I spotted a whole-wheat cinnamon roll recipe in Bittman Bread: No-Knead Whole Grain Baking for Every Day, and this is my adaptation of his recipe. He used some unusual techniques, such as using only water to prevent the dough sticking to things, and starting the bake in a cold oven, but they did work. I may tinker with this recipe in the future. As is, it is a quite wholesome version of a cinnamon roll, with no enrichment of the actual bread dough. Also there is a sour undertone from the sourdough starter, which I am not sure is a plus for a sweet bread. It may, however, be good if this is turned in a savory direction, for example with garlic, olives, parsley, cheese, etc. put in the center instead of cinnamon sugar.
I started this on Thursday, made the dough on Friday, and baked it on Saturday morning after an overnight in the refrigerator. I did not think the dough was rising well enough so I reinforced the sourdough starter with ¼ tsp. of yeast. It made 8 rolls, 1 or 2 of which will be a serving.
100 g. 50/50 sourdough starter (mine is made with all-purpose flour)
350 g. whole-wheat flour, divided (I used King Arthur Flour. Do not use a soft (low-protein) whole wheat flour)
250 g. water
¼ tsp. yeast
7 g. salt
113 g. (1 stick) salted butter, softened and divided
75 g. turbinado sugar, divided
10 g. (~4 tsp.) cinnamon
80 g. raisins
On day one mix the sourdough starter in the morning with 100 g. of whole wheat flour and 100 g. of water. Cover and ferment at room temperature.
In the evening, feed the starter with another 50 g. of whole wheat flour and 50 g. of water. Cover and put in the refrigerator to ferment overnight.
On day 2 add the remaining 200 g. of whole wheat flour, 100 g. of water, and ¼ tsp. yeast to the starter. Mix with a dough whisk until well combined. Cover and allow to rise on the counter for an hour.
Add the salt and mix well with a wet hand. Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Stretch and fold the dough 4 times at 30-minute intervals using a wet hand to grab and pull the dough. Cover between stretches.
After the 3rd fold, mix up in a small bowl 50 g. of the turbinado sugar, all the cinnamon, and 85 g. (3/4 stick or 6 Tbs.) of the softened butter.
After the 4th fold, line a 10-inch baking pan/dish with a half-sheet sized piece of baking parchment. (I used a 10 inch cast iron skillet.)
Wet the surface of a large cutting board. Pour the dough out on the board. With wet hands push it out to form a rectangle at least 14 x 9 inches and at most ½ inch thick. Sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar/butter mixture over the dough, which will be delicate. Using a wet bench knife, roll the dough along the long side into a cylinder. Cut the roll into 8 even pieces and space them in the pan on top of the baking parchment. Dot the top of the rolls with the remaining 28 g. (2 Tbs.) or butter and sprinkle them with the remaining 25 g. of turbinado sugar. Cover the pan with heavy duty aluminum foil and put it in the refrigerator overnight.
The next morning, put the covered pan in a cold oven, and turn the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes and then remove the aluminum foil. Bake uncovered for another 15-20 minutes until the rolls are golden and have an internal temperature of 200 degrees. Remove the rolls from the oven. Allow them to cool for 5 minutes in the pan on a rack, and then remove them by the baking parchment from the pan. Cool another 5 minutes and serve.
Note – The above was to serve sweet rolls at breakfast. If serving savory rolls at dinner, you can avoid the overnight rise by having them rise 30 minutes on the counter before baking them, turning this into a 2-day recipe.