Cinnamon roll meets focaccia in this easy sweet focaccia recipe! This cinnamon and sugar filled bread has a soft and fluffy texture and a sweet vanilla icing. It tastes like cinnamon rolls, but without the rolling and slicing. Because the recipe is made with yeast, it isn’t quick, but it’s definitely worth the time. You will have an irresistible brunch, breakfast or dessert to share in about two hours.
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The combination of cinnamon and sugar is pure nostalgia! Think snickerdoodles and churro cakes. It’s one of the reasons gooey cinnamon rolls are so popular. While I do adore cinnamon rolls and sweet pull apart bread, they can be a bit tedious to make.
This bread recipe brings sweetness to airy and chewy focaccia. Then we add a vanilla glaze for the perfect topping. The kneading is the most challenging part, but the sticky dough is why it has such a great baked texture. The finished cinnamon focaccia will have a slightly firm, crusty outside (thanks to the brown sugar!) and a soft and fluffy interior with gooey pockets of cinnamon roll filling.
🍞 ingredients that make this sweet focaccia special
I was inspired to make this recipe when a fellow food blogger reviewed cinnamon focaccia that she had purchased at a bakery, thanks Cat! To test it, I started with my black pepper focaccia and took out the savory components and added a cinnamon sugar filling and topping. I played around with slightly different filling versus topping ratios, but in the end wanted to make it easy; so you make one filling and split it between the middle and the top.
Please scroll to the printable recipe card at the end of this post for the full list of ingredients and baking directions.
Bread flour ~ bread flour has a higher protein content, which means you will get more gluten formation and a taller, airy interior in your homemade focaccia.
Yeast ~ gives the focaccia its rise and helps the bread to get light and fluffy. I use active dry yeast.
Cinnamon ~ used in the focaccia dough and the filling.
🥣 how to make in photos
Add the bread flour, active dry yeast, granulated sugar, cinnamon and kosher salt to a bowl and mix with a fork to combine.
In a spouted measuring cup add the warm water, olive oil and vanilla. Then drizzle the mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until the dough comes together. It will be a wet dough. Let the focaccia dough rest in the bowl for 15 minutes.
Once the dough has rested, knead the dough. When the dough is smooth, grease an 8x8 baking pan. Use the bench knife to transfer the dough to the oiled pan and turn the dough to coat it with the oil. Cover it with a tea towel and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, about 30-40 minutes.
When getting close to the end of the first rise, melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon.
Once the focaccia has doubled, use your clean fingers to spread the dough to cover the entire bottom of the pan, if needed.
Then spread half of the cinnamon filling over half of the dough; it will not be in an even layer and may have some bare spots.
Now using damp fingers gently fold the uncovered half up and over the filling and move the dough to the middle of the pan, this doesn’t have to be perfect, just do your best.
Cover with the tea towel and place back in your warm spot to rise for another 30-40 minutes.
🎛️ how to prepare the bread for the oven
Towards the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 425°F.
When the second rise is complete, spread the remaining half of the cinnamon filling mixture over the dough, it’s easiest to crumble it over with clean fingers. Then use your fingers to dimple the dough.
Place in the preheated oven and bake until golden, about 16-20 minutes. If you’d like to test the bread by temperature, it should be 190°F on a thermometer.
Now make the icing.
Spread the vanilla icing glaze over the top of the cinnamon focaccia.
Cool for 10-15 minutes, then slice and serve.
👩🏻🍳 expert tips
I know I am a broken record here, but measure your ingredients correctly. For less dishes to wash, use a food scale and skip the measuring cups! This is the scale that I use and love.
In my opinion, a bench knife is a necessity for this recipe! The wet and sticky dough is MUCH easier to knead with the help of one. I have several of these plastic bench knives; they are inexpensive and helpful in the kitchen.
When you spread the dough to cover the bottom of the pan after the first rise, be gentle to not remove too much of the air the dough gained, which will result in a more dense homemade bread.
Be careful when creating the dimples in the dough after the second rise. You want to push through to the bottom of the dough, but don’t break through and tear the bottom of the dough.Remember your oven is different from mine and the baking time may be slightly different. I use this oven thermometer to ensure my oven is at the temperature I think it is.
Remember to snap a picture and tag me @twosugarbugs on Instagram if you make this Cinnamon Roll Focaccia. It warms my heart to see you bring these recipes to life! Thank you for being here and happy baking!
If you make this recipe {or any recipe!} from two sugar bugs please come back and leave a review and a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating. I read every comment, and I LOVE hearing from you!
📖 recipe
Soft and Fluffy Cinnamon Roll Focaccia
recipe created and tested by:
I highly recommend using weight (metric) measurements when available for more accuracy and the best results.
Please note
When using 2x or 3x ingredients, the grams in parenthesis DO NOT adjust, you will have to manually do that.
Ingredients
cinnamon focaccia
- 2 cups bread flour (240g + more for kneading)
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast (5g)
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar (10g)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup warm water 100-110°F (240mL)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided (38g)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
cinnamon roll filling
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted (85g)
- 1 cup brown sugar packed (200g)
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
icing glaze
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar (60g)
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cream* (20mL)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
for the cinnamon focaccia
- Add the bread flour (2 cups/240g), active dry yeast (1 teaspoon/5g), granulated sugar (2 teaspoons/10g), cinnamon (1 teaspoon) and kosher salt (½ teaspoon) to a bowl and mix with a fork to combine.
- In a spouted measuring cup add the warm water (1 cup/240mL at 100-110°F), olive oil (2 tablespoons/25g) and vanilla (2 teaspoons). Then drizzle the mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until the dough comes together. It will be a wet dough. Let the focaccia dough rest in the bowl for 15 minutes.
- Once the dough has rested, lightly dust the top with flour and knead the dough using a plastic bench knife in the bowl for about 5 minutes or until smooth in texture. I use 2-4 tablespoons of flour to knead the dough. (In my testing, I found using the bench knife in the bowl was the least messy way to do this. If you don't have a bench knife, wet hands also work. You can dump onto a floured counter, if desired). The dough is VERY wet and sticky and I HIGHLY recommend using a bench knife to assist in this process!
- When the dough is smooth, take 1 tablespoon of olive oil and grease an 8x8 baking pan. Use the bench knife to transfer the dough to the oiled pan and turn the dough to coat it with the oil. Cover it with a tea towel and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, about 30-40 minutes.
for the cinnamon roll filling
- When getting close to the end of the first rise, melt butter (6 tablespoons/85g) and stir in the brown sugar (1 cup/200g) and cinnamon (2 tablespoons).
- Once the focaccia has doubled, use your clean fingers to gently spread the dough to cover the entire bottom of the pan, if needed. Then spread half of the cinnamon filling over half of the dough; it may not be in an even layer and you may have a few bare spots. Now using damp fingers, gently fold the uncovered half up and over the filling and move the dough to the middle of the pan. This doesn't have to be perfect, but do your best. Cover with the tea towel and place back in your warm spot to rise for another 30-40 minutes.
- Towards the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 425°F.
- When the second rise is complete, spread the remaining half of the cinnamon filling mixture over the dough. Then use your clean fingers to dimple the dough. You want to push through to the bottom of the dough, but be careful to not break through or tear the bottom of the dough.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake until golden, about 16-20 minutes. If you’d like to test the bread by temperature, it should be 190°F on a thermometer.
- Remove the cinnamon focaccia from the oven and make the icing.
for the icing glaze
- Combine ½ cup confectioners' sugar (60g) with 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cream (can be heavy cream, half and half or milk) and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a small bowl and stir until it's a thick icing. Spread over the cinnamon focaccia.
- Cool for 10-15 minutes, then slice and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition information is based on third-party calculations, is an estimate only and may not be entirely accurate. Actual nutritional values will vary based on brands used and portion sizes.
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