With added swirls of cinnamon and loads of plump juicy raisins, every bite of Cinnamon Raisin Bread is irresistibly delicious. Soft and fluffy on the inside with a crispy golden crust everyone will be wanting to start their day with a nice thick slice.
This easy, no knead bread is foolproof! Delicious and simple it is the perfect recipe for beginning bakers. With only 7 ingredients you can enjoy the aroma of fresh baked sweet bread in no time.
If you've tried our irresistible 5 Ingredient Bread you may recognize this recipe - as we use it as the base for this delicious Cinnamon Raisin Bread. With added cinnamon and plump raisins it doesn't get much easier than this.
For an easy breakfast try serving with fresh fruit, yogurt and a favorite smoothie like our Mixed Berry Pineapple smoothie, Peanut Butter Banana smoothie, Tropical Green smoothie or our favorite Orange Julius drink.
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🥫 Ingredients
Using our 5 Ingredient Bread recipe as the base all you need is an additional two ingredients and you are on your way to a tasty sweet loaf!
- Active Dry Yeast
- Water
- Honey
- Salt
- Bread Flour (all purpose flour will also work)
- Raisins
- Cinnamon
(Scroll down to the recipe card for exact measurements and full printable instructions.)
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Activate Yeast
Firstly, stir and dissolve your yeast and honey in a stand mixer with warm water. Be careful your water isn't too hot or it will kill your yeast.
Afterwards allow the yeast mixture to activate. You can tell it is activated when it begins to look frothy and bubbly on the surface, approximately 5 minutes.
In fact yeast is what allows bread like this Cinnamon Raisin bread or our 5 Ingredient Bread to rise. Using fresh active yeast is important.
If after the yeast sits for 5 minutes and it doesn’t get frothy or foamy, your yeast may no longer be active. In which case your bread will not rise properly.
Therefore if the yeast fails consider purchasing fresh yeast and starting over for the best results.
Prepare Dough
After activating the yeast go ahead and add salt to the bowl then slowly stir in 3 cups of the flour into the mixer one at a time. The mixture will be runny and questionable, just trust the process.
Afterwards cover the mixing bowl and place it in a warm sunny place for 20 minutes. The dough will double and take on a wet sponge like texture. When done place your mixing bowl back on the stand mixer with the hook attachment.
At this point add the cinnamon and raisins to the mixing bowl. Any kind of raisins can be used. Mixed Jumbo raisins, Golden raisins or your traditional Black or Red raisins will all work great.
Afterwards slowly add in the remaining 5 cups of flour to the bowl and mix all together. You will want to be careful not to add too much flour. Otherwise you could end up with a tough, dry loaf of bread.
When the mixture is at the right consistency, the dough will start to crawl up the hook engulfing the mixer. The dough will still be very sticky or tacky to the touch.
Proofing the Dough
Remove the hook attachment and scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl. Afterwards cover the bowl and place it back in a warm spot until the dough has doubled again, in size.
This should take between 1.5 - 2 hours. The longer rise time is necessary for letting the gluten develop which is how you are going to get your fluffy and light bread.
After doubled in size punch down the dough and allow it to rise for another 30 minutes. While the dough rises for its final time go ahead and pre-heat the oven to 400° F.
Bake the Bread
Grease two baking pans well with butter. Then punch down the dough a second time and form into two loaves to place in prepared bread pans.
Place the loaf pans on the center rack of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes turn down the oven to 325° F. Then allow the loaves to bake for an additional 40 minutes at the lower temperature.
When both loaves of your Cinnamon Raisin Bread are a nice golden brown remove from the oven and gently slide them out of their pans. Lastly, cover each loaf of bread with a light towel and allow it to cool completely before storing or slicing. Enjoy!
👩🏻🍳 Make It Your Own
There are lots of ways to make this recipe your own. With such a versatile base recipe as our 5 Ingredient Bread there are many ways to customize each loaf. For example try substituting your raisins and cinnamon for cranberries or blueberries and nutmeg or lemon.
Cinnamon Raisin Bread is yummy smeared with your favorite cream cheese or slathered with butter. We especially love using it to make the yummiest French Toast!
💭 Top Tips
Bread making can be a real art – and therefore intimidating. But have no worries, there are plenty of confidence building recipes out there. This Cinnamon Raisin bread or our 5 ingredient bread will do the trick! Even first time bakers will find success with these recipes.
And with how simple it is to pull together you may consider making a double batch and have fresh homemade bread for dinner and sweet cinnamon raisin bread for breakfast tomorrow!
If there is lots of bread making in your future you may want a bread slicer guide to make slicing your loaves that much quicker and easier.
🍽 Storing
Cinnamon Raisin Bread freezes perfectly and stores so well. Just keep in mind that because there aren’t added preservatives, your loaf will not last as long as store bought bread. Which means it is important you store your bread properly.
The first way to ensure each loaf is stored properly is making sure that it has cooled completely before bagging it up. You don't want to trap any excess moisture inside the bag with your loaf.
Room Temperature
If storing the loaves at room temperature they will need to be kept in a cool, dry place for optimized freshness. We love using these reusable airtight plastic bags for storing each loaf.
Refrigerator
If storing your bread in the fridge wrap it first in plastic wrap and then again in aluminum foil. This will help to keep the moisture in and prevent the bread from drying out.
Freezer
If wanting to freeze your Cinnamon Raisin Bread we again suggest wrapping it first in plastic wrap and then in a layer of aluminum foil. This will not only help it stay fresh longer but also help prevent freezer burn.
One suggestion though if freezing your bread is to first pre-slice each loaf. Pre-slicing will make it easier to pull out a single slice of bread at a time.
In general keep in mind that homemade bread is much easier to slice if you are able to wait til the next day when the bread is a little firmer to slice.
📋 FAQ's
Is using fresh yeast really that important?
Yeast is what allows bread to rise. Using fresh yeast in any bread recipe is crucial for soft, fluffy and tender bread. If after the yeast sits for 5 minutes to activate, if it doesn’t become frothy or foamy, your yeast may no longer be active.
Therefore your bread may not rise properly. If the yeast fails you will want to consider purchasing fresh yeast and starting over for the best results.
How do you keep homemade bread from drying out?
No matter how you choose to store your bread you will want to ensure each loaf has had the opportunity to cool completely before bagging it up. After cooling it is important to seal each loaf.
We can do this by wrapping each loaf in plastic wrap and then again in aluminum foil. This will help to keep the moisture in and prevent the bread from drying out in the fridge or freezer.
What is the best way to get even slices in homemade bread?
If there is lots of bread making in your future you may want to invest in a bread slicer guide. When slicing loaves like our 5 Ingredient Bread or this Cinnamon Raisin bread it is much easier to get uniform slices if you wait until the next day when your loaf is a little firmer.
📖 Recipe
Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Start your day with a slice of homemade goodness. With a fluffy center and golden exterior every bite is loaded with sweet cinnamon flavor and juicy plump raisins.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 3½ cups warm water
- ½ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 8 cups bread flour
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 3 cups raisins
Instructions
- Add warm water, honey and yeast to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Stir together briefly.
- Let the yeast mixture sit for 2-4 minutes. Add salt to the bowl and slowly stir in 3 cups of flour one at a time. The mixture will be runny and questionable. (Trust the process.)
- Cover the mixing bowl and put it in a warm, sunny place for 20 minutes till the mixture appears sponge like.
- Put mixing bowl back on the stand mixer with the hook attachment. Add the cinnamon and raisins to the mixing bowl.
- Slowly add the remaining 5 cups of flour to the bowl and mix the dough together. The dough will still be very sticky/tacky. (When the mixture is at the right consistency the dough will start to crawl up the hook engulfing the mixer.)
- Remove the hook and scrape dough from the sides of the bowl. Again cover the bowl and place in a warm spot until dough doubles in size, roughly 1.5 - 2 hours.
- Punch down the dough and allow the dough to rise again for another 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 400° F. Grease two baking pans well with butter.
- Punch down the dough a second time and form into two loaves and place in the prepared bread pans.
- Place the loaf pans on the center rack of the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
- Turn down the oven to 325° F and allow loaves to bake for an additional 40 minutes.
- When nice and golden brown remove the loaves from the oven and slide them out of the loaf pan.
- Cover bread with a light towel and allow to cool completely before storing or slicing.
Notes
Don't miss other helpful tips, recipe variations and storage information found in the full article above.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 370Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 404mgCarbohydrates: 82gFiber: 3gSugar: 26gProtein: 9g
Nutritional information provided is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products used and any changes made to the recipe. If these calculations are important to you, I recommend calculating them for yourself.