Cinnamon raisin bread is studded with plump raisins and swirls of cinnamon and sugar. It’s perfect slathered with salted butter for a quick breakfast!

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What I love about cinnamon raisin bread is that it’s all the flavor of cinnamon rolls with less hassle. Plus, homemade bread is more fun to make, tastes better, and healthier for you than store bought bread. It’s the perfect thing for a snowy, cold, winter afternoon. You won’t be sorry you did.

Homemade bread is also a pretty cheap and easy way to try something new. If it totally flops, you’re only out a few dollars and some time in your day which isn’t too bad for an experiment. If you’re new to bread baking and you want an excellent free email guide on how to make better homemade bread, sign up below and I’ll send it to you!

Tips for Success:

Use instant yeast-you don’t have to proof your yeast and so you don’t risk adding more water than necessary to your dough. Instant yeast is sometimes called “bread machine” yeast. I thought for a long time that meant you could only use it in a bread machine. I was wrong. Make the switch.
Let the dough tell you how much flour to use-I know that sounds crazy, but hear me out. When making your dough, add in your flour 1/2 cup at a time. The dough has enough flour when it’s tacky, like sticky tack, but not sticky. I’ve made this recipe many times and I pretty consistently use 4 1/2 cups for the original dough and another 1/2 cup flour when shaping the dough.
Your dough is cool enough to add the yeast when it feels lukewarm to your touch. We are adding boiling water to this dough to plump the raisins, melt the butter and soften the oatmeal. However, boiling water will kill the yeast. Yeast like about 100 degrees Fahrenheit which is just a little warmer than you.

How long is cinnamon raisin bread good for?

Homemade bread is best the day it’s eaten. Wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or a Ziploc bag, homemade bread stays fresh 3-4 days. After that it starts to get a little bit stale. That’s when it can really benefit from a little time in the toaster oven. Because there are no preservatives, homemade bread will start to mold usually after 5-6 days. You can keep it in the fridge to slow the molding process down and you might get closer to a week.

Because this recipe makes two loaves and homemade bread doesn’t last very long, I typically give away one of my loaves. Everybody loves homemade bread and that way it doesn’t got to waste.

What can I eat with cinnamon raisin bread?

I personally love my cinnamon raisin bread on it’s own, slathered with some salted butter. I think it really shines when accompanied by some scrambled eggs or some hash browns for a nice sweet and salty combination.

It also makes a lovely peanut butter (or sunflower seed butter) sandwich, since the outside is already sweet, you don’t even need any jelly.

Below is a quick video on how I roll my loaf to so that it easily fits into my bread pan but gets all that cinnamon swirl goodness!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 50

Raising Time 2

Servings 2 loaves

Ingredients

For the bread dough

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup raisins
2 cups boiling water
2 tsp instant yeast
4 1/2-5 cups all-purpose flour

For the filling

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 stick melted butter

Instructions

Put the wheat flour, brown sugar, salt, butter, oatmeal, and raisins in a bowl. Pour boiling water over the mixture. Stir until all the butter is melted. At this point I allow the mixture to cool a bit, sometimes adding a cup or so of my bread flour before I add my yeast.
Add yeast and then finish adding the flour. Knead for about 6-8 minutes with your dough hook and longer by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover bowl with a clean lint free towel and allow the bread dough to raise until double.
Once the dough has doubled in size, take it out of the bowl and divide it into two equal parts.
Take the first section of dough and roll it out. I like to use melted butter as the “glue” for my cinnamon/sugar mixture, but I have also used water and it works just as well. Brush melted butter or water over the rolled out dough. Then generously sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture over the dough.
Take the two sides of the dough and fold them in. Then take one end and start rolling. You can use a little melted butter or water to seal the dough to itself when you are finished rolling. Place rolled dough into a greased loaf pan. Repeat the above process with the second portion of dough.
Allow dough to raise until double.
Bake the loaves at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Notes

Notes: I use instant yeast in my recipe. If you choose to use active dry yeast, you will need to proof it in warm water and consequently you will have more liquid in your recipe that I typically do and you will probably need to increase your flour. Also, I find it helpful to place a layer of parchment paper on the bottom of my loaf pans before putting the dough in. I find that even if I have a good seal, frequently some cinnamon and sugar leaks out of the bread and I have a sticky mess on my hands without the parchment paper. I sometimes use an egg wash on top of this bread too. It makes the top nice and brown and shiny. It also will make it burn like crazy if you do not pay attention.

Did you make this recipe? Tag me @bakincareofbusiness on Instagram so I can see what you made!

Happy Baking!