Cinnamon Roll Focaccia Recipe

Cinnamon roll focaccia is a soft, airy focaccia dough rolled up with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, then finished with a cream cheese glaze. It takes about 3 hours from mixing bowl to glaze, most of it rising time, bakes at 375°F for 25 to 30 minutes and makes 12 servings.

The dough is a no-knead focaccia: 500 g flour and 400 ml warm water, stirred until no dry flour is left and left to double. You can shape it as one big spiral in a 9 inch pan or as 12 to 15 filled pull-apart buns in a 9×13. Glaze it while it is warm. Not hot.

Cinnamon Roll Focaccia Ratios, Pans and Times

• Yield: 12 servings
• Time: 2½ hours prep including both rises, 25 to 30 minutes baking, about 3 hours total
• Dough: 500 g (4 cups) all-purpose flour, 400 ml (1¾ cups) warm water, 2 tsp instant yeast, 10 g (2 tsp) salt, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp olive oil
• Swirl: 100 g (½ cup) packed brown sugar, 2 tbsp cinnamon, 60 g (¼ cup) softened unsalted butter
• Pans: 9 inch springform or cake pan for the spiral, 9×13 inch pan for the pull-apart version
• Oven: 375°F (190°C)
• Glaze: 120 g cream cheese, 60 g powdered sugar, 1 to 2 tbsp milk, ½ tsp vanilla

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Focaccia Dough or Cinnamon Roll Dough: What Changes?

A bakery cinnamon roll starts from an enriched dough with milk, butter and eggs, kneaded smooth and rolled out with a pin. This dough has none of that. It is flour, water, yeast, a little sugar and olive oil, at about 80% hydration (400 g of water to 500 g of flour).

That wetness is what makes it focaccia. The crumb bakes up lighter and chewier, with bigger holes, and the edges caramelize where the sugar meets the pan. A wet dough will not roll out like brioche, though, so you stretch it with oiled or floured hands and accept a slightly rustic swirl.

For the soft, tight crumb of a classic roll, my cinnamon roll cake and cinnamon babka are the richer cousins. For focaccia with fruit on top instead of a filling inside, try the sweet focaccia bread or the lemon blueberry focaccia.

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Mixing the Sticky No-Knead Dough

Stir the flour, salt, yeast and sugar together first, so the salt is spread out before the water goes in. Add the warm water and olive oil and mix with a spoon or spatula until there is no dry flour left. That is all the mixing it needs; shaggy and clingy is right for focaccia.

The water should feel warm on your wrist, around 105 to 110°F. Much hotter than 130°F can weaken the yeast, and cold water only slows the rise. Weigh the flour if you can. Four cups scooped straight from the bag often come out well over 500 g, and that extra flour turns an open crumb dense.

Olive oil tenderizes the crumb and keeps this wet dough from gluing itself to the bowl and the pan. Grease both generously.

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When the Dough Is Ready to Shape

Cover the bowl and leave it at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours. It is ready when it has doubled, the top is domed and dotted with bubbles, and a floured finger pressed in leaves a dent that fills back slowly. On a warm day check it at 1 hour; a cool kitchen needs the full 2.

To bake first thing in the morning, put the covered bowl in the fridge overnight after this first rise. Let the dough sit out until it no longer feels cold before shaping. Cold dough tears when you stretch it.

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Butter and Brown Sugar for the Swirl

Stir the brown sugar and cinnamon together and keep the butter separate. The soft butter goes onto the dough first and the cinnamon sugar on top, so the sugar has something to cling to and melts into a thin caramel layer instead of falling out when you roll. The butter should spread with the back of a spoon without dragging the dough.

Dark brown sugar gives a deeper molasses flavor, and light brown works fine. Unsalted butter lets you control the salt; with salted butter, take a pinch out of the salt in the dough.

For brown butter cinnamon roll focaccia, brown the 60 g of butter in a small pan, then let it cool until it is soft and spreadable again. Making cinnamon raisin focaccia? Scatter a handful of raisins over the sugar before you roll.

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Spiral or Pull-Apart: Choosing Your Shape

The Big Spiral in a 9 Inch Pan

Grease a 9 inch springform or cake pan. On a floured counter, stretch the dough into a 14×10 inch rectangle, spread it with the butter and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly right to the edges. Cut it lengthwise into three long strips. Roll the first strip into a coil, then wrap the other two around it to make one large spiral. Lift it into the pan, cover loosely and let it rise for 30 to 40 minutes.

Coil it snugly but not tight, so the dough has room to puff. A springform can leak a little butter at the seam, so bake it on a sheet pan.

Pull-Apart Bubbles in a 9×13 Pan

Grease a 9×13 pan well. Divide the dough into 12 to 15 equal pieces, about 65 to 80 g each. Flatten each one, spread it with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, then roll it up and pinch the seam shut. Set the buns seam side down in the pan, cover, and let them rise for 30 to 40 minutes until they puff up and touch.

Which one? The spiral is the one to carry to the table whole. The pull-apart pan bakes more evenly, because every piece is the same size, and each bubble is already a portion. With no time for rising, the puff pastry cinnamon twists are done in well under an hour.

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Baking Until the Center of the Spiral Is Set

Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is deep golden and the cinnamon sugar bubbles at the edges. The middle of the spiral is the thickest part and bakes last. Lift one coil gently with a knife: the inside should look like bread, not raw dough. An instant-read thermometer in the center should read about 190°F.

If the top darkens before the 25 minute mark, lay a sheet of foil loosely over it for the rest of the bake. A glass pan heats more slowly, so give it a few extra minutes. Let the focaccia cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, until it is warm rather than hot.

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A Pourable Cream Cheese Glaze

Whisk 120 g (½ cup) soft cream cheese with 60 g (½ cup) powdered sugar, ½ tsp vanilla and 1 tablespoon of milk. Add the second tablespoon only if the glaze will not run off a spoon. It should fall in a thick ribbon that sits on the surface for a second before it settles.

Cold cream cheese leaves small lumps that no amount of milk will smooth out, so let it soften on the counter first. Spoon the glaze over the warm focaccia, starting in the center and letting it run outward. On hot bread it melts and soaks in. On warm bread it stays in white ribbons.

Prefer a thicker, spreadable topping? Use my cream cheese frosting for cinnamon rolls, or the cinnamon roll icing for a simpler finish.

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Keeping Cinnamon Focaccia Soft for a Second Day

It is softest in the first few hours, so bake it close to serving. Because of the cream cheese glaze, keep leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. A slice warmed for a few minutes in a 300°F oven or toaster oven gets its soft crumb back.

It freezes best unglazed: wrap it tightly, thaw at room temperature, warm it, then glaze. For a cinnamon bake that slices for toast all week, make the cinnamon swirl bread or the cinnamon raisin bread instead.

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Yeast, Timing and Sweet Focaccia Questions

Can I make cinnamon roll focaccia the night before?

Yes. Refrigerate the dough overnight after the first rise, let it lose its chill in the morning, then shape, rise for 30 to 40 minutes and bake.

Can I use active dry yeast instead of instant?

Yes, use the same 2 teaspoons. Stir it into the warm water first and wait 5 to 10 minutes until it foams, then expect the rise to take a little longer.

How is it different from sweet focaccia?

Sweet focaccia is usually dimpled and topped with fruit or sugar. Cinnamon roll focaccia has the butter and cinnamon sugar rolled inside the dough, like a cinnamon bun.

If you bake it, tell me in the comments which shape you chose, the spiral or the bubbles.