does not indicate if the dough rises before you roll out.
Great question. I do not let it rise before I roll it out, although you can if you want. So there’s really two options. 1. Add the baking soda and baking powder to the dough, roll out and bake right away (no long fermentation benefits, but fast and easy). 2. Don’t add the baking soda and baking powder, and allow the twist to raise overnight after rolling it out and shaping it, and then baking it in the morning (this option would have the long fermentation benefits of the sourdough). But you don’t need to allow them rise before shaping for either option. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.