This sourdough cinnamon roll focaccia bread is the best dessert or breakfast or brunch, and it starts with unfed starter straight from the fridge and can be baked the same day. Enjoy!

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Easy, no knead, same-day sourdough cinnamon roll focaccia setting on a plate with a napkin, ready to eat

TABLE OF CONTENTS HIDE

1 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

2 Ingredients for Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Focaccia

3 How to Make Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Focaccia

4 Tips for Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Focaccia

5 Common Questions

6 More Simple Sourdough Recipes

7 Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Focaccia (No-Knead, Same-Day) Recipe

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Starting with my original sourdough focaccia bread, add sweet and spicy cinnamon roll ingredients for an amazing treat!

The dough for this no-knead, same day sourdough bread recipe is the easiest, most delicious and impressive and versatile recipe I think I’ve ever made. Add some cinnamon and homemade brown sugar, and make your house smell like a legitimate bakery!

These actually taste like sourdough cinnamon rolls, with a fraction of the effort.

ingredients measured out for a sourdough focaccia: flour, water, cold sourdough starter from the fridge, honey and sea salt — Focaccia dough ingredients: flour, water, sourdough starter, sea salt, honey

ingredients to make topping for sourdough focaccia to turn it into cinnamon rolls: brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, vanilla — Focaccia dough ingredients: flour, water, sourdough starter, sea salt, honey

Ingredients for Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Focaccia

Sourdough starter – cold, straight out of the fridge is fine!
Warm water – to help the dough warm up a bit
Butter – to grease the pan and make the toppings melt right in
Honey – simple sugars in honey give the starter an immediately available food source, which can be helpful when you’re using cold starter and trying to get a same-day rise
Sea salt – to help all of the other flavors stand out
All-purpose or whole wheat flour – I like to use roughly half and half.
Brown sugar – for that classic cinnamon roll taste (Learn how to make it yourself!)
Cinnamon – the star of the show

This easy, no-knead focaccia dough is getting mixed up.

How to Make Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Focaccia

Mix the Dough

Mix all the ingredients together and put the dough in a buttered 9”x13” pan (the same pan you’ll bake it in). Let it rest for half an hour if it’s not stretching to fill the pan just yet. Once it’s relaxed, you’ll be able to push it to the edges.

Let the Dough Rise

Do this in a warm oven (with a bowl of steaming hot water) to rise quickly for a same day bake. Or, just leave it out on the counter overnight for a slower rise, if you have the time. If you do this step the night before, you’ll be able to have it for breakfast!

Mix Toppings and Dimple the Focaccia

Since I start with the dough in the pan I’m going to bake it in, I don’t have to transfer it after rising, which eliminates the need for a second rise. About 30 minutes before you plan to bake the focaccia, mix up your butter/brown sugar/cinnamon topping so it has time to cool before you need to stick your fingers in it! After pouring the mixture on top, dimple it in with your fingers to distribute it throughout the dough.

Bake

Bake at 425° for 20-25 minutes. While baking, mix up the powdered sugar glaze. After it cools slightly, drizzle the glaze over the entire pan, and serve!

melt the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla in a saucepan for the topping of this cinnamon roll focaccia bread

Tips for Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Focaccia

You can absolutely use a cold starter straight out of the fridge for this recipe. Use warm water in the recipe to bring it up to room temperature.

You have two options when it comes to rising:

If you give it a nice long rise, like overnight, just leave it on your counter.

Or, if you’re wanting to bake it the same day, place the pan of dough on one rack of the oven with a metal bowl of boiling water on the other rack. This creates a moist, warm environment for your focaccia to expand appropriately in a more limited amount of time while still achieving great results.

Give the dough at least 7 hours to rise, even in the warm steamy oven. One main reason to make sourdough is its increased digestibility, so you want to give it that much time to break down the phytic acid in the grain, which may also make certain minerals more available for absorption.

the cinnamon and sugar and butter are all incorporated throughout the dough

Common Questions

Yes, but the recipe will behave differently depending on whether the discard is active. If you’re using discard, you’ll need another leavening method if you want the same rise.

Yes! That’s one of the advantages of this recipe. The dough can be mixed, fermented, topped with cinnamon and sugar, and baked all in the same day.

No. This is a no-knead recipe, making it much simpler than traditional cinnamon rolls.

Yes, that’s how this focaccia recipe is designed. You don’t necessarily need to feed your starter first.

Store it covered at room temperature for a day or two, or refrigerate it for longer storage. Warm individual pieces before serving for the best texture.

Yes. I would wait to glaze it until after freezing and thawing. After baking, let it cool completely, wrap it well, and freeze. Thaw and warm for about 10 minutes in a 350 oven. Then, glaze and serve.

Instead of rolling and slicing the dough, this recipe uses a simple no-knead focaccia dough that’s topped with buttery cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar or cream cheese glaze—giving you cinnamon-roll flavor with much less work.

Easy, no knead, same-day sourdough cinnamon roll focaccia drizzled with cream cheese frosting

More Simple Sourdough Recipes

I hope this easy sourdough cinnamon roll focaccia helps you continue confidently on your simple sourdough journey. Check out these posts if you haven’t already, and thanks for following along for more!