Our Cinnamon Raisin Bread has quickly grown to be a popular customer favourite at the bakery. Make it at home and enjoy this well-loved nostalgic favourite. This recipe makes two loaves.
Cinnamon Raisin Bread
630g Flourist Sifted Red Spring
150g Flourist Whole Grain Red Fife
590g Water (80°F)
160g Sourdough Starter
15g Honey
15g Salt
150g Raisins
15g Cinnamon
Swirl
1 tsp cinnamon
20g granulated sugar
Begin by scaling the raisins in a bowl and covering with water. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine water, sourdough starter, honey, and flours and mix until combined into a shaggy dough. Let sit for 30 minutes before adding the salt and mixing to combine. Perform a fold on the bread and let sit covered with a tea towel at room temperature for 30 minutes. Fold again and let sit for another 30 minutes. Strain the raisins and add with the cinnamon to the dough once the 30 minutes rest is up. Squeeze into the dough and fold again. Perform two more folds with 30 minute rests in between for a total of 5 folds.
Once the fifth fold and rest is done, invert onto a lightly floured countertop and divide into two. Pre-shape the loaves and let sit for 30 minutes. Combine the cinnamon and sugar together in a bowl and spray two loaf pans. Flip dough over and stretch slightly into a rectangular shape. Brush with water and sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar onto the surface. Fold and spiral into itself, shaping it into a loaf. Place in oiled loaf pans and place in the fridge overnight.
Baking
Pull bread from the fridge and proof at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Check to see if your bread is proofed by pressing a lightly floured finger into the dough. When you remove your finger the indentation you made should remain and only very slightly spring back. Once you reach this stage preheat your oven to 450°F. Set up your racks with one in the middle of the oven and one underneath. Fill a shallow cake pan (you want one that is shallow enough to fit on the bottom rack) with about an inch of water and slide in between the two racks to sit on the bottom rack.
Lightly score the loaves (this is optional but your bread may naturally crack open if you do not score), and place on the middle rack. Lower the oven to 425°F and bake for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes, very carefully remove the cake pan with water from the oven. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, until a thermometer inserted into the middle of the loaf reads 200°F. Remove from the oven and immediately invert out onto a wire rack to cool.
This recipe may take some tweaking in terms of baking times and temperatures. We found when testing that each of our ovens had a slightly different bake. It is important to check the temperature throughout your bake as this is the most reliable way to ensure that your loaf is fully baked.
Comments
The last 2 times I made this bread it stuck to the loaf pan. Although it was still so tasty but quite “ugly”. I used Ghee, what do you use to grease your loaf pans? Would you recommend oil and flour for the pans?
Hi Erika – we’re so glad you are loving this recipe! Here are some answers to your questions.
1) You can definitely add more raisins if you’d like, though adding too many will make it challenging to shape your dough. As for cinnamon, we have found that it can really slow the fermentation so we wouldn’t advise adding too much more. Maybe instead a sprinkling in the finished toast? :)
2) If you have a Dutch oven that’s large enough to fit the loaf pan and is tall enough to account for the oven spring, then that should certainly work to capture the steam required for good spring and crust development.
3) We know some folks who have success with convection, but I personally find that convection runs a bit too hot for bread baking and can also cause the steam that you are trying to trap in the oven to dissipate (though this would be less of an issue if you were using a Dutch oven). You can definitely try, but it might require a bit of testing and adjustment of baking time and/or temperatures.
I hope this helps!
I just made this Cinnamon Raisin Bread for the first time, oh so good! I have 2 questions…1) can I increase the amount of raisins and cinnamon without affecting the integrity of the loafs? and 2) can I use a cast iron Dutch oven that fits a loaf pan instead of using the pan with water on the bottom shelf of the oven? Oh one more question, I have a convection oven with the option for conventional oven if needed. Do you recommend one over another? BTW I just ordered your flours and am eager for their arrival!
I do my fold & spiral ‘Swiss roll’ style. This is usually how I form my loves for my bread pans…
Hi Alex, we love this idea, let us know how it goes!
About to give the recipe a go but am thinking I’ll use the raison soaking water as part of the liquid in the recipe to increase the raisoniness.
I ended up with small pools of liquid in the corners of the loaf pan when I removed the bread from the refrigerator. What did I do wrong? Should I have drained the raisins longer?
To echo Sheri – can you explain a bit more what the “fold and spiral is”?
Hi Layal! We use an 8.5 by 4.5 inch loaf pan!
What size tin do you use?