Fluffy Pumpkin Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

These pumpkin sourdough cinnamon rolls are the perfect fall twist on a favorite comfort food recipe. 

These rolls get their orange coloring from pumpkin purée in the dough itself, as well as including pumpkin in the cinnamon filling to maximize your pumpkin experience. Putting the pumpkin in the dough has the added benefit of helping keep your rolls soft and moist. 

This is one I like to make for our monthly bible study potluck at the beginning of every fall, as well as a couple of times just to enjoy with the family. 

Ingredients for fluffy sourdough pumpkin cinnamon rolls

If you’ve ever made cinnamon rolls before, you will be familiar with most of these ingredients, and see a few new ones to boot. 

• Sourdough starter
• Milk
• Egg
• Butter
• All purpose flour
• Salt
• Brown sugar
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Nutmeg
• Pumpkin purée. This recipe will use about one 15 oz. can of pumpkin purée NOT to be confused with pumpkin pie filling.

For the glaze, cream cheese frosting is really popular, but I think maple frosting really compliments the pumpkin nicely, so that’s what I went with. Definitely feel free to use your favorite icing, but you won’t regret going with maple!

The ingredients for that will be butter, maple syrup, and powdered sugar. You can also add vanilla extract, or maple extract.

Substitutions and FAQs

Do I have to use sourdough starter? Yes, it’s integral to this recipe. Don’t worry too much if your sourdough starter is thick and stiff or thin and running. While the recipe card below does include instructions for feeding your starter, the main thing is that it’s live and active. This is your leavening agent. 

Can I make these vegan? Definitely. You will need to replace the butter with vegan butter, use water, dairy-free milk, or a combination of water and additional pumpkin puree in place of the eggs and milk, etc. While the eggs and milk contain protein, as well as fat (along with the butter) that helps add structure and tenderness to your dough, that can be largely replaced with vegan ingredients. 

What if I don’t have brown sugar. Brown sugar gives you a bit of a richer flavor, and more moisture, white sugar, scant, or coconut sugar can be substituted. 

I don’t like cloves. Then don’t use them. When it comes to the spices mix, you can be as flexible as you want, including or omitting whatever your specific taste dictates. Think ginger, allspice, nutmeg, or subtsitute everything for pumpkin pie spice etc. 

How to make pumpkin sourdough cinnamon rolls

1. In the morning, feed your sourdough starter by adding 1/3 cup of it with 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour, and slightly less than 1/3 cup of water to make a batter that’s about the texture of muffin batter or thick pancake batter.
2. Set in a warm place, covered loosely until the starter peaks – somewhere between 4-6 hours. 
3. Stir the active starter down, and measure out 1/3 cup for your recipe. Place a lid on the rest and put in the refrigerator for the next time you need it, or you can use it in a sourdough discard recipe.
4. For the dough, combine flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. 
5. Add in egg, pumpkin melted butter, and milk. 
6. Stir with dough hook attachment until a nice ball forms, then let knead for about five minutes, until the ball has smoothed out and is no longer shaggy. You want to walk a fine line between a nice, well developed dough, and a dough that isn’t so strong that it’s hard to roll out later. 
7. Cover and allow to proof in a warm room for 4-5 hours. Ideally, until the dough is doubled in volume. 
8. Combine the filling ingredients (pumpkin puree, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger), and set aside.
9. Sprinkle a large, clean surface with flour, and turn dough out onto it. 
10. Roll dough out into a large, 11-15 inch (roughly) rectangle.
11. Spread with filling. 
12. From here you can roll it up, and cut it with floss, which is the traditional way. Lately though, I’ve found that it’s easier to cut the dough into one inch strips and then roll them individually. 
13. Place rolls into a buttered baking dish with a a little room between each for rising.
14. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight. 
15. In the morning, remove rolls from refrigerator and set in a warm place for 1-2 hours
16. Preheat oven to 350º
17. Bake rolls in oven for about 20 minutes, until beginning to brown and done through, but be careful not to overcook – that’s how you get dry rolls. 
18. Remove from oven, and let rest. 
19. While rolls rest, combine icing ingredients and beat until smooth. 
20. Spread over hot rolls (if desired – you can wait until they’re cooled, but its nice the way the icing melts into the rolls a little when you ice them hot)
21. Serve as desired.

How to store leftovers

Store leftover pumpkin cinnamon rolls in a single layer in an airtight container. These can be stored at room temperature for 1-2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week, but beware that refrigeration tends to dry out baked goods, so consider misting them with water and heating in the oven before serving refrigerated rolls. 

To freeze, place rolls in a freezer-safe container or ziplock bag. To thaw, place on countertop to thaw for 1-2 hours before removing from packaging. 

More sourdough recipes for you: 

• Sourdough cinnamon rolls
• Caramel apple sourdough cinnamon rolls
• Cranberry Walnut sourdough bread
• Sourdough Garlic Knots
• Apple Cinnamon sourdough bread

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