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Whole Grain Sourdough Date Rolls
Cinnamon rolls are pretty awesome, but with this recipe, I wanted to explore a fruit-based filling and also see what results I might have using all home-milled whole grain flour. Last spring, I learned about the amazing flavor of dates when I made these Mum’s Date Squares for a Mother’s Day food blogger collaboration.
Date paste reminds me of toffee or caramel, except it’s more complex in flavor and has fiber. So delicious! The date paste in this recipe is similar to that of the date squares, except it has butter in it and no added sugar. I edited out the sugar in the date paste since the original publication of this recipe because I agree with the feedback of several people that it’s delicious and plenty sweet without additional sugar.
The dough for these date rolls is from the Sourdough Brioche forum post of @easummers. I simply added 20g more milk to help hydrate the whole grain flour that I substituted for refined flour.
A sourdough date roll, warm from the oven and covered in cream cheese frosting
Whole Grain Sourdough Date Rolls
Homemade date paste filling has a delectable toffee note to it, and combined with an aromatic whole grain brioche-like dough, these rolls are both healthy and utterly decadent.
Ingredients
Date Paste Filling
Sweet Stiff Starter
Final Dough
Optional Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
Date Paste Filling
Starter Build
Mixing the Dough
Bulk Fermentation
Shaping Rolls
Bake
Optional Cream Cheese Frosting
Shopping List
In developing this recipe, I also experimented with making 24 mini rolls. I’ve always been conflicted about the massive serving size of a traditional cinnamon roll, especially when it’s drowning in frosting. Nonetheless, my conclusion was that 24 rolls wasn’t ideal: the center piece of the roll (the best part in my opinion), is tragically smaller…and I end up eating two rolls in one sitting anyway. Still, here are photo instructions with captions for how to make 24 instead of 12 rolls.
Whole Grain Sourdough Date Rolls