THE ARTISAN NOURISHED COLLECTION
Nourishment through abundance
Artisan Nourished Pan Rolls
Cinnamon • Cardamom • Maple
Living Spirals
Makes 12 individual pan rolls
Tender • Blooming • Fragrant • Nourishing
Freshly milled whole wheat and cultured butter enrich a naturally leavened dough scented with Sri Lankan cinnamon and green cardamom, then shaped into individual spirals that rise from their pans and bloom into wild, caramelized crowns.
Botanical Signature: Sri Lankan Cinnamon • Green Cardamom • Maple
This recipe is 100% plant-based.
There are times when I begin developing a bread because I know exactly what I want to make. And then there are times when I know only what I want the bread to feel like.
The Artisan Nourished Collection began with a simple idea: what if an artisan bread could invite more nourishment into the dough without losing the things that make artisan bread so extraordinary?
I wasn’t interested in making bread feel virtuous at the expense of pleasure. I wanted abundance instead — freshly milled grains, seeds, herbs, cultured butter, vegetables, fruits and spices welcomed into naturally leavened doughs while still preserving beautiful structure, fermentation and flavor.
For these little breads, however, I wanted something else as well.
I wanted a miniature artisan bread that wasn’t quite a loaf, wasn’t quite a dinner roll and certainly wasn’t a traditional sweet bun. I imagined an individual bread baked in its own little pan, substantial enough to feel like a tiny loaf but expressive enough to become something entirely its own.
And somewhere along the way, I began imagining a spiral.
After a great deal of searching for the right pan and the right proportions, I came across the idea of using a deep popover pan. Its narrow, individual cups seemed almost made for what I had in mind: they could contain the lower portion of the dough like a little pan loaf while giving the upper portion somewhere to go.
What I didn’t know was exactly where it would go.
I called the shape a Living Spiral before I had ever seen one bake. I loved the name partly because of the shape I imagined, but even more because sourdough itself is alive.
My sourdough culture is Daisy Madre. I feed her every day, and sometimes I think it is easy, after making sourdough for a long time, to forget how extraordinary that really is. Flour and water become populated by a community of wild yeasts and bacteria, and that living culture becomes powerful enough to raise bread.
There is something wonderfully humbling about it.
On the morning I finally baked these rolls, I stood at the window of my oven and watched Daisy show me exactly why I had chosen their name.
The spirals began climbing.
They rose beyond the rims of their little cups and seemed to come alive. One leaned in one direction. Another curled upward. Another opened outward. The coils separated just enough for the cinnamon filling to appear between them, and the tops began blooming over their pans like strange little bread flowers.
They were completely natural and completely unruly.
And they were Living Spirals.
I stood in front of the oven for practically the entire bake. By the time they came out, I was so delighted that I was running around the house like a child on Christmas morning. Months of imagining something are one thing. Watching dough suddenly become the thing you had imagined — only more beautiful and more alive than you had pictured — is another.
But a beautiful bread still has to be delicious.
This first Living Spiral is built around cinnamon and cardamom, but I didn’t want it to become an American-style cinnamon roll. There is no icing and no glaze, and the filling isn’t there to turn the bread into dessert. The spices belong inside the bread.
I use true Sri Lankan, or Ceylon, cinnamon here. It comes from Cinnamomum verum, a species native to Sri Lanka, and has a more delicate, aromatic character than the stronger cassia cinnamons commonly sold simply as “cinnamon.” That gentler complexity is exactly what I wanted for a bread in which cinnamon appears not only in the filling but in the dough itself.
Then there is green cardamom.
Cardamom is one of those spices that reminds you why grinding spices yourself matters. Open the green pods and crush the little dark seeds inside and their fragrance is almost startling — floral, citrusy, warm and difficult to describe with any single word. Those volatile aromatics begin disappearing after grinding, which is why freshly ground cardamom has a vitality that a jar of long-ground spice simply cannot reproduce.
Here I use it with restraint. I adore cardamom, but I didn’t want a cardamom bun. I wanted it hovering behind the cinnamon — something you might not immediately identify but would miss if it weren’t there.
The flour tells another part of the story.
Twenty percent of the flour is hard white wheat that I mill fresh for the dough. Hard white wheat is still whole wheat — bran, germ and endosperm all travel from the wheat berry into the bowl — but unlike traditional hard red wheat, it has a milder flavor and lighter character. Milling it just before making the dough means I can bring the whole grain into the bread in its freshly milled state.
That is precisely the role I want freshly milled grain to play in the Artisan Nourished Collection. It doesn’t have to overwhelm the bread or announce, I am whole wheat. It can simply become part of the bread’s identity.
And in these rolls, it does.
Between the freshly milled hard white wheat, cultured butter, naturally leavened dough and all that cinnamon and cardamom, the bread develops a warm tawny color that almost makes it look as though it were made entirely from whole grain. Tiny flecks remain visible throughout the dough. Even before I tasted one, it looked fragrant. It looked abundant.
It looked nourished.
Then I pulled one apart.
That was when I discovered that the popover pan hadn’t merely created the shape I wanted. It had created two experiences in one bread.
Below the rim of the pan is the roll.
It is tender and stretchy, with those lovely gluten strands that pull into shreds between your fingers. The cinnamon-cardamom filling winds through it, but much of it remains enclosed within the spiral, so the bread itself still has a chance to speak. I could happily put a little cultured butter on that lower portion and eat it at the dinner table.
But climb upward into the crown and everything changes.
Once the spiral escapes the pan, it opens. More filling is exposed. Cinnamon, cardamom, brown sugar and cultured butter meet the direct heat of the oven. The edges of the coils become crisp and deeply browned while the bread between them remains tender. The aroma that filled my kitchen while they baked is suddenly concentrated into every bite.
The lower half says bread.
The crown says bloom.
And somehow they belong together.
I ate my first one only minutes after it came from the oven because, after waiting months to find out whether this idea would actually work, asking me to wait until it cooled completely was probably unreasonable.
I wasn’t disappointed.
In fact, after that first bake, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to change.
That doesn’t happen very often in recipe development.
Perhaps what delights me most is that Cinnamon & Cardamom is only the beginning. I can already imagine Living Spirals filled with rosemary and lemon, garlic and thyme, herbs from the garden, seeds, vegetables and whatever else wanders into my kitchen asking to become bread. Some will be sweet, some savory, and I suspect no two batches will ever bloom in precisely the same way.
I love that.
One day soon I want to put one of these in front of a friend with a cup of tea and say absolutely nothing. I want to watch their face when they first see it — and then wait for the little noise I suspect they’ll make when they bite into the crown.
Because sometimes nourishment is something we measure.
And sometimes it is flour and water, grain and spice, a living culture named Daisy, and a piece of dough climbing wildly out of its little pan while the baker stands in front of the oven grinning.
That, to me, is nourishment through abundance.
INGREDIENTS
For the Levain
40 g ripe sourdough starter, 100% hydration
120 g water
120 g flour
Makes approximately 280 g levain; use 254 g in the dough.
For the Dough
677 g strong bread flour
169 g freshly milled hard white whole wheat flour (see Notes for substitutions)
254 g ripe 100% hydration sourdough levain
592 g unsweetened soy milk
144 g Sol Canyon Kitchen Cultured Butter, softened
68 g pure maple syrup
17 g fine sea salt
20 g Sri Lankan (Ceylon) cinnamon
7 g freshly ground green cardamom
For the Botanical Signature Filling
160 g dark brown sugar
90 g Sol Canyon Kitchen Cultured Butter, very soft
18 g Sri Lankan (Ceylon) cinnamon
3 g freshly ground green cardamom
2 g fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For Baking
30 g unsweetened soy milk
10 g pure maple syrup
METHOD
Step 1 — Build the Levain (Night Before)
The night before mixing the dough, combine:
40 g ripe sourdough starter, 100% hydration
120 g water
120 g flour
Cover and ferment overnight at approximately 72°F (22°C), until ripe, beautifully aerated and active.
The build makes approximately 280 g levain. Use 254 g in the dough.
Step 2 — Mix the Dough (Dough Day)
Fit a stand mixer with the dough hook.
Add to the mixer bowl:
677 g strong bread flour
169 g freshly milled hard white whole wheat flour (see Notes for substitutions)
592 g unsweetened soy milk
68 g pure maple syrup
254 g ripe 100% hydration sourdough levain
Mix on low speed until a rough dough forms and no dry flour remains.
Cover and rest for 20–30 minutes. This gives the freshly milled hard white whole wheat time to hydrate before the butter, salt and spices are added.
Add:
17 g fine sea salt
20 g Sri Lankan (Ceylon) cinnamon
7 g freshly ground green cardamom
Return the bowl to the mixer and knead with the dough hook on low to medium-low speed for several minutes, until the dough becomes smoother, begins pulling away from the sides of the bowl and gathers around the hook rather than remaining loose and shaggy.
Gradually add:
144 g Sol Canyon Kitchen Cultured Butter, softened
Add the butter a little at a time, allowing each addition to become mostly absorbed before adding more. The dough may temporarily look slippery or begin to separate as the butter is incorporated. Continue mixing and it will come back together.
Knead until the dough is smooth, glossy and elastic and pulls cleanly from the bowl.
Check for a windowpane by pinching off a small piece of dough and gently stretching it between your fingers. It should stretch into a thin, translucent membrane without immediately tearing. If it remains thick or tears roughly, knead for another 1–2 minutes and test again.
The finished dough should feel soft, supple and slightly tacky, but strong enough to stretch without breaking easily.
Step 3 — Bulk Fermentation
Transfer the dough to a lightly buttered or oiled container and cover.
Ferment in a warm place, ideally around 75–80°F (24–27°C), until the dough is visibly aerated and has increased in volume by approximately 60–75%. This will generally take about 4–6 hours at this temperature.
Judge the fermentation by the dough rather than the clock. The strength of the levain and the temperature of the dough will determine how quickly it develops.
Once bulk fermentation is complete, cover the dough and refrigerate overnight.
The cold fermentation develops flavor while giving you a thoroughly chilled dough that will be easier to roll, fill and shape the following day.
Step 4 — Prepare the Cinnamon & Cardamom Filling
While the dough continues to bulk ferment, prepare the Botanical Signature Filling. Making it on Dough Day means everything will be ready for shaping the following morning while the dough remains cold.
In a small bowl, combine:
160 g dark brown sugar
18 g Sri Lankan (Ceylon) cinnamon
3 g freshly ground green cardamom
2 g fine sea salt
Stir with a small whisk or fork until the spices and salt are evenly distributed throughout the sugar, with no concentrated pockets remaining.
In a second small bowl, combine:
90 g Sol Canyon Kitchen Cultured Butter, very soft
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Mix with a silicone spatula or spoon until smooth and evenly combined.
Cover both components separately and refrigerate overnight.
On Bake Day, remove the cultured butter mixture early enough for it to soften and become easily spreadable while the dough remains cold.
Step 5 — Roll & Fill (Bake Day)
Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and turn it onto a lightly floured work surface.
Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Return one portion to the refrigerator while you work with the first.
Roll the first portion into an 18 × 9-inch rectangle, keeping the dough as even in thickness and the edges as straight as reasonably possible.
Spread half of the softened vanilla cultured butter evenly over the dough, extending it nearly to the edges.
Sprinkle half of the cinnamon-cardamom sugar evenly over the butter.
Press the sugar lightly into the butter with your fingertips or the back of a spoon so the filling stays in place as the strips are cut and rolled.
Proceed directly to Step 5 to cut and shape this first rectangle before removing the second portion of dough from the refrigerator.
Step 6 — Shape the Living Spirals
Cut the filled 18 × 9-inch rectangle crosswise into 6 even strips, each approximately 3 × 9 inches.
Starting at one short end, roll each strip individually into a well-defined spiral approximately 3 inches wide, allowing the 9-inch length of the strip to form the coils. Roll evenly and deliberately, keeping the layers aligned as the spiral takes shape.
Do not pinch the outer end tightly closed. Allow the final edge to rest naturally against the spiral. This gives the layers freedom to expand, unwind and bloom as they proof and bake.
Place each spiral upright in one cup of a deep popover pan, with the coiled layers facing upward.
The lower portion of the spiral should sit securely within the cup while the upper layers remain free to expand vertically.
Once all 6 spirals from the first portion are shaped and in the pan, remove the second portion of dough from the refrigerator.
Repeat Steps 4 and 5 with the second portion of dough and the remaining vanilla cultured butter and cinnamon-cardamom sugar to make 12 Living Spirals in total.
Variation from one spiral to another is intentional.
Step 7 — Final Proof
Cover the pans loosely and allow the shaped spirals to proof in a warm place until they are noticeably expanded, light and aerated.
The spirals should rise within the cups and begin moving toward or above the rims of the pans. The coils should look fuller and softer while still remaining defined.
When gently touched, the exposed dough should feel pillowy, and a light impression should return slowly.
In a warm room of approximately 75–80°F (24–27°C), with a strong, active starter, the final proof may take only 2–3 hours. In cooler conditions or with a less vigorous starter, it may take longer.
Judge the proof by the dough rather than the clock. Dough temperature, room temperature and starter strength will ultimately determine when the spirals are ready to bake.
Toward the end of the final proof, thoroughly preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Step 8 — Prepare for Baking
Just before baking, combine:
30 g unsweetened soy milk
10 g pure maple syrup
Stir well, then lightly brush the maple-soy wash over the exposed dough, allowing a thin, even coating to cover the upper coils.
Use a light hand, brushing only the exposed dough rather than saturating the filling between the coils.
Place a sheet pan on the rack beneath the popover pans to catch any butter or filling that bubbles over during baking.
Step 9 — Bake
Bake at 375°F (190°C), without convection, for approximately 22–24 minutes, rotating the pans toward the end of baking if needed for even browning.
As they bake, the spirals should rise beyond the rims of the pans while the upper coils open and bloom, exposing ribbons of filling.
The crowns should become deeply golden with darker caramelized edges. Use the appearance of the exposed crowns together with the internal temperature to judge doneness.
To check doneness with an instant-read or probe thermometer, insert the probe into the thick lower-middle portion of one of the larger rolls, avoiding the filling and the metal pan. The internal temperature should reach approximately 200–205°F (93–96°C).
Step 10 — Unmold & Cool
Allow the Living Spirals to rest in their pans for 3–5 minutes after baking.
Gently lift each spiral out of its cup for a moment to release the steam trapped around the lower bread. When first lifted from the pans, the lower portion of each spiral will be considerably lighter than the deeply caramelized crown. This is intentional. The bread enclosed within the deep cups remains pale, soft and tender even though it is fully baked; use the internal temperature rather than color to judge doneness.
Set the spirals back into their cups and allow them to rest for another 10–15 minutes, giving the tender crumb and warm filling time to begin setting while the pans continue to support their irregular crowns.
Gently remove the spirals from the pans and transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Because each Living Spiral blooms into its own wild, individual shape, some may stand upright while others naturally rest on their sides. Either is perfectly fine.
NOTES
About the Pan Rolls
The Artisan Nourished Pan Rolls were intentionally developed to live somewhere between familiar categories. They are not dinner rolls, conventional sweet rolls, Nordic buns or miniature loaves, but individual breads that borrow something from each while remaining distinctly bread-forward.
These Cinnamon • Cardamom • Maple Living Spirals are a perfect example. Despite their aromatic spices and spiraled filling, they are not intended to taste like an American cinnamon roll. They are considerably less sweet, with neat ribbons of filling rather than a soft, sugary center. Nor are they meant to replicate a traditional Nordic cardamom bun.
Instead, the dough itself remains the heart of the roll: naturally leavened bread enriched with cultured butter, freshly milled whole grain and maple, with cinnamon and cardamom woven generously through both the bread and its spiraled layers.
The result is something in between—a nourishing individual bread with the fragrance and pleasure of a beautifully filled bun, but enough restraint to still feel at home at the table.
The Flour
Strong bread flour provides the structure these tall spirals need as they rise beyond the rims of their pans. Freshly milled hard white whole wheat brings flavor, tenderness and nourishment without making the dough feel heavy.
If you do not mill your own grain, use a finely milled store-bought hard white whole wheat flour in the same amount. Whole-grain spelt may also be used for the whole-grain portion, although it will produce a somewhat softer, more extensible dough because of its more delicate gluten structure.
Whole-grain flours vary considerably in absorption. Hold back a small amount of the soy milk if using an unfamiliar flour, then add it as needed once you see how the dough is developing.
The Levain
Use a ripe, active 100% hydration levain that has reached or is very near its peak. This is a rich dough containing cultured butter, maple syrup and spices, so a vigorous levain helps maintain a strong, steady fermentation.
Fermentation times are always approximate. Flour, levain strength and, most importantly, dough temperature will affect both bulk fermentation and final proof. Watch the dough rather than relying solely on the clock.
Maple & the Botanical Signature
Maple is woven gently into the dough, where it contributes sweetness without making the Living Spirals dessert-like. A more pronounced maple-soy wash is brushed over the exposed coils before baking, bringing the maple closer to the surface where its flavor and aroma can deepen as the crowns caramelize. Together with the Sri Lankan cinnamon and green cardamom, it completes the Botanical Signature without overwhelming the bread itself.
The Cinnamon & Cardamom
Sri Lankan, or Ceylon, cinnamon has a softer, more floral character than cassia cinnamon and is used generously throughout both the dough and filling.
For the cardamom, freshly grind the seeds from green cardamom pods whenever possible. Their fragrance is considerably brighter and more complex than pre-ground cardamom.
The Cultured Butter
Sol Canyon Kitchen Cultured Butter contributes both richness and a subtle cultured flavor to the dough and filling.
If you do not have Sol Canyon Kitchen Cultured Butter, substitute a firm vegan butter that you have had success using for baking. Miyoko’s European Style Plant Milk Butter is a good alternative. Avoid very soft tub-style spreads, which generally contain more water and may behave differently in both the dough and filling.
For the dough, the butter should be softened but not melted. For the filling, it should be very soft and easily spreadable so that the chilled dough can be filled without pulling or tearing.
Preparing the filling components during bulk fermentation on Dough Day means everything is ready for shaping the following morning. Remove the vanilla cultured butter from the refrigerator early enough to become soft and spreadable while keeping the dough itself cold.
Keep the Dough Cold
The overnight refrigeration is important for more than flavor. Thoroughly chilled enriched dough is considerably easier to roll, fill, cut and coil cleanly, and the cold butter within the dough helps it retain its structure during shaping.
Divide the dough as soon as it comes from the refrigerator and keep the second half chilled while shaping the first. If the dough becomes very soft, sticky or difficult to handle at any point, refrigerate it briefly before continuing.
The 18 × 9-Inch Rectangle
The dimensions are intentional. Each half of the dough is rolled to approximately 18 × 9 inches and cut crosswise into six 3 × 9-inch strips.
The 3-inch width establishes the width of each finished roll, while the 9-inch length provides enough dough to create the individual coils and gives the spiral its characteristic height and proportion when placed upright in the pan.
The Pans
These rolls were developed for deep, individual popover-style pans rather than a conventional muffin tin or baking dish.
The deep cups support the lower portion of each roll while allowing the upper spiral to rise freely beyond the rim and bloom during baking. A shallower or wider pan can still produce a delicious roll, but it will change its shape, rise and baking characteristics.
Place a sheet pan on the rack below the popover pans during baking to catch any cultured butter or filling that bubbles from the open spirals as they expand.
The Living Spiral
Each strip is rolled individually rather than forming one large log and slicing it into rolls. This is fundamental to the Living Spiral shape.
Do not pull the dough tightly or pinch the outer tail closed. The spiral should be secure enough to hold together but free enough for the upper coils to shift, open and bloom during proofing and baking.
Variation is intentional. Some crowns may open dramatically while others remain more compact. Their irregularity is part of their character—the dough determines its own final bloom.
Knowing When They Are Baked
The exposed crown and the portion protected inside the deep pan will not look the same when fully baked.
The crown should be richly golden with darker, caramelized cinnamon-filled edges, while the lower portion will remain lighter, softer and more tender.
Because the tall lower section can be difficult to judge visually, an instant-read thermometer is particularly useful for these rolls. Insert it into the thick lower-middle portion, avoiding pockets of filling and contact with the metal pan. Look for approximately 200°F (93°C).
Serving & Reheating
The Living Spirals are especially good slightly warm, when the bread is soft and tender and the exposed edges of the spiral regain some of their delicate crispness.
Enjoy them just as they are, or split them open and treat them as you would a beautiful piece of bread. Spread them with Sol Canyon Kitchen Cultured Butter, Miso Cashew Butter, butter and a favorite jam, or chocolate-hazelnut spread. Their restrained sweetness also makes them especially good with something creamy, salty or slightly savory.
To reheat, warm briefly until the bread is soft and fragrant again and the cinnamon-cardamom crown has regained a little of its crispness.
Their deeply aromatic cinnamon-cardamom character makes them lovely for breakfast or alongside chai, but they are not confined to the sweet side of the table.
A Final Thought
A Living Spiral is not meant to emerge from its pan looking exactly like the one beside it. The deep pan gives the dough direction, but not complete control. As each spiral rises, its coils find their own way upward—some opening widely, some curling inward, some leaning slightly as they bloom.
That small unpredictability is part of what makes them living bread.
CONVERSION: INSTANT YEAST OPTION
This recipe is written for natural sourdough fermentation. If you prefer a shorter timeline, you can make it with instant yeast instead.
To Convert
Omit:
254 g ripe 100% hydration sourdough levain
Add:
10 g instant yeast
Increase the strong bread flour from 677 g to:
804 g strong bread flour
Increase the soy milk from 592 g to:
719 g unsweetened soy milk
Keep all remaining dough ingredients, the Botanical Signature Filling and the maple-soy baking wash unchanged.
Proceed with the same mixing method.
Continue with the remaining recipe as written, including the filling, shaping and baking instructions.
Fermentation Timeline with Instant Yeast
Bulk ferment at 75–80°F (24–27°C) for approximately 1½–2½ hours, or until the dough is visibly aerated and has increased in volume by approximately 60–75%.
Prepare the Botanical Signature Filling during bulk fermentation as directed.
Once bulk fermentation is complete, refrigerate the dough for approximately 45–60 minutes, or until thoroughly chilled and firm enough to roll cleanly.
Proceed with rolling, filling and shaping the Living Spirals as directed.
Final proof for approximately 1–2 hours, or until the spirals are noticeably expanded, light and pillowy and a gentle fingertip impression returns slowly.
Bake as directed.
If you prefer to divide the work over two days, the dough may instead be refrigerated overnight after bulk fermentation. The cold fermentation will develop additional flavor while providing thoroughly chilled dough for shaping the following day.
What to Expect
The instant yeast version will be:
Slightly less complex in flavor.
Slightly more sweet-forward.
Faster and more predictable in fermentation.
Still soft, beautifully structured and capable of producing the characteristic blooming Living Spiral crown.
This is the kind of food that nourishes quietly.
It asks us to slow down,
to listen,
and to remember what is enough.