Mummy Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Everyone does pumpkin at Halloween. These are the other thing: a proper soft, gooey cinnamon roll, made with your sourdough starter and an overnight rise, dressed up as a mummy. The bandages are strips of the same dough laid across each roll before it bakes, two currants make the eyes, and a thin cream-cheese glaze tinted with a little orange juice runs between the strips so the whole tray reads Halloween without a drop of food colouring.

They look like a lot of work. They are not. The rolls are the ordinary overnight enriched dough from the book; the mummy business is ten minutes at the end with a pizza wheel, and children can do it — it is one of the few decorating jobs where messy is the point.

Why sourdough for a cinnamon roll

An enriched dough is butter, egg and milk fighting against the rise, and a slow sourdough ferment gives the dough time to build the structure that carries all that richness. The overnight rest in the fridge does two things at once: it develops the flavour that makes these taste like more than sugar, and it firms the butter so the dough rolls tight and slices clean. A quick yeasted roll can be fluffy; a sourdough one is fluffy and has something to say.

The starter needs to be at its peak when it goes in — doubled and domed, about two hours after a feed if you keep it warm. If it is flat or has a layer of liquid on top, feed it and wait. A sluggish starter in an enriched dough is the difference between a roll and a rock.

The bandages

Keep back a fist of the dough before you roll the filling in — about 150 g. Roll it thin, thinner than you think, and cut it into ragged strips with a pizza wheel. They should not be neat. Lay four or five across each roll after the second prove, criss-crossed, tucking the ends under, and leave a gap somewhere near the top for the eyes. Press two currants into the gap. Because the strips go on right before the bake, they stay pale against the golden roll and stand out as bandages rather than melting in.

Egg-wash the rolls but not the strips. That is what keeps the contrast.

The glaze

Cream cheese, icing sugar, and enough fresh orange juice to make it pourable. The juice gives it a pale orange tint and a sharpness that cuts the sugar; a pinch of the zest makes it smell like October. Drizzle it while the rolls are still warm so it runs into the gaps between the bandages instead of sitting on top of them.

Ingredients

Makes 9 rolls. Contains: wheat (gluten), milk, egg.

Dough

• 100 g active sourdough starter, at its peak
• 500 g strong white bread flour (or 400 g strong white + 100 g white spelt for a softer crumb)
• 180 g whole milk, lukewarm
• 1 large egg
• 60 g caster sugar
• 8 g fine salt
• 75 g unsalted butter, soft

Filling

• 75 g unsalted butter, very soft
• 100 g soft light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• A pinch of salt

Mummies and glaze

• 18 currants (or raisins, halved)
• 1 egg, beaten, for the wash
• 120 g full-fat cream cheese
• 80 g icing sugar
• Juice of half an orange, plus a pinch of zest

Method

1. Mix (evening, day one). Whisk the starter, milk, egg and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the flour and salt and mix to a shaggy dough. Cover and rest 30 minutes.
2. Add the butter. Work the soft butter into the dough a piece at a time, squeezing and folding until it is all taken in and the dough is smooth and slightly tacky. It takes about 5 minutes and looks like a mistake halfway through. Keep going.
3. Bulk ferment. Cover and leave somewhere warm (22–24°C) for 3–4 hours, giving it a set of stretch-and-folds at 30, 60 and 90 minutes. It should grow by about half and feel airy. Then into the fridge overnight, 8–14 hours.
4. Shape (morning, day two). Take the cold dough out. Cut off 150 g and set it aside, covered, for the bandages. Roll the rest into a rectangle about 40 × 30 cm on a lightly floured surface.
5. Fill. Beat the filling butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt to a paste and spread it right to the edges. Roll up tightly from a long side. Cut into 9 with a sharp knife or a length of dental floss, and sit them cut-side up in a lined 23 cm square tin, a little apart.
6. Second prove. Cover and leave in the warm for 2–3 hours, until the rolls are puffy and touching. In a cool kitchen this is the step to be patient with — under-proved rolls are dense.
7. Bandage. Heat the oven to 190°C fan. Roll the reserved dough as thin as you can and cut it into ragged strips 1 cm wide. Brush the tops of the rolls with egg wash, then lay 4–5 strips over each, criss-crossed, leaving a gap for the eyes. Press two currants into each gap. Do not egg-wash the strips.
8. Bake. 22–26 minutes, until the rolls are golden and the strips are just set and pale. If the tops colour before the middle is done, lay foil over loosely. The centre roll should read 92°C on a probe.
9. Glaze. Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth, then add orange juice a teaspoon at a time until it pours. Stir in the zest. Drizzle over the warm rolls so it runs between the bandages. Eat warm.

Getting ahead

Everything up to the second prove can be done the day before; shaped rolls will sit in the fridge overnight and prove in the morning while the oven heats. Baked rolls keep for two days in a tin and come back to life with 20 seconds in the microwave.

FAQ

Can I make these without the overnight rest?

Yes — bulk for 5–6 hours in a warm kitchen instead and shape the same day, but the dough is stickier to roll when it is not cold, and the flavour is plainer. The fridge is doing real work here.

My bandages disappeared into the roll.

Either they went on before the second prove, or they got egg-washed. Lay them on right before the oven, on top of the washed roll, and leave them bare.

Do they have to be spooky?

No. Skip the strips and currants and you have the house cinnamon roll, which is the one to make on the other 364 days.

Which starter?

The San Francisco starter is the one these were developed with. The Italian '00' starter gives a slightly milder, softer roll if you prefer less tang in a sweet bake.