Sourdough Swedish Cinnamon Buns Recipe

A delightful sweet roll to pair with a cup of hot coffee, Sourdough Swedish Cinnamon Buns have a lightly sweetened, soft crumb, a cardamom and cinnamon butter filling, and they are topped with a sticky-sweet brown sugar glaze.

Sourdough Swedish Cinnamon Buns are my sourdough version of a popular Scandinavian baked good, Kanelbullar or Swedish cardamom buns. Buns are popular in Swedish culture, often accompanying morning tea or coffee. 

They might be cinnamon and cardamom filled, or they might be lightly sweetened, plain on the inside, and lightly iced – however they are, they’re delicious.

These particular buns are somewhat similar to traditional cinnamon rolls, having an enriched dough and a cinnamon sugar butter filling. However, these buns are sweetened less than their American counterpart, and have a light, brown sugar glaze in place of the typical cream cheese frosting we’re used to. 

Overall, less sugar, and greatly satisfying with perhaps less guilt.

The ground cardamom in this filling is a very traditional Swedish spice, with floral notes and a unique, peppery flavor. It fits comfortably in the flavor profiles of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, all warm, spicy, and intriguing autumnal flavors. 

I will say I’ve really been enjoying cardamom lattes lately, and these cinnamon buns make the perfect accompaniment. 

And what about pearled sugar? It’s a super compact cluster of sugar granules, producing a pleasant, sweet crunch on top of the tender, glazed bun.

It’s a fun pop of texture in your baked goods, great for its decorative qualities, and also adds sweetness to a recipe. I’ve also used sesame seeds in place of pearled sugar for a light, nutty flavor.

While this recipe requires a decent amount of time for fermentation and assembly, much of the work falls to your stand mixer.

There are a lot of beautiful ways to form these Swedish buns. You could wind them like traditional cinnamon buns, or do a little twisting to make cute little knots. Any form of twist or knot is my favorite, as it catches more of the glaze for extra caramel flavored sweetness in each bite and is simply lovely to look at.

I hope you make these and love them! They are truly so delicious and flavorful, and a great addition to a coffee break, whether alone or with good friends.

Tips

• This is a very sticky dough – one that requires a long time in the stand mixer. You’ll think it’s too wet and be tempted to add flour, but just give it more time.
• Refrigerating the dough after the bulk fermentation and before shaping allows the dough to stiffen up, making it much easier to work with.
• On that same note, giving your dough a few minutes after removing from the fridge can make it a touch more pliable for shaping. It’s easiest when it remains cool to the touch.
• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, but have a bench scraper handy in case you have little spots that stick when you go to fold your filling in.
• When storing, make sure to cool the buns fully. If you store them in an airtight container while still warm, you may notice they will sweat and this can affect the texture.

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Tools

Stand mixer – with dough hook

Measuring cup sand spoon or a Digital scale – I love the consistency this provides.

Bench scraper – I love that a bench scraper slices and lifts.

Rolling pin

Pizza cutter

Baking sheet

Sourdough Swedish Cinnamon Bun Ingredients

Dough

Butter – Room temperature.

Water – Preferably filtered.

Sourdough starter – recently fed, active and bubbly for a great rise.

Salt – Sea salt is my favorite.

Sugar – When we use white sugar, I choose organic cane sugar.

All-purpose flour – Freshly milled or store-bought.

Egg 

Filling

Unsalted Butter – Room temperature. You want the butter really nice and soft.

Brown sugar 

Ground cinnamon 

Ground cardamom 

Topping

Water – filtered

Light brown sugar 

Vanilla extract

Pearled sugar – Store-bought or homemade

To make your own pearled sugar on the stovetop, heat a cup of white sugar and 4-5 teaspoons of water.

Stir often on low heat, reducing until clumps form, then leave the clumps in the saucepan on low heat to continue drying out for roughly 15-20 minutes.

Allow the sugar clumps to continue drying out at room temperature, then store airtight. Pearled sugar is so pretty to decorate with!

How To Make Sourdough Swedish Cinnamon Buns

Create The Dough

Feed sourdough starter 4-12 hours before starting this recipe. You want the starter to be active, bubbly, and at its peak. To see if it is ready to move onto the next step you can add a small spoonful of the bubbly starter to a cup with a few inches of water. If it floats it should be ready to use.

Add unsalted butter, water, active and bubbly sourdough starter, salt, sugar, flour, and egg to the bowl of a stand mixer. 

With your dough hook, mix on low speed until smooth and glossy. 

Being a wet, sticky dough, this could take 10-15 minutes. If longer, I’ll often give my mixer a rest, as it can get pretty warm by this point. 

Refrain from adding more flour, even though the dough might seem to need it. When the dough is ready, it will pull away from the sides of the bowl and will also pass the windowpane test.

Bulk Fermentation & Refrigerate

Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a damp towel and rise for 6-8 hours or until doubled in size. This may take longer if your home is pretty cool.

After this first rise, we want to refrigerate the dough so that it stiffens up for shaping. This can be for 2-3 hours if you’re ready to bake the same day, or you can leave the dough in the refrigerator overnight. 

You’ll want to take it out about 5-10 minutes before filling and shaping so that it softens up enough to work with, while still being cool enough to hold shape.

Fill and Shape

Mix together the softened butter, brown sugar, cardamom and cinnamon.

Roll out your dough to a 14″ by 20″ rectangle.

Spread your filling on the bottom half of the dough – the half that will measure 7″ by 20″.

Fold the unfilled half of the dough over the filled half, leaving your dough measuring 7″ by 20″, and lightly pressing the edges.

Cut the dough into 7″ long strips; you should have around 12 total. I like to use a pizza cutter for this, but a sharp knife will also work.

At this point, there are lots of shaping options: you can simply roll up these strips like typical cinnamon buns, or twist and roll each strip, or slice the single strips of dough into two strips each that are then separately twisted and rolled together much like a soft pretzel. There are many ways to shape these buns!

Second Proof

Using a bench scraper, carefully place buns on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Space them out to allow for the rise.

Lightly cover and start your second rise in a warm place until doubled. This could be a couple of hours, or even overnight, depending on temperature. 

Bake

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Glaze

While they bake, make your glaze. 

Begin by lightly boiling water, light brown sugar, and vanilla in a small saucepan, uncovered. Stir frequently and watch that it doesn’t boil over.

Let the syrup reduce until it easily coats the back of a spoon. This usually takes somewhere around 10-15 minutes at a low boil/simmer.

Generously brush your syrup over the warm cinnamon buns.

As a final touch, sprinkle with pearl sugar. You could also use sesame seeds or a touch of coarse salt.

Serve warm or cool! They are excellent dipped in coffee.

Storage

Store in an airtight container on the countertop if you’re planning to enjoy the leftovers the next day.

If you want to store them away for another time, simply wrap well and place in the freezer. They’ll be their best if used within six weeks or so. Be sure to defrost the buns before gently reheating in the oven or microwave.

FAQ

What’s the difference between Swedish cinnamon buns and cinnamon rolls?

Swedish cinnamon buns have a light glaze on top as opposed to the rich, thick cream cheese or powdered sugar frosting of a traditional cinnamon roll. Additionally, Swedish buns sometimes have less sugar in the dough.

Why did my cinnamon buns turn out a bit dry and tough?

This recipe produces a wet, sticky dough, which feels like a mistake when you have to go on mixing and mixing in the beginning. However, if you add more flour during this stage, you risk losing the tender, moist texture.

Allow the dough plenty of time during the mixing and proofing, and the gluten development will resolve the stickiness by the time you’re ready to begin shaping.

What is cardamom?

Cardamom is a well known spice, yet not as common in American style cooking and baking as say, ginger or cinnamon. Cardamom and ginger are in the same family of spices, yet cardamom resembles a vanilla bean in that the seeds within the pod are responsible for the big flavor. Inside a cardamom pod are small black seeds, which once removed, can be ground up by mortar and pestle or another spice grinder, to be used in recipes.

It’s incredibly flavorful and may be considered an acquired taste, as a little bit goes a long way. If you’ve not yet used cardamom, I’ll venture to say this may be one of the best ways to get started.

More Sweet Sourdough Recipes:

• Buttermilk Sourdough Pancakes
• Sourdough Banana Muffins
• Sourdough Croissants
• Decadent Sourdough Brownies
• Sourdough Crepes

If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Also, tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.

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