Perfect Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Name: Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1665 min
Ingredients: 50 grams Sourdough Starter; 50 grams All-Purpose Flour; 50 grams Warm Water; 400 grams All-Purpose Flour; 44 grams Granulated Sugar; 8 grams Sea Salt; Levain (see above, or 150g of active sourdough starter); 125 grams Whole Milk (room temperature); 75 grams Water; 1 Egg; 71 grams Unsalted Butter (5 TBS, room temperature); 120 grams Raisins; 40 grams Dark Rum (optional, substitute with black tea or water); 50 grams Dark Brown Sugar; 6 grams Ground Cinnamon; 8 grams All-Purpose Flour (1 TBS); 1 Egg (divided)

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This Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread is incredibly soft, featuring a perfect cinnamon raisin swirl, and makes the best breakfast toast! It’s cozy and easy to make.

The secret to making this easy loaf bread is to get the cinnamon raisin swirl right. Swirl bread has the propensity to develop gaps or tunnels during baking. And after all of that hard work, it’s disappointing to slice into the swirl bread only to find that there are large holes.

The recipe and guide has lots of helpful tips and tricks to help prevent gaps in swirl bread so it’s perfect every time like in my Sourdough Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Bread.

Sliced and toasted with butter, this is my favorite breakfast toast. It’s only slightly sweet from the cinnamon sugar filling and balanced with the sourdough tang that comes from an overnight fermentation. The rum-soaked raisins are evenly distributed throughout the swirl so each bite has a burst of flavor.

👉 For another classic and easy sourdough sandwich bread recipe, check out this soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread recipe or this Soft Sourdough Rye Sandwich Bread.

For cinnamon lovers, you’ll adore these Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting, this Sourdough Gingerbread Cake with Cranberries, or these Brown Butter Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies if you like raisins!

Bite of toasted sourdough cinnamon raisin bread on plate with butter and coffee

🛠 Tools needed

Baking Scale
Stand Mixer (recommended)
- Soft enriched doughs like this are easier to be mixed in a stand mixer to develop enough gluten. However, you can mix and knead the dough by hand too.
Bread Loaf Pan
- You can use an 8.5×4.5″ or 9×5″ bread loaf pan for this recipe.
Rolling Pin, for rolling out dough
Pastry Brush, for egg wash
Brød and Taylor Folding Bread Proof, optional but helpful
- This folding proofing box by Brød & Taylor is a game changer to keep your sourdough starter and doughs at the perfect temperature while proofing. It folds up easily, includes a humidity tray, and can even be used as a slow cooker.

Slice of sourdough cinnamon raisin swirl bread laying on table with loaf behind it

🍞 Ingredients Needed

See below for more information, recommendations, and possible substitutes.

Overhead of dough ingredients including flour, sugar, levain, egg, salt, milk, and butter

Overhead of filling ingredients including an egg, raisins, flour, rum, cinnamon, and brown sugar

All-purpose flour
- For more heartiness and even more flavor, substitute some of the flour with whole wheat flour.
Water
Salt
Sourdough Starter
- Use active sourdough starter, not sourdough discard, for this recipe.
Whole Milk
- The milk adds fat and richness for flavor to this loaf and for a softer crumb. You can substitute with plant-based milk if you like.
Eggs
- There’s an egg in the dough for structure and richness, but also one for the egg wash on top of the loaf and to adhere the cinnamon sugar filling.
Granulated Sugar
Brown Sugar
- Use light or dark brown sugar for the cinnamon swirl filling.
Unsalted Butter, softened
Raisins
- You could use chopped dates or currants inn this recipe too, like in my Sourdough Hot Cross Buns with Brown Butter or Sourdough Irish Soda Bread.
Rum (or water, vanilla, or black tea)
- For the best rum-raisin flavor, use dark rum to soak and plump the raisins. You can substitute the rum with water, vannilla, or black tea.
Cinnamon
- Add other spices like cardamom or ginnger if you like, such as in my Sourdough Banana Bread with Chai Spices or Sourdough Zucchini Muffins.

👨‍🏫 Baker’s Percentage Table

I include a baker’s percentage chart so you can easily scale a recipe up or down. With baker’s percentages, the total weight of all flour in the recipe is 100%. The other ingredients are noted in relation to the total weight of the flour. This is why the percentages below will add up to over 100%. The King Arthur website has a more detailed reference page on why and how baker’s percentages are calculated if you’re interested and would like to learn more.

Dough Ingredients	Weight	Percentage
All-Purpose Flour	450 grams	100%
Sourdough Starter*	50 grams	11.1%
Water, room temperature	125 grams	27.8%
Sea Salt	8 grams	1.8%
Granulated Sugar	44 grams	9.8%
Whole Milk, room temperature	125 grams	27.8%
One Large Egg**	57 grams	12.7%
Unsalted Butter, room temperature	71 grams (5 TBS)	15.8%

*Note: 50g of flour, 50g of water, and the 50g starter are for the levain.
If you do not want to build a levain, use about 125-150g starter instead.
**Another egg is used for egg wash

Filling Ingredients	Weight	Percentage
Dark Brown Sugar	50 grams	11.1%
Ground Cinnamon	6 grams	1.3%
All-Purpose Flour	8 grams	1.8%
Raisins	120 grams	26.7%
Dark Rum*	40 grams	8.9%
One Large Egg, beaten**	57 grams	12.7%

*Note: Feel free to use an equal amount of black tea or water
**Use about half of the egg wash for filling and reserve the other half for glazing the loaf

🧑‍🍳 How to Make Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Follow this guide to help you make the best sourdough cinnamon raisin bread.

1. Build the levain

Stir the sourdough starter, water, and flour in an empty jar.

Cover and set it in a warm location (between 75-80ºF) for about five hours until bubbly and ripe. The levain should at least double in size during this time.

While waiting for the levain to double, set aside water, milk, and unsalted butter to come to room temperature.

Note: Please refer to my guide on How To Make A Sourdough Starter if you do not have a sourdough starter.

I almost always use a specific levain for recipes. If you’d prefer to skip making a levain, use about 150g ripe sourdough starter when you add the wet ingredients.

2. Mix the Dry Ingredients

Once the levain is ripe, mix the dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.

Dry ingredients of flour, sugar, and salt mixed together in bowl with wet ingredients in background

3. Add the Wet Ingredients

Then, in the same bowl, add the wet ingredients and levain.

Pouring bubbly levain into bowl of dry ingredients

Overhead of wet and dry ingredients in bowl

4. Mix

Using the dough hook attachment, mix together the wet and dry ingredients on low speed.

At first, the mixture will be dry until the flour starts to get hydrated. After a couple of minutes, the dough will be sticky, shaggy, and wet.

Ingredients just being mixed together in stand mixer bowl

Next, increase the speed to medium and continue to mix for about five more minutes. When done, you should hear a slapping sound from the dough hitting the sides of the bowl, the dough should be smoother and more cohesive. The dough should not stick to the sides of the bowl.

Hand pulling on dough on stand mixer dough hook before adding butter.

5. Add Butter

Slice the room-temperature unsalted butter into at least five pieces.

When making most enriched bread like this loaf or my Sourdough Brioche Bread, it’s important that the butter be softened at room temperature (68-70ºF). Room temperature butter will incorporate easier into the dough. You’ll know the butter is soft enough when it leaves a slight impression or indentation if you press on it with your finger.

With the mixer on medium speed, add the butter one piece at a time until fully incorporated into the dough. Let the dough mix for at least a minute or two before adding in the next piece of butter.

Hand holding softened butter with indentation over stand mixer

After adding each piece of butter, continue to mix the dough for about five or so minutes until the dough is completely smooth, glossy, and supple.

Finally, when done, the dough should pass the windowpane test and easily slide off of the dough hook.

What is the windowpane test?

The windowpane test is a useful tool to know if enough gluten has been developed in a dough. To perform the windowpane test, gently pull up a small portion of the dough between your fingers. If the dough quickly tears, it has not developed enough gluten as seen in the photo below before kneading.

The dough passes the windowpane test if you’re able to stretch it into a thin, translucent film that light could pass through without breaking (like a windowpane!).

Hand stretching dough for windowpane test

6. First Proof

Transfer the dough to a medium mixing bowl, cover it, and place it in a warm location to proof.

Then, proof the dough for about 5 hours at 78ºF until it is about doubled, domed, and even smoother.

Overhead of dough in bowl at the start of bulk fermentation

Overhead of bigger dough in glass bowl at end of bulk fermentation

Notes:

Because this is an enriched dough, dough can take longer to proof. Ideally, the dough is placed in a warm & humid environment like a bread proofer or in an oven with the light turned on. 75-80ºF is the ideal temperature range for sourdough yeasts. If cooler, the dough will take longer to proof. If warmer, it will proof faster.
Unlike My Everyday Sourdough Bread recipe, this dough is unlikely to overproof unless left in a warm environment for hours longer than called for (in which case the dough can spoil). You will degas the dough the next day, so getting this first proof exactly correct is less critical than making an artisan-style sourdough bread.

7. Cold Overnight Proof

There are many benefits of chilling this dough overnight.

First, the cold-proof, or retard, slows down fermentation and gives the sourdough cinnamon raisin bread a more complex flavor.

Secondly, rolling out chilled dough is much easier than rolling out room-temperature dough. Lastly, proofing it overnight allows you to bake it at a later time that best fits your schedule.

With the dough covered, place it in a cold refrigerator for overnight proof and up to two days.

8. Soak raisins and make cinnamon raisin filling

Soaking the raisins in dark rum will hydrate them to make them plump & juicy for your cinnamon raisin bread filling.

The rum is really excellent for a rum-raisin quality, but you’re welcome to replace it with black tea or water with a teaspoon of vanilla extract. I do the same for my Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins.

Make rum raisins

The next day, place the raisins into a small saucepan. Pour rum over the raisins and place over a stovetop. Turn on low until the rum just starts to boil and immediately turn off the stove and cover the pot with a lid.

Allow the raisins to soak in almost all of the rum and cool in the saucepan while you make the filling (at least 30 minutes).

Make cinnamon sugar filling

In a small bowl, mix together 50g of dark brown sugar, 6g of ground cinnamon, and 8g of all-purpose flour.

This small amount of flour helps keep your cinnamon sugar filling from leaking from your swirl bread. I do this for other breads will cinnamon swirl fillings such as Sourdough Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.

Stainless steel pot on stove with raisins and rum

Glass bowl of cinnamon, sugar, and flour mixed together

9. Shape

Next, take the chilled dough out of the refrigerator and punch it down slightly with your hand to degas it. Then, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface.

Press the dough into a 6-inch square.

Roll out the dough

Lightly flour the top of the dough and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out evenly into a rectangle. The rectangle should be about 18″x7″.

As you’re rolling, generously flour the work surface and try to move quickly so your dough doesn’t stick to the counter.

Note: It’s okay to roll the dough out slightly longer (longer=more swirls), but try to keep the width near 7″ or even slightly less. As it’s rolled, it will get wider and you want to make sure it will fit in the pan.

Dough on floured counter pressed down and degassed into a square

Dough rolled out on floured counter into large rectangle with rolling pin

Add cinnamon sugar and rum-raisin filling

Swirl breads have a tendency to create gaps or tunnels when baked. To help prevent gaps or tunnels in swirl breads, apply a light egg wash to the rolled-out dough. First of all, it will help your sandy cinnamon sugar filling stick to the dough. Secondly, the egg wash will act as a binder for the filling and help prevent gaps.

Beat the remaining egg in a small bowl with a fork or small whisk.

Apply a light egg wash to the rolled-out dough with a pastry brush. Leave about a half-inch border on the sides. Reserve remaining egg wash for topping later.

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar filling evenly on top of the egg wash.

If there is any remaining liquid from soaking the raisins, strain it. Place the rum-soaked raisins evenly on top of the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Dough rolled out on counter with egg wash applied

Cinnamon sugar mixture filling added on top of dough on floured counter

Roll up the cinnamon raisin bread

Starting from one of the short ends of the dough, use both hands to roll it up into a swirl.

Try to roll the dough up snugly so no raisins or filling comes out. If a raisin plops out, just poke it back into the swirl, add it with the filling not rolled up yet, or have it as a treat!

Note: The dough should be pliable and shouldn’t stick to the counter as long as it was floured enough and isn’t too warm. If the dough sticks, flour your hands and use a floured bench scraper placed under the dough to help roll it up.

I’ve found this dough to be quite forgiving, so if it slightly tears, sticks, or isn’t a perfect cylinder, it will probably work itself out during the final proofing.

Closeup of raisins added to rolled out dough with filling added

Sourdough cinnamon raisin dough rolled up in swirl on counter

10. Final Proof

Grease the interior of a 8.5″x4.5″ or 9″x5″ bread loaf pan with butter or a non-stick cooking spray. Gently place the dough into the pan with the seam down.

Place the dough in a warm location for its final proof like a bread proofer or an oven with the light turned on.

At 78ºF, proofing typically takes between 4 to 5 hours.

At the end of proofing, the dough should double, be about an inch above the bread pan, feel poofy, and pass the “finger poke test”.

What is the “finger poke test”?

One way to tell if your dough is fully proofed is to do “the finger poke test.” Take a floured finger and gently poke the dough. The dough is underproofed if it immediately springs back.

If the dough leaves a small indentation and slowly springs back, it is likely proofed! Does your poke leave a big crater that doesn’t spring back? It might be overproofed.

Dough shaped and placed in bread pan on floured counter

Poofy dough in bread pan after final proof

11. Bake

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Then, brush the top of the dough with the reserved egg wash.

Bake the bread for 40-45 minutes until it is a deep brown. The internal temperature should be between 190-200ºF.

Finally, let it cool completely on a wire rack before removing and slicing into it!

Brushing on egg wash to dough in bread pan before baking

Brown crust of baked sourdough cinnamon raisin bread loaf in pan with purple towel on wire rack

How to Serve

I think this sourdough cinnamon raisin swirl bread is great on its own. The interior texture is soft and somewhat reminiscent of store-bought white bread (in a good way!). That’s all balanced by the warming cinnamon spices and bursts of raisins in the swirl filling.

However, in my opinion, it’s even better as breakfast toast. With a morning coffee and a slab of butter, it’s one of the coziest breads I bake. The swirl is mesmerizing even when it’s not perfect which makes it even more rustic!

I haven’t made this bread into French Toast, but I imagine it would also be lovely as a cinnamon raisin French Toast if sliced thickly. If you’re into French Toast as much as I am, I have a great sourdough challah recipe that makes the perfect French Toast.

How to Store

To store this sourdough cinnamon raisin bread, wrap it in a tea towel or paper bag for a couple of days. It will start to stale after a couple of days but you can still toast it up.

Furthermore, the cinnamon raisin bread also freezes well if you slice and place it into a freezer-safe bag. Use it within a couple of months so it doesn’t get freezer-burned.

Single slice of sourdough cinnamon raisin swirl bread on table

Overhead of toasted sourdough cinnamon raisin bread on plate with slab of butter and coffee

❓FAQs

Why is there no cinnamon in the dough itself?

If you use too much cinnamon, it will inhibit sourdough fermentation. Cinnamon has anti-fungal properties (if you have houseplants or a garden, you might know that!) which will prevent your dough from fermenting or at an extremely slow rate like in my Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins. I’ve kept the dough for this loaf quite simple and added all of the cinnamon sugar and rum-raisin flavor for the filling itself.

Can I add more or less raisins?

You’re welcome to add more raisins to your filling if you’d like. I think the proportion in this recipe is nice enough to get a raisin or two in each bite and is balanced to not be too sweet. Just know that the more raisins you add likely increases the chances of gaps forming.

Alternatively, you can use fewer raisins or you can substitute with chopped dates as well.

Why do I still have gaps or tunnels in my swirl bread?

If you followed this recipe using the egg wash and flour in the filling to prevent gaps/tunnels, then the gaps could be because of a couple issues:

The dough could be over proofed. Over proofed dough has a tendency to form large gaps or tunnels near the edges and top of breads.
The dough might not have been rolled up tight enough. Make sure when you roll up the dough that it’s snug and not too loose. Create a little tension but not so much that it feels tight.
Always allow your breads to cool completely before slicing. Slicing while still warm (I know it’s tempting) releases steam and moisture from the bread before the crumb is set. It will dry out faster and the sugar swirl might not be fully set.

Can I double this recipe?

Certainly. Simply double all of the ingredients. The only difference in steps would be to divide the dough in half before rolling it out.

Why did my bread burst on top or the sides?

Because this bread is not scored like artisan sourdough bread, when the dough hits the hot oven, it causes it to rise very quickly (oven spring). With that initial burst of energy, the bread might burst slightly on the sides or top. This isn’t uncommon with loaf breads and does not effect the final flavor.

This tends to happen more with underproofed doughs or if there is a shaping issue (possibly rolled too tight). You could also try baking the bread in a slightly larger pan (like a 9″x5″ pan if you used a 8.5″x4.5″) to see if that helps.

Can I use sourdough discard for this recipe?

Sourdough discard is acidic and typically used in non-yeasted recipes since the sourdough starter has broken down. Thus, sourdough discard is not appropriate for this recipe and you should you an active sourdough starter.

See more sourdough discard recipes.

Three slices of sourdough cinnamon raisin swirl bread with entire loaf, purple towel, and bread knife

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