Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread

4.92 from 123 votes

Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread

Cinnamon raisin sourdough bread is filled with sweet raisins and rolled up with a cinnamon sugar mixture, giving you a sweet, delicious flavor in every bite. Toast it up or eat with a little bit of butter, this artisan style cinnamon raisin sourdough bread will become a family favorite recipe!

Prep Time30

Cook Time45

Fermentation Time1 1

Total Time1 2 15

Course: Artisan Bread

Cuisine: American

Servings: slices

Author: Amy Coyne

Equipment

Ingredients

Levain (1:1:1, 3-4 hours until doubled if kept at 78ºF)

35 grams sourdough starter ripe, bubbly, active, about 2 Tablespoons
35 grams water about 2 Tablespoons
35 grams all-purpose or bread flour scant 1/4 cup

Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread

100 grams levain ripe, bubbly, active, scant 1/2 cup
375 grams water 25 grams reserved for AFTER the fermentolyse, (about 1 1/2 cups plus 1 Tablespoons for after fermentolyse)
450 grams bread flour 12.5% protein content, see recipe notes, about 3 1/4 cups
50 grams whole wheat flour about 1/3 cup
10 grams salt reserved for AFTER the fermentolyse, about 1.5 teaspoons
120 grams raisins about 1 cup, reserved for after stretch and folds

Cinnamon Filling (reserved for after bulk fermentation)

55 grams unsalted butter, softened about 4 Tablespoons
60 grams brown sugar about 1/4 cup
6 grams ground cinnamon about 2 teaspoons
3 grams all-purpose or bread flour about 1 teaspoon
pinch of salt

Instructions

Day 1: Levain/Mix/Bulk Fermentation/Shape/Cold Bulk Fermentation (keep dough at 78ºF for best results)

Levain: Mix together 35 grams ripe sourdough starter, 35 grams all-purpose or bread flour and 35 grams water. Set aside to ripen for 3-4 hours, keeping the temperature at 78ºF. Levain is ready when it has doubled in size, is very bubbly, smells milky sweet and is just about to fall.
Fermentolyse: Once the levain is peaked and active, mix 100 grams levain with 350 grams of water in a large bowl. Warm the water if the ingredients are too cold and cool the water if the ingredients are too warm. Add the 450 grams bread flour and 50 grams whole wheat flour to the bowl and mix until incorporated and a shaggy dough forms. Let rest for 30 minutes.
Mixing: After 30 minutes, add the reserved 10 grams salt and the remaining 25 grams of water. Combine using your hands by squeezing the dough between your fingers, pinching chunks of dough, and reincorporating together. The dough will break apart and then reform in the bowl through this process. Pick up one side of the dough and fold it over on itself. The dough will be sticky. Wet your hands as needed and continue to work with the dough, slapping it against the side of the bowl and stretching it back until all the salt and water have been incorporated and the dough is cohesive and strong.
Alternatively, you can perform this step in a stand mixer. Transfer the dough to a plastic container or bowl if desired.
Bulk Fermentation: Perform 3-4 sets of "stretch and folds," adding the raisins in during the second set.
To “stretch and fold,” wet your hand (so it doesn’t stick to the dough). Reach down to the bottom of the bowl of dough and pull the dough up and over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl 1/4 turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Turn another quarter turn and repeat. Perform one more 1/4 turn with stretching and folding the dough. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes. Watch a video of the process here.
Stretch and Fold #1: 1 hour into bulk fermentation
Stretch and Fold #2: 30 minutes later, add raisins. Stretch and fold again, beginning to incorporate the raisins into the dough.
Stretch and Fold #3: 30 minutes later, stretch and fold again. The raisins will continue dispersing throughout the dough. You should notice the dough feeling more cohesive and strong during this stretch and fold, and not needing very much folding to come together. If your dough still feels loose, add in another couple of stretch and folds to help strengthen and tighten the gluten strands.
Stretch and Fold #4 (Optional): 30 minutes later, optional stretch and fold.
Bulk Fermentation Continued: Let the dough rest in a warm place, for the rest of bulk fermentation, about 2-3 hours at 78ºF. During this time the dough will puff up about 30-40%, become more aerated, start to pull away from the edges of the bowl and have a few scattered bubbles around the edges/top of the dough. If your dough is not showing these signs, make sure it's warm enough and give it another half an hour or so until it is showing signs that it's ready to shape.
Mix Cinnamon Filling: Mix together 55 grams softened butter, 60 grams brown sugar, 6 grams ground cinnamon, 3 grams flour, and a pinch of salt until it forms a paste. Set aside.
Prepare Bowl: Prepare a bowl or banneton with a liner or sprinkle liberally with rice flour.
Shaping: When the dough is showing signs that it's ready to shape, dump the dough out onto the countertop. Gently pull the dough into a 12 by 16 rectangle shape. It does NOT need to be very thinly stretched, see post pictures for example.
Dollop most of the cinnamon mixture on the top of the dough. Fold one side of the dough to the middle and then the other side of the dough to the middle. Add the rest of the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of that dough. Then roll the dough up into a cylinder or circular shape. Immediately place the dough in the prepared banneton basket without too much handling of the dough.
Cinnamon sugar tends to release moisture in the dough, making it necessary to work quickly and get it into the banneton.
Cold Bulk Fermentation: Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a shower cap and store in the refrigerator overnight for about 18-20 hours. Alternatively, you can let your dough rise outside the fridge for another 3-4 hours and then bake your loaf the same day. If you choose this method, stick your banneton or bowl of dough in the fridge or freezer to chill it for a few minutes before scoring.

Day 2: Bake

Pre-heat the Oven: Put a Dutch oven (top and all) into the oven and preheat to 500ºF. Allow the Dutch oven to heat for about 30 minutes at 500ºF.
Preparing the Dough: Once preheated for 30 minutes, pull the loaf out of the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap or shower cap (this is easy to do straight out of the refrigerator if the dough is chilled – not easy if the dough warms up) and place a piece of parchment paper on top of the bread dough. Flip the dough over so that the dough is now sitting on the parchment paper.
Scoring: Smooth a little flour over the top of the dough if desired (add a little extra for more contrast) or leave the flour off completely for no contrast. Use a bread lame or very sharp knife to score the dough. Bread with inclusions typically does not score quite as well as bread without. This is not a loaf for intricate scoring. One large slash, about 1 inch deep is sufficient.
Bake: Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the 500ºF oven with hot pads. Take the top off and place your bread into the Dutch oven (including parchment paper – this helps with the transfer). Be very careful not to touch the sides of the hot Dutch oven. Put your hot pads back on before you pick up the lid of the Dutch oven and place it on top of the bread. Put the whole Dutch oven back into the oven. Lower the temperature to 450ºF and bake for 25 minutes. Once 25 minutes are up, take the top off the Dutch oven and lower the temperature again to 400ºF. Continue baking for 20 minutes until the bread is fully baked with an internal temperature of 205ºF.
Note: If your oven runs hot or you are using a dark cast-iron pot, there's a tendency for the bottom of the loaf to burn. Make sure to put a sheet pan on the rack underneath the pot to deflect the heat and decrease the temperature to 425ºF instead of 450ºF for the first 25 minutes.
Let cool completely and enjoy!

Video

Notes

This recipe is based on my sourdough artisan bread recipe. You can use all bread flour in place of the whole wheat flour in the recipe.

Raisins: Raisins in this recipe do not need to be soaked before adding to the dough. This dough is a little higher hydration to account for the raisins being added without soaking.

Cinnamon Sugar Mixture: Work quickly to shape the dough after adding the cinnamon sugar paste on top of the dough. The sugar in the mixture absorbs the water, which can make the dough difficult to shape. For that reason, we do not pre-shape this dough. Cinnamon has antimicrobial properties that can react with fermentation and slow it down. This is why cinnamon is added at the end of bulk fermentation.

If you’re looking for the kitchen tools I use to make this bread, you can find everything I use linked on my Amazon Storefront.

Original Recipe Notes: Originally, this recipe called for 400 total grams of water. This was a little too sticky for some to work with, so I decreased the hydration to 375 grams total water. I also used to add the raisins at the end of bulk fermentation by laminating them in, but now I prefer adding them during the stretch and folds. It helps them stay more evenly dispersed throughout the dough.

Nutrition