Cinnamon Rolls (Sourdough)

Ingredients:

Starter:

• 100 g water
• 100 g all-purpose flour
• 1 T. active starter

Dough:

• All of the starter (activated)
• 180 g warm milk
• 2 T. unsalted butter, melted
• 18 g (1 T.) sugar or honey
• 1 egg yolk
• 370 g Bread Flour
• 6 g salt

Filling:

• 100 g unsalted butter, softened
• 60 g brown sugar or sucanat
• 1 T. ground cinnamon

Time required:

• Activating starter 6-10 hours
• Fermentation 3.5-4 hours
• Proofing 1.5 hours
• Baking 30-35 minutes

Directions:

1. Mix starter in a bowl. Let activate 6-10 hours.
2. Warm milk (milk should be about body temperature and just starting to steam). Add milk to a large bowl or stand mixing bowl, add all of the starter that you made in step 1 to dissolve. Add melted butter, sugar, and egg yolk. Stir together. Add flour and salt. Mix all ingredients together well. It will take about 10 minutes by hand to knead the dough into a smooth ball without any dry parts, scrape sides of bowl or rotate dough manually if needed. With a stand mixer it will take 3-4 minutes to form dough into a smooth ball on medium speed. Shape dough into a ball, put in a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Leave to ferment until doubled, 3.5-4 hours.
3. Prepare filling. Place a sheet of parchment in a cast iron skillet or a large pie dish.
4. Roll dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out until it’s about 12 x 18 inches wide. Spread filling across dough with a spatula, leave 1/2 inch on sides. From the longest side, roll up the dough, tuck the end underneath to seal filling in. Take the rolled, cylinder of filled dough and cut lengthwise down the middle, keeping 1 inch intact at the end. Fold insides out to show layers, braid the sides over each other, then bring the braided ends to the intact end of the dough, tuck them into the split above the intact end.
5. Carefully place the braided ring of dough into the parchment lined pan. Let proof until puffed and doubled in volume, about 1.5 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, about 30 mins. before proofing is done. Bake bread 30-35 minutes, until golden brown on edges.