Quick and Easy Cinnamon Roll Focaccia

Cinnamon Roll Focaccia is a sweet twist on classic focaccia bread recipe featuring cinnamon and brown sugar and a sticky maple vanilla glaze. This easy recipe is foolproof even for beginners and perfect for sharing.

Can anyone resist focaccia bread? I know that my whole family go nuts for it whenever I bake some – whether it is my Sourdough Focaccia or my Air Fryer Focaccia. So I was eager to try new variations on this traditional Italian bread and my son suggested Cinnamon Roll Focaccia. Ding ding! We have a winner

I love to bake cinnamon rolls too, but they require a bit more effort than focaccia bread which is truly easy (dare I say lazy?) to make. It doesn’t require kneading or shaping and it can be ready to bake in about two hours.

Combining the two is surprisingly easy – the focaccia is made a little sweeter, using butter instead of olive oil.

Then we incorporate the cinnamon sugar and frosting beloved of cinnamon rolls and voila! We have the most amazing cinnamon roll focaccia bread that is just as delicious for breakfast or a sweet treat.

Cinnamon Roll Focaccia Ingredients

• Flour: white bread flour has a higher protein content that all purpose white flour, giving our focaccia structure and lift. You CAN use all purpose flour if you like but the resulting bread will be a bit more denser with a close crumb.
• Yeast: I prefer to use instant or rapid rise yeast which is mixed with the flour without requiring activation first. See notes if you prefer to use
• Sugar: white granulated sugar is mixed with the flour to give this twist on focaccia a bit more sweetness.
• Salt: always needed to make any type of bread.
• Unsalted butter: melted unsalted butter replaces oil in this recipe.
• Dark brown sugar and fragrant ground cinnamon.
• Powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla bean extract and melted butter are used to make the sticky glaze.
• Water: ideally use filtered water when making bread.

How to Make Cinnamon Roll Focaccia

↓ For the full ingredients and detailed method, jump to the recipe card.

Make the Dough

Add the flour, sugar, salt and yeast to a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the water and three tablespoons of melted butter and stir well to make a shaggy sticky dough. Rest for 10 minutes.

Do a series of stretch and folds: dip your fingertips in melted butter or grease with a little oil. Grab the underside of the dough furthest from you in the bowl and stretch it and fold it over the top. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the stretch and folds three more time. Rest the dough for 10 minutes.

Repeat the stretch and fold once or twice more – you will notice the dough will start becoming smoother and more elastic. Grease the bowl with a little melted butter, cover and leave to rise for 60-90 minutes until doubled.

Second Rise

Grease and line a 9×11 sheet pan with a baking liner or paper. Tip the dough onto the lined pan and flatten the dough with your fingers to fill the pan. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar and some melted butter.

Fold the dough into thirds (letter fold) and then flip over seam side down. Cover the pan and proof for 45 minutes or until the dough has almost doubled in size and filling the pan. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 450°F / 225°C.

Dimple and Bake

Drizzle melted butter over the dough and dimple the dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and dimple once again.

Reduce the oven temperature to 400°F (200°F) and bake the focaccia for 25-28 minutes or until it registers at least 190°C (87°C) on an instant read thermometer. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly.

Glaze and Serve

Combine all the ingredients for the glaze in a bowl. Drizzle the glaze over the warm focaccia and cool before slicing. Best served slightly warm – reheat in the microwave for just a few seconds or toast in a toaster.

Lucy’s Pro Tip

Recipe Tip

Focaccia dough contains a lot of water (high hydration) so it is quite a sticky dough that spreads out. Resist the temptation to add more flour – the dough will become smooth as you do a series of stretches and folds.

Storing and Freezing

This sweet focaccia is a bit more moist than traditional focaccia so the best way to store it is to slice it and freeze it in a suitable airtight container. You can toast frozen slices to serve. I wouldn’t advise you store in the fridge as that will dry it out.

Related Recipes

• Air Fryer Sourdough Bread
• Cottage Cheese Bread
• Easy Sourdough Discard Focaccia With Yeast
• Sourdough Focaccia – Perfect for Beginners
• Easy Cinnamon Bread

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