Cinnamon Sugar Focaccia Sourdough Bread with Cream Cheese Icing
Sometimes I get into a routine of making the same things, and then one day, I will have a breakthrough. I had one of those recently. I often hear from people that cinnamon rolls are hard to make or just too daunting. So, I thought why not try too make something that can be easily made, and is much more forgiving. This cinnamon sugar focaccia sourdough bread with cream cheese icing is an incredible alternative to traditional cinnamon rolls.
There are so many things you can do with my original sourdough focaccia bread recipe. It is a simple sourdough bread recipe. We love to make deep dish pizza with it as well!
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Cinnamon Sugar Focaccia Sourdough Bread with Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz active sourdough starter
- 1 1/2 cups water (plus 3 tbsp) also 400g
- 5 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp salt
- 4 cups bread flour
- 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for the bowl
Topping Ingredients
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Icing
- 4 oz softened cream cheese
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 3-4 tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 tbsp butter room temperature
Instructions
- First, you need to get a large mixing bowl. It can be plastic or glass but not metal. Metal can react to the starter. I like to use a glass bowl and transfer it all into my proofing container with a lid when its time for its bulk fermentation.
- Take your sourdough starter and water and mix them in the bowl(it does not need to be warm water). I like to use a digital scale to measure these out. Once they are combined, add your honey, salt and bread flour(you can use all purpose flour but i prefer bred flour). Mix this until it is well combined. I like to use my danish dough whisk but you can use a wooden spoon. At a certain point it will become easier to mix it with your hands, and this is exactly what I do.
- Once it is combined well, cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and let it sit for about 30 minutes. After about 30 minutes, you want to do your first knead. With wet hands, take the dough from one of the sides of the bowl, lift it, and fold it over the dough. Repeat this, rotating the bowl and raising the dough and laying it across itself. I do this to all sides and then let it rest. This should be a very wet dough. If it is tough, add a bit more water to it. Only 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Its time to let the wild yeast do its thing. You can let it sit at room temperature to let it bulk ferment, but if I have time I will make sure to repeat the kneading process a couple more times. If I make it in the evening, I have plenty of time to do this since there is not a lot of active work, it only takes about 10 minutes of my evening to get my dough going.
- If you want to bake your bread the next morning I would recommend leaving it out on your counter at room temperature, covered.If you want to wait and bake it the next evening, I would put your dough in the fridge to allow the yeast to slow down overnight. I have woken up to dough that has burst the lid and it spilling over the side of the bowl. If you choose this route, you simply need to take the dough out a couple hours prior to baking
- So for ease with these instructions, I will be going with the first option which is what I usually do(bulk fermenting on the counter overnight). With either option you want to cover bowl with plastic wrap to prevent the dough from drying out.
- In the morning, the dough should have at least doubled in size, mine often quadruples in size. This is from the longer fermentation process. This long rise is what will give your bread its amazing flavor.
- Oil the counter and gently let the dough drop out of the bowl or container onto your countertop. You want to try to avoid popping all those bubbles. I gently spread the dough, pulling the corners to make it larger. I will then fold the dough over itself once or twice. Then I will make sure to oil my 9 by 13 cake pan with a 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil or non stick spray.
- Transfer dough carefully in the sheet pan and gently pull it so that it starts to fill the pan. You do not to stress about it too much because it will spread and once we poke those holes in it, it will fill the entire pan.
- At this point I like to cover the pan with a towel and let the dough rise once again until it doubles its original size. This can take about 30 minutes to 1 hour. It will totally depend on how active your starter was.
- Once it has doubled in size, spray your hands with oil or add butter to them. You cant to poke holes in the dough once it is fully proofed. You are going to dimple the bread.
- Next, you will heat the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon together and pour it over the top of the dough, encouraging it into filling the dimples and holes.
- Bake this bread in a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown. This may be hard to tell with the cinnamon and sugar on top.
- When it is done, take the focaccia out of the oven, let the bread cool while you make your frosting. You want the frosting to be more thin than an normal frosting so make sure to thin it out a bit more with milk if needed.
- Drizzle the frosting over the bread while its still slightly warm. This will allow the frosting to soak into the bread a bit.
- You can serve this warm or cold. Its an amazing new take on cinnamon rolls.
- Store in an airtight container.
The texture of of this cinnamon sugar focaccia is soft, and airy bread. It has a different texture from the flaky dough that is usually used. The crust is crispy and gooey from the butter, sugar and cinnamon mixture.
The sourdough focaccia recipe can be used in so many different ways as I had stated above. It is a true favorite around here.
For this sourdough focaccia recipe I have added extra honey to the dough to make it just a bit sweeter so it is slightly different from my original recipe. It is a high hydration dough and it should be sticky and very doughy.
It is important to consider the baking dish you use for this recipe. A 9 by 13 dish is ideal, as it allows it to be a couple of inches thick once baked. If you use a larger pan it will be thinner and if oyu use a smaller pan it will be way too thick.
The prepared pan should be sprayed with non stick spray, butter or olive oil. I find that nonstick spray does the best.
This is the perfect treat to make for your family or friends. It is like a deconstructed cinnamon roll. No need to feel intimidated by rolling and cutting those perfect rolls. Allow yourself some grace and make this cinnamon sugar focaccia sourdough bread!
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