Rhubarb Sweet Rolls Recipe

Name: Rhubarb Sweet Rolls
Prep time: 250 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 290 min
Yield: 12 rolls
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 300 grams sourdough starter; 150 grams water; 60 grams evaporated milk or cream; 30 grams melted butter; 15 grams sugar (use your sugar of choice); 400 to 420 grams flour; 10 grams salt; 3 cups sliced rhubarb (about 8 to 10 stalks, cut into 1/2 inch slices); 1/2 cup granulated sugar; 2 Tbsp lemon juice; 2 tsp cornstarch; 2 to 3 Tbsp reserved rhubarb filling; 1 cup powdered sugar; 1 to 2 Tbsp lemon juice

A rhubarb sweet roll on a white plate, drizzled with lemon rhubarb glaze

Have you ever heard of rhubarb sweet rolls?

I had not either, until the Sunday my whole family cooked together and I ended up making them out of what was already growing in the yard.

We had a whole meal of baked things that day. A new focaccia recipe from a book I was reading. An egg, rice, and spinach quiche. The kitchen smelled incredible, and I kept hearing “yum!” from the table.

Then my oldest son, who always eats the fastest, decided he was ready for dessert.

Here is what he found. The night before, I had mixed a big batch of my multi-purpose dough for cinnamon rolls. In the morning I looked out at the rhubarb coming up in the yard and thought, why not rhubarb sweet rolls?

So I looked it up, found a recipe I liked, and handed it to my son and his wife. They adapted it for our sourdough and the ingredients we had on hand, and they baked the pan.

My son took one bite, counted how many rolls were in the pan, and asked how many he was allowed to have.

The whole pan was gone within the hour.

Now I am giving you the recipe. There are a few things worth knowing before you start.

The Dough Is the Whole Trick

This is my tried and true multi-purpose sourdough dough, the same one in my bread making eBook. It is soft, a little sticky, and it does not fight you the way a stiff bread dough does.

I use it for cinnamon rolls, sandwich bread, naan, and now rhubarb rolls. Learn one dough well and you have quietly learned ten recipes.

Because it is sourdough, it ferments slowly. Plan on about three hours of bulk fermentation with a fold every thirty minutes. Or mix it the night before and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight. That is what I do most often, because it turns a weekend project into a morning one.

Weigh Your Flour, Do Not Scoop It

The dough is written in grams on purpose. A kitchen scale keeps the ratios right every single time.

Cups are the problem. A cup of flour that has been sifted and a cup that has settled in the bag are not the same amount, and in a soft dough like this one that gap shows up as either a sticky mess or a tough roll.

A basic digital scale costs less than a good sheet pan, and it is the one thing that makes bread baking repeatable. Weigh the flour, weigh the water, weigh the starter, and this dough behaves.

Flour weighed in grams on a digital kitchen scale next to a bowl of flour and a dough scraper

Cook the Rhubarb Down First

Raw rhubarb inside a sweet roll turns watery, and the filling runs out the sides while it bakes. Cooking it down first with sugar, lemon juice, and a little cornstarch solves that.

You are looking for a loose jam. Ten to twelve minutes on the stove, mashing the bigger pieces with a spoon or a potato masher as they soften. When there are almost no chunks left, it is ready.

Set two to three tablespoons aside before it cools. That is your glaze, and it is the reason the glaze tastes like rhubarb instead of just sugar.

Let the rest cool while you roll out the dough. Warm filling on soft dough is how you end up with a puddle.

Rolling Soft Dough Without a Fight

This dough is softer than a standard cinnamon roll dough, so flour your surface and your rolling pin, and roll it to roughly fourteen by eighteen inches.

Leave a one inch border of bare dough around the edges and spread the filling to that border, no further.

Roll from the long edge closest to you, moving your fingers along the whole edge so the dough comes up evenly. Roll it snug without stretching it. When you reach the end, pull the far edge over and pinch it into the roll to seal.

Cut with a very sharp knife using short, fast strokes. Sawing squashes the spiral. Twelve pieces, into a greased nine by thirteen pan. They will not look perfect going in. They puff up and sort themselves out.

How We Serve Them

Thirty to forty five minutes of rise in a warm spot, then twenty five to thirty two minutes at 350F. The tops and sides should be golden and the filling should be bubbling. If you like a number to go by, the middle of a roll reads around 198F.

Glaze them while they are still slightly warm so it settles down into the spiral instead of sitting on top.

We eat them as dessert, though they are just as good with coffee the next morning. In my house that is purely theoretical. There has never been a next morning.

If sourdough is new to you, or you would rather watch this dough handled start to finish, my Making Bread the Natural Way Masterclass walks through the whole process on video.

Dr. Michelle in her kitchen with fresh loaves, promoting the Making Bread the Natural Way Masterclass

Here is the recipe, exactly the way we make it.

From Dr. Michelle's Kitchen

Rhubarb Sweet Rolls

By Dr. Michelle Jorgensen

Soft sourdough sweet rolls filled with cooked-down rhubarb and finished with a tangy rhubarb lemon glaze. Made with Dr. Michelle's multi-purpose sourdough dough.

Servings12 rolls

Prep Time4 hr 10 min

Cook Time40 min

Total Time4 hr 50 min

CuisineAmerican

CategoryDessert

Ingredients

Dough

300 grams sourdough starter
150 grams water
60 grams evaporated milk or cream
30 grams melted butter
15 grams sugar (use your sugar of choice)
400 to 420 grams flour
10 grams salt

Rhubarb Filling

3 cups sliced rhubarb (about 8 to 10 stalks, cut into 1/2 inch slices)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp cornstarch

Glaze

2 to 3 Tbsp reserved rhubarb filling
1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions

Dough

In a medium bowl, combine the sourdough starter, water, evaporated milk or cream, melted butter, and sugar. Stir until the starter is fully incorporated into the other ingredients.
Add the flour and salt. Use your hands to mix everything together until it comes into a mildly sticky dough. Do not over mix, or the dough will turn out tough.
Cover the dough with greased plastic wrap or a tea towel and let it ferment for three hours, folding the dough every 30 minutes, about 5 to 6 folds in total. Use the dough at this point, or refrigerate it overnight.

Rhubarb Filling

In a medium saucepan, combine the sliced rhubarb, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Cook for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the rhubarb has broken down completely and combined with the other ingredients. Mash the larger pieces with a spoon or potato masher as they soften. It is ready when it looks like a loose jam with minimal chunks.
Set 2 to 3 tablespoons of the filling aside for the glaze. Let the remaining filling cool while you roll out the dough.

Assembly and Baking

Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 14 by 18 inches, using flour on your surface and rolling pin to keep it from sticking. Spread the filling evenly over the dough, leaving about a 1 inch border around the edges.
Starting with the long edge closest to you, roll the dough into a tube, moving your fingers along the entire edge so all of the dough rolls at the same time. Roll as tightly as you can without stretching the dough. When you cannot roll any further, pull the far edge over the roll and pinch it into the roll to seal.
Cut the roll into twelve sections using an extra sharp kitchen knife, with short, fast cuts so you do not squash the dough. Place them into a greased 9 by 13 inch pan.
Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes, until doubled and puffy.
Bake at 350F for 25 to 32 minutes, until the tops and sides of the rolls are golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Internal temperature reads around 198F (92C).
While the rolls bake, whisk together the reserved rhubarb filling, the powdered sugar, and enough lemon juice to make the glaze pourable.
Drizzle the glaze over the slightly warm rolls and serve.

Notes

Adapted from Katiebird Bakes rhubarb rolls.

The dough is written in grams on purpose. A kitchen scale keeps the ratios consistent, which matters more in a soft dough like this one than it does in a stiff bread dough.

Make ahead: mix the dough the night before, let it finish its three hour fermentation, then refrigerate overnight. Roll and bake in the morning.

Storage: keep leftovers covered at room temperature for up to two days, or refrigerated for up to four. Warm them briefly before serving so the glaze softens again.

Only the rhubarb stalks are used in this recipe. Trim off and discard the leaves.

Make Them Your Own

Rhubarb is tart, so taste your filling before you spread it. Older, thicker stalks usually need a little more sugar than young spring stalks do.

If your rhubarb is deep red, the filling comes out pink and so does the glaze. Greener stalks taste the same and just look paler. Neither one is wrong.

A little orange zest in the filling, or a splash of vanilla in the glaze, both work beautifully if you want to send them in a different direction.

And if you have filling left over, keep it. It is very good on toast, spooned over yogurt, or stirred into a bowl of oatmeal.