To all my baking friends, have fun making these Gluten-Free Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls! They’re a real treat and so good when fresh and still warm!
If you haven’t made a gluten-free sourdough starter before but want to bake some GFV cinnamon rolls, consider trying the Easy Gluten-Free Vegan Cinnamon Rolls recipe first. Those include active yeast.
The instructions are slightly different, so make sure to read both recipes, and watch the how-to video (also below) before starting. The yeasted ones can be ready in less time, but the sourdough ones are worth the wait!
The rising times vary depending on if you leave the sourdough to ferment on your counter for 6 to 8 hours or in the refrigerator overnight.
Gluten-Free Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Creating a wild natural sourdough starter with gluten-free flour and water is magical. It really is. Transforming two very simple ingredients into bubbly yeast to help your baked goods rise is very special and fun to make!
If you’ve been waiting to start, don’t wait any longer because now you will have another recipe to use your wild yeast in!
Plus, the Gluten-Free Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls make for the perfect Sunday brunch treat! Just make sure to plan ahead so you can bake them fresh in the morning, a few hours before serving.
How-To Video
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What to Expect
What I learned while experimenting with this recipe is that you should not over bake the rolls. You might not think that 22-25 minutes at a 375° F oven will be enough, but trust me, they will be perfect!
Overbaking these sourdough rolls too long will create a crumbly dry texture. So please, easy on the baking times!
Overview
This recipe includes a few preparation steps:
- Making the roux
- Mixing the ingredients
- Adding the sourdough starter
- Letting the dough rise/ferment
- Flattening the dough
- Filling/rolling the dough
- Cutting the rolls
- Placing the rolls in baking dish
- Baking the rolls
- Glazing the rolls
Tip
The best tip I can offer for this recipe is to try and not overcrowd your baking dish or cast-iron skillet. Using a larger baking vessel, even a baking sheet, will bake up the best rolls.
Overcrowding the pan or dish will create rolls that are too tight together. Resulting in questioning yourself on the proper baking times.
Baking with Steam
In the video, on the bottom rack of the oven, I added ice cubes on a baking sheet. This step is optional, but doing so while your rolls are baking on the middle rack will help create some steam.
It’s well worth the try to increase the rise of your baked gluten-free, vegan goods!
Cinnamon Filling
In the video, I used my hands to mix the coconut oil, the cinnamon and the other filling ingredients. If you don’t want to use your hands, you can mix everything in a bowl with a spoon. Soften or even melted coconut oil will work best for that method.
There’s even the option of brushing on the melted coconut oil first, then spreading the rest of the dry cinnamon filling ingredients evenly on the flattened dough.
Play around; you decide what works best for you!
Alternatives
As for ingredient substitutions for this recipe, what I used is what I recommend. If you want to replace all the flours and starches with all-purpose gluten-free flour, that will be up to you to try!
If you try it and it works well, please rate and comment on the recipe below to let others know what worked for you.
Note that my recipe doesn’t include gums (xanthan gum) and some GF flour mixes do. It can improve the texture, but I prefer avoiding gums because it’s better for people with digestive issues.
This recipe includes organic coconut oil if you want to experiment with vegan butter, again, entirely up to you. It will work well, but it does introduce a lot more ingredients that, for some, are best to be limited.
Organic Ingredients
Making these yummy cinnamon rolls with the best ingredients is essential. If you have access to organic cinnamon, coconut sugar, coconut oil and even some of the dry ingredients like flour, give it a try!
Thing is if you follow a gluten-free, and mostly plant-based lifestyle is most likely because you do appreciate nutrition or you have a health condition that benefits from consuming the best ingredients when possible.
Baking Tools
- Small pan (non-stick works well)
- Spatula
- Small bowl(s)
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Large mixing bowl (clear is great)
- Sifter
- Spoon(s)
- 9-inch (or larger) baking dish (round or square) or
- 9-in (up to 12-in) cast-iron skillet
(a larger skillet will give each roll more space to grow) or - Baking sheet or larger baking dish 9 x 12 inches
- Plastic wrap, silicon cover, or clean tea towel
- Parchment paper
Previous Recipe
If time is a deciding factor, the Easy Gluten-Free Vegan Cinnamon Rolls uses active yeast, which means that you only need about 2 hours to let your dough rise before baking.
Give that yeasted recipe a try first, then come back and try this one!
| 👩🍳 🍞 Good Food Cooking School 🥖🍪 | |
| If you’re interested in learning more about gluten-free baking, check out the Good Food Cooking School courses taught by cookbook author Heather Crosby from YumUniversity. I took the Bread Baking and the Classic Cookies 101 course a while back, and it’s what got me hooked on my baking journey. Take a tour to see if her baking courses are right for you! |
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Gluten-Free Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
- Prep Time: 30 mins (+ 6-12 hours rising/hands off time)
- Cook Time: 22-25 minutes
- Total Time: min 6:55 +/- 12 hours
- Yield: 8 – 10 rolls 1x
- Category: Treats
- Method: Oven-Baked
- Cuisine: Gluten-Free, Plant-Based, Vegan, Nut-Free, Allergen-Friendly, Fermented
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
To all my baking friends, have fun making these Gluten-Free Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls! They’re a real treat and so good when fresh and still warm!
If you haven’t made a gluten-free sourdough starter before but want to bake some GFV cinnamon rolls, consider trying the Easy Gluten-Free Vegan Cinnamon Rolls recipe first. Those include active yeast.
The instructions are slightly different, so make sure to read both recipes, and watch the how-to video before starting. The yeasted ones can be ready in less time, but the sourdough ones are worth the wait!
The rising times vary depending on if you leave the sourdough to ferment on your counter or the refrigerator overnight.
Useful Tools
- Small pan (non-stick works well)
- Spatula
- Small bowl(s)
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Large mixing bowl (clear is great)
- Sifter
- Spoon(s)
- 9-inch (or larger) baking dish (round or square) or
- 9-in (up to 12-in) cast iron skillet
(a larger skillet will give each roll more space to grow) or - Baking sheet or larger baking dish 9 x 12 inches
- Plastic wrap, silicon cover, or clean tea towel
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
Roux
- 2 tablespoons brown rice or sorghum flour (18g)
- 1/2 cup water (118g)
Dough
- 1 cup sorghum flour (110g)
- 1 cup brown rice flour (125g)
- 1/2 cup millet flour (60g)
- 1/2 cup potato starch (70g)
- 1/2 cup arrowroot starch (60g)
- 1 tablespoon psyllium husk (whole)* (7g)
- 1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar (12g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder*** (4g)
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (optional)
- 1/2 cup gluten-free sourdough starter (brown rice or sorghum) (150g)
- 1 cup warm homemade hemp milk**
- 1/4 cup water (add in incrementally)
Filling
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, softened****
- 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar (80g)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1–1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon (or just a dash) cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
Glaze (optional)
Option 1:
- 2–4 tablespoons coconut butter
- 1–2 tablespoons hemp milk
- 1/2 tablespoon coconut palm sugar
Option 2:
- 6–8 tablespoons organic powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon hemp milk
Option 3: Enjoy plain!
Instructions
Before you begin, please watch the recipe video to help you make the Gluten-Free Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls (or the yeasted version).
Step 1
To make the roux, in a small pan (non-stick works well) on low heat, combine 2 tablespoons of brown rice flour (or sorghum flour) with 1/2 cup of water. Stir continuously with a soft spatula while cooking for 2 minutes. The roux will be ready once it looks like a thick paste. Remove from heat, spread it around in the pan to let it cool faster.
Step 2
Sift, combine and mix the first 9 dry ingredients. Add the lemon juice (optional), warm hemp milk, roux, sourdough starter and mix well. Add the 1/4 cup of water incrementally and mix in between each addition, we don’t want the dough to be too wet. Mix until everything is well combined. Cover (plastic wrap, silicon cover, or clean tea towel) your bowl and let your dough rise for 6 to 8 hours. The dough will grow a bit in size. If mixed in a clear bowl, you will see the growing bubbles on the sides. Wait for some signs of bubbles or dough growth before manipulating the dough.
Step 3
On your kitchen counter, place a 13-in x 20-in sheet of unbleached parchment paper. You will need it to help you roll the dough. Transfer the dough to the paper and flatten out with your hands to an approx. 8.5-in (d) x 15-in (w) rectangle.
Step 4
Preheat oven to 375° F and grease your baking dish or cast-iron skillet with coconut oil. If you decide to use a baking sheet, you don’t need to grease it but do line it with a sheet of parchment paper. Combine the filling ingredients; coconut oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, vanilla extract and mix until well combined and smooth. Spread the filling mixture over top of the dough rectangle with a spoon or your hands except for a 1-in edge (closer to you) for sealing the roll. Watch the video to help you.
Step 5
With a sharp knife of kitchen string, gently mark and cut the roll into 8-10 equal parts. Place each dough roll into a greased baking dish or onto the lined baking sheet. Make sure to keep space between each. They will rise and grow once baked. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the edges are golden. Watch the recipe video for tip about baking with steam. Do not overbake as they will get dry and crumbly. Once ready, let cool for 5-10 minutes before icing.
Step 6
Icing the cinnamon rolls is optional but does add a nice touch—especially if serving these to friends or family. Make the icing with ingredients you have on hand and play around with some variations. Enjoy once cooled!
Notes
Store on your kitchen counter, covered for 1-2 days. It is best to warm up the rolls on the second day. They will be drier the next day.
*1 tablespoon Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer.
**Warm hemp milk, not hot. To make 1 cup of hemp milk, blend 1-1/4 cups of water with 1/3 cup of organic hemp seeds/hearts in a high-speed blender and strain to remove any larger bits. You can try another type of plant milk; I haven’t tested any other for this recipe.
***Baking powder; gluten-free, corn-free, aluminum-free. To make homemade baking powder, you can mix approx. 4 tablespoons of cream of tartar, 2 tablespoons of baking soda and around 2 tablespoons of either arrowroot starch/flour or tapioca flour. You can also buy some premixed.
****You can use Earth Balance’s vegan butter as an alternative to coconut oil. Some are soy-free.
Can you use coconut milk instead of hemp seed milk? What about brown rice flour? Can I use something else thats grain-free, nut-free, and seed-free?
View CommentHi! I haven’t made these in a while. I do have organic coconut milk (can) and could try a version without brown rice flour. Which GF flour is in your gluten-free starter? Tell me, when you bake grain-free, which ingredients can you consume? Do you eat buckwheat (pseudograin)? What about cassava flour, coconut flour, tiger nut flour, etc.? What about starches? Are you okay with potato starch and tapioca starch? Let me know so we can create a new version for you. What about sugar? Are you okay with coconut sugar or maple syrup?
View CommentNo buckwheat, no brown rice flour. I actually use sorghum flour to make my sourdough. I use millet flour, sorghum flour, coconut flour, tiger nut flour, cassava flour. As far as starches, I only use tapioca starch or arrowroot starch. No potato starch. For sugar and syrup, I use monkfruit or erythritol and lakanto syrup.
View CommentThese look really good!🙌😋 Can’t wait to try them out!
View CommentOne question, Do you have to use a plant based milk or can I just use whole milk?
Hi! I think it would be ok, but I can’t say for sure as I haven’t tried it.
View CommentAloha Chantel,
I was wondering why you have the Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer in your Notes?
When does one add that ingredient to the Cinnamon Rolls?
Can’t wait to try your recipe!
View CommentVicki
Hi Vicki! If you don’t have whole psyllium husk but do have Bob’s Egg Replacer, you can sub 1 tablespoon of whole psyllium husk with 1 tablespoon of Bob’s Egg Replacer and achieve similar results. Bob’s Egg Replacer includes psyllium husk with starch and baking soda. Let me know if you have additional questions. Sorry for the late reply, I just saw your message now.
View CommentHello Chantal,
View CommentThese buns look amazing!
However, I can’t get a hold of sorghum flour.
What other flour would you use to best substitute sorghum in the recipe?
Much appreciated. 🙂
Best, Tena
Can you consume GF oat four or what about GF almond meal/flour? Or even light (texture & colour) buckwheat flour could work well.
View CommentAmazing cinnamon buns! Thank you for letting me eat cinnamon buns again! 🙂
View CommentThanks for your wonderful recipes! Every one ive tried has been fantastic. My non gf family ate all The cinnamon rolls happily!
I think this recipe is very open to variation. I added the oil to the batter with 1 cup of dried fruit soaked in OJ and then baked as round rolls and it was great too! Next I’m going to try a savory version with some some cheese baked into the batter and subbing pesto for the cinnamon sugar.
View CommentHi Kate! Thank you so much for your rating and comment! I love the idea of a savoury roll too! If you ever want to play around, I’ve even tried my Wild Yeast Bread sourdough to make rolls and they were really great! You can keep a portion to bake a loaf and some to make rolls (sweet or savoury)!
View CommentThank you so much for these great recipes! Can you refrigerate the already rolled cinnamon rolls with filling and pull them out the next morning to bake?
View CommentHi Allison! I don’t see why not. It’s actually very smart because that way you’ll have freshly baked rolls! Happy holidays!
View CommentHi Chantal! I just got done making these cinnamon rolls and will be putting the icing on in a few… everything went well with my rolls until after I let it sit out for 7 hours (the dough) and went right into to rolling the dough with the cinnamon mixture. The dough got stuck to my unbleached parchment paper and it was falling apart. Therefore, I had to add all purpose flour to keep it together. I just took it out the oven and it feels hard on the outside, and I know this is because of the added flour. I think next time I will refrigerate the dough because it probably wouldn’t have gotten stuck. I am so bummed because I wanted soft cinnamon rolls…. But I will try this again and refrigerate the dough to see if it will make a difference. Thank you for sharing! I have also done your sourdough bread recipe with brown rice starter. Thank you for everything you do!! I appreciate it!
View CommentHi Kiara! Thank you for trying the GF sourdough rolls. Maybe 7 hours was too long of a proof? Was your dough warm? Placing the dough in the fridge to cool it would definitely make rolling easier for sure. I used the dough from my Wild Yeast Bread recipe to make some cinnamon rolls a few weeks ago. It works really well! Is that the sourdough bread recipe you tried? Thank you for your comment!
View CommentThese turned out so good! I love what the sourdough adds to them! Definitely my go to for gluten free vegan recipes that turn out amazing every time!
View CommentHi Camia! Thank you so much for trying the sourdough version of the cinnamon rolls! All of sudden I’m craving cinnamon rolls! There’s nothing better than the smell of a baked good with cinnamon on a cool day! Thank you for your comment and rating!
View CommentThis recipe looks wonderful! I’ve just made my first sourdough starter and I’m going to cook your buckwheat bread today. I’ll let you know how it turns out! But I’m curious, could you please explain the purpose of the roux in this recipe? I’ve never seen that done with bread before.
View CommentHi Heather! In gluten-free vegan baked recipes, I’m always playing around with methods to mimic the stickiness of gluten. In this recipe, I tried cooking some of the flour/water to make a roux to help bind the rest of the ingredients. If you feel like experimenting, try it once with roux and once with simply using the flour and water. That way you can compare which one you like best 😉
View CommentPingback: 50 Best Vegan Blogs That's Actually Worth Following (2020)
Love this recipe, the rolls are also great the next day slightly reheated. Have you frozen gluten free dough before baking. Just wondering as they are so beautiful fresh and a whole batch is way to much to eat for my family. Was considering rolling up rolls in smaller portions then freezing, cutting and baking once defrosted, any thoughts?
View CommentWould be great if you could provide the metric equivalents for the ingredients! Look forward to trying this 🙂
View CommentAnd thanks so much for all the effort you put into the recipes and for always being so helpful
Hi! Yes, I could that for sure! I’ll work on it next time I’m in the kitchen measuring/weighing ingredients! Soon 😉
View CommentThanks so much Chantal, sorry for the extra work! Thank youuu
View CommentYASSSSSSS Chantal!!!!! Thank you very much for posting this recipe!!!! I have been waiting for it for years!!!!!
I must make it this weekend!
View CommentHi Amazone! I hope you do try it! Please let us know if you do and if you make any tweaks as it can help other bakers find this recipe! Don’t forget to rate and share your feedback once you do 🙂
View CommentChantal: Your recipes are always tried, true and tested. Your You tube videos are just the icing on the Cinnamon roll! This dough was so easy to work with! The only thing that I “cheated” on was that I used real powdered sugar because we don’t have anything that resembles organic powdered sugar here. I also used almond milk, not hemp. I made the sourdough recipe and refrigerated the dough overnight. Please keep experimenting so that we can enjoy each and everyone of your creations.
View CommentHi Yafa! It makes me so very happy to get feedback like yours. Your comment will help other bakers, so thank you for sharing your experience with this recipe! Keep baking, and I’ll keep experimenting! 😉
View Comment