Apple and Cinnamon Sourdough Buns

Our Apple and Cinnamon Sourdough Buns are the best buns we’ve ever made at home. With swirls of sweet cinnamon, lovely and moist dough that’s infused with juices from the apples cooking and vanilla-scented icing, these buns are to die for! Extra soft, with juicy bits of apple bursting with flavour, these sourdough cinnamon rolls will be gone before they’ve had time to fully cool down!

Why Are These Cinnamon Sourdough Rolls Special?

Adding apples to more traditional cinnamon buns is a great way not only to add fruit to your sweet treat but also to enhance flavour. After all is there a better combination than apples, cinnamon and brown sugar, right? What is more, apples add just the right moisture to the bake, making the buns taste fresh and moist a little longer.

The icing on the buns is mandatory! Whilst I am normally a fan of cream cheese frosting on my buns, it seemed excessive for these Sourdough Cinnamon Apple Buns that are already moist and full of flavour. So I made Seb’s favourite, Vanilla Icing that’s the drizzling consistency and sets on the buns once cooled. The buns iced this way are easier to eat and your fingers don’t get as messy (if you let the buns cool first, that is, which we never do…).

Furthermore, using a sourdough starter to leaven the dough for these Apple and Cinnamon Sourdough Buns means these are easier to digest. But it also means that it will be a slower rise and you need to start making them way in advance.

Bun Making Timeline:

Below I’ve written down my timeline on how I make them, but you can adjust timings to whatever works for you.

Day 1

• 6:30 am I feed my starter and leave it to ferment and double in size in the warmest spot of the house, or an oven that’s been preheated for a 1 minute on the lowest temperature and then turned off. It takes 4-6 hours.
• 11:30 am I mix the core ingredients and leave to autolyse
• 12:30 pm I mix and knead the dough
• 12:45 – 17:00 pm The dough is resting, plus I perform 4 sets of coil folds (see details below).
• 5:15 pm Prepare the filling, roll out the dough and arrange the buns in a tin.
• 5:45 pm put the buns in the fridge for a cold-prove.

Day 2

• 6:30 am Take the buns out of the fridge and leave in a warm spot for 2 hours
• 8:30 Bake the buns, meanwhile prepare the icing.
• 9:30 Take the buns out of the tin and ice.
• 10:00 Eat the buns (even though I should wait until the icing sets, but I just love them whilst they’re still a bit warm).

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Step-by-Step Recipe:

Day 1:

In the morning, feed your starter. You will need an active starter that’s doubled in size after feeding. I mix 40g of starter with 40ml of water and 40g of flour and leave at 21-25°C for 4-5 hours to double in size.

When your starter reaches its peak, in a bowl of your standing mixer, combine starter, milk and half of the flour. Cover and set aside for 1 hour. This process is called autolyse.

Lightly whisk a large egg in a small bowl. Take out about 2 tablespoon of it and reserve for later. Add the sugar, melted butter, salt and the beaten egg. I use a Kenwood mixer with various attachments for everything (not just baking), especially for the softer stickier dough that’s hard to work with. If you are looking to buy a standing mixer, I highly recommend a Kenwood Chef Elite.

Using a dough hook attachment, knead on low speed, adding 1 tablespoon of the remaining flour at a time. Once all flour is incorporated, knead for another 3 minutes.

In the meantime, lightly grease a shallow dish. Tip the dough into the bowl and turn once to cover the dough in oil. Then cover with a tea towel.

Over the next 3 hours, perform a set of coil folds (or stretch and folds) every 30 minutes. I have included a video below, but please note, the dough in the video is for Sourdough Bara Brith (Welsh Fruit Bread), and is slightly wetter than the Apple and Cinnamon Sourdough Roll dough. After 6 sets of folds, leave the dough to rise for another hour. It should be lively and elastic by now.

Generously grease an ovenproof dish with butter (I used an 18cm (7in) cake tin, to get more of a tear & share bread effect, but you can use a bigger tin for the buns that are just touching).

Prepare your filling. Peel, core and chop a large apple into small cubes. Squeeze half a lemon over the apple cubes and mix to coat. In a small bowl, mix cinnamon and brown sugar.

Scoop the dough out onto a well-floured surface taking care not to knock too much air out. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 40x25cm (16x10in) rectangle. Brush the surface with the reserved egg.

Sprinkle the dough with cinnamon and sugar mixture and use your hands to press down, so that it sticks to the surface. Then spread the apple cubes all over.

Working from the short side, tightly roll the dough into a log. Use a sharp knife to cut it into 8 equal rounds. Arrange them snuggly (or not, depending on the tin you’re using) in the ovenproof dish. If you use a smaller tin, they will rise upwards, if you use a large one, they will spread sideways and slightly upwards.

TIP: if you’re using a springform cake tin, you may want to tightly wrap some foil around the bottom of your tin. Apples will release juices and sugar will dissolve, as a result, creating a syrup. Foil ensures the syrup cannot escape and make a mess in your fridge or oven.

Brush the top with 1 tablespoon of melted butter, cover with clingfilm and pop in the fridge to cold-prove overnight.

Day 2:

In the morning, take the buns out of the fridge and place them in a warm spot for 2 hours. They should increase in size by about a third, so don’t be disappointed if they don’t double.

Preheat the oven to 190°C Fan. Brush the top of the buns with some milk and bake for 25-30 minutes. Individual separate buns will cook much quicker than buns that are snuggly arranged in a tin (like mine).

When cooked, leave them in the tin to cool down for 20 minutes before releasing them from the tin and transferring them onto a cooling wrack.

In the meantime, prepare the icing by mixing melted butter, icing sugar, vanilla paste, a pinch of salt and milk together and stirring to a smooth paste. You may have to sift your icing sugar first if it is in clumps. If you cannot get your icing smooth still, just pass it through a fine-mesh sieve.

Finally, drizzle the buns with the icing. We love our Apple and Cinnamon Sourdough Buns slightly warm with the icing drizzling down the sides!

Recipe FAQs:

Other Sourdough Recipes To Try:

If you liked our Apple and Cinnamon Sourdough Buns, you might also like:

• Sourdough Brioche with Lemon and Vanilla
• Overnight Sourdough Pancakes
• Overnight Sourdough Focaccia with Herbs and Olives

Apple and Cinnamon Sourdough Buns

Our Apple and Cinnamon Sourdough Buns are the best buns we've ever made at home. With swirls of sweet cinnamon, lovely and moist dough that's infused with juices from the apples cooking and vanilla-scented icing, these buns are to die for! Extra soft, with juicy bits of apple bursting with flavour, these buns will be gone before they've had time to fully cool down!

5 from 10 votes

Print Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Fermenting, Resting & Proving 17 hours hrs

Total Time 18 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course Baking, Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American, British

Servings 8 buns

Calories 269 kcal

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

For the Dough:

• 115 g active sourdough starter
• 120 ml milk luke warm
• 280 g plain white flour
• 1 large egg 2 tablespoon of it set aside for brushing
• 40 g caster sugar
• 35 g butter
• ½ teaspoon salt

For the Filling:

• 1 large apple
• 60 g brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoon milk for brushing the top

For the Icing:

• 100 g icing sugar
• 15 g butter
• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste
• 3-4 tablespoon milk
• a pinch of salt

Instructions

 

Day 1:

• In the morning, feed your starter. You will need an active starter that's doubled in size after feeding. I mix 40g of starter with 40ml of water and 40g of flour and leave at 21-25°C for 4-5 hours to double in size.
• When your starter reaches its peak, in a bowl of your standing mixer, combine starter, milk and half of the flour. Cover and set aside for 1 hour.
• Lightly whisk a large egg in a small bowl. Take out about 2 tablespoon of it and reserve for later. Add the sugar, melted butter, salt and the beaten egg. Using a dough hook attachment, knead on low speed, adding 1 tablespoon of the remaining flour at a time. Once all flour is incorporated, knead for another 3 minutes.
• In the meantime, lightly grease a shallow dish. Tip the dough into the bowl and turn once to cover the dough in oil. Cover with a teatowel.
• Over the next 3 hours, perform a set of coil folds (or stretch and folds) every 30 minutes (see more details regarding the methods in the text above). After 6 sets of folds, leave the dough to rise for another hour. It should be lively and elastic by now.
• Generously grease an ovenproof dish with butter (I used an 18cm (7in) cake tin, to get more of a tear & share bread effect, but you can use a bigger tin for the buns that are just touching).
• Prepare your filling. Peel, core and chop a large apple into small cubes. Squeeze half a lemon over the apple cubes and mix to coat. In a small bowl, mix cinnamon and brown sugar.
• Scoop the dough out onto a well-floured surface taking care not to knock too much air out. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 40x25cm (16x10in) rectangle. Brush the surface with the reserved egg.
• Sprinkle the dough with cinnamon and sugar mixture and use your hands to press it in, so that it sticks to the surface. Then spread the apple cubes all over.
• Working from the short side, tightly roll the dough into a log. Use a sharp knife to cut it into 8 equal rounds. Arrange them snuggly (or not, depending on the tin you're using) in the ovenproof dish. If you use a smaller tin, they will rise upwards, if you use a large one, they will spread sideways and slightly upwards.

  TIP: if you're using a springform cake tin, you may want to thightly wrap some foil around the bottom of your tin. Apples will release juices and sugar will sissolve creating a syrup. Foil ensures the syrup cannot escape and make a mess in your fridge or oven.
• Brush the top with 1 tablespoon of melted butter, cover with clingfilm and pop in the fridge to cold-prove overnight.

Day 2:

• In the morning, take the buns out of the fridge and place in a warm spot for 2 hours. They should increase in size by about a third.
• Preheat the oven to 190°C Fan. Brush the top of the buns with some milk and bake for 25-30 minutes. Individual separate buns will cook much quicker than buns that are snuggly arrange in a tin (like mine).
• When cooked, leave them in the tin to cool down for 20 minutes before transferring onto a cooling wrack.
• In the meantime, prepare the icing by mixing melted butter, icing sugar, vanilla paste, a pinch of salt and milk together and stirring to a smooth paste. If you cannot get your icing smooth, I have some tips in the text above.
• Drizzle the buns with the icing. We love them slightly warm!

Nutrition

Calories: 269kcalCarbohydrates: 47gProtein: 6gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 36mgSodium: 208mgPotassium: 119mgFiber: 2gSugar: 16gVitamin A: 226IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 57mgIron: 2mg

Keyword Apple & Cinnamon Buns, Apple and Cinnamon Tear & Share, Apple Buns, Cinammon Buns, Cinnamon Bun Recipe, Cinnamon Tear & Share, Sourdough Apple Buns, Sourdough Bun Recipe, Sourdough Buns, Sourdough Cinnamon Buns, Sourdough recipes

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