This cinnamon-raisin swirl bread is a homemade loaf of awesomeness made with whole wheat and oat flours with brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins swirled throughout. Unspeakably more satisfying than anything you can buy.
This light loaf of cinnamon-raisin swirl bread owes much to the magnificently talented Stella Parks, author of the James Beard Award-winning cookbook, BraveTart. The bread itself pretty much hews to Stella’s, but I went off the rails when with my idealized notion of the cinnamon raisin swirl. We had some fragrant Ceylon cinnamon and freshly bought plump raisins just crying out to make this bread their swan song. Think California raisins with a death wish. What came out bested anything from Pepperidge Farm, my childhood go-to bread. Spread toasted slices of the bread with salted butter, your favorite nut butter, or my all-time favorite: peanut butter and sliced bananas.–David Leite
Cinnamon-Raisin Swirl Bread
Ingredients
Email Grocery List- For the hot water slurry
- For the bread dough
- For the cinnamon-raisin swirl
Directions
*WHAT’S THE BUBBLEGUM TEST?
To take the bubblegum test, also called the windowpane test, slice off a walnut-sized lump of dough and roll it into a ball. With both hands, slowly stretch and rotate the dough in all directions, pulling it into a translucent sheet. Keep stretching! If the dough tears in half, return it to the bowl, knead 5 minutes more, and test again. If the dough forms an irregularly shaped hole, knead 3 minutes more and test again. If it stretches like bubblegum and “pops” a round hole, it’s ready. Clever, yeah? (Photo courtesy PinchMySalt)
Recipe Testers Reviews
I’m not an experienced bread maker and decided I needed to tackle my favorite breakfast bread. I was pretty impressed with my results—a sign of good bread is to eat it “naked.” No butter, no nothing, and it satisfied my every taste bud.
Making the dough was fairly straightforward. I kneaded mine for 23 minutes total until it passed the bubblegum test. I really liked the tip of microwaving the water and placing the dough in with it to rise.
Shaping the dough and rolling it in the cinnamon mixture was a cinch. The loaf didn’t quite crown the pan after 1 hour, but the texture felt good to the touch. Next time I’ll use yeast that doesn’t expire the month I’m using it and will expect more of a rise, but no issues to be found in the end result.
Definitely recommend pouring on ALL the butter, it gives it a nice glisten and touch of butter flavor.
As with all homemade breads, it needs to be used up in a few days and I can attest to its ability to transform in the toaster on the third day into more wonderfulness.
I love baking bread and was attracted to the slightly different method of mixing and diverse ingredients.
The "bubblegum test” was interesting. I had never heard of it before, but could see the variations in stretching and "popping.” I was skeptical, because the dough seemed very sticky, but proceeded.
The bread seemed to be getting too brown after 30 minutes in the oven so I lightly covered it with foil for the remainder of the baking time. I left it for 15 minutes and then took it out and left it on a cooling rack for about 2 hours. It was painful to wait to try a slice--it smelled divine and was a beautiful loaf.
When sliced, the swirl was picture perfect. We toasted 2 slices and spread some butter on each slice. It was very, very good and will be a breakfast to look forward to every day this week. I might try freezing some slices for the future as there are only 2 of us.
The end product was delicious. I'm curious about the malt powder and the roux? We didn’t taste the malt flavor and I'm only guessing that the roux has something to do with the texture? Same for the oat flour and coconut oil? I might like a bit more cinnamon filling and will try it again with a tad more sugar and cinnamon. It was a bit time consuming, but well worth it.
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My kids and I made this but left out the milk powder as we didn’t have it on hand and COVID. It turned out super well and was a sweet indulgence that wasn’t all that indulgent at all! Thank you so much for a cinnamon raisin bread that was super tasty and contains whole grains.
So happy that you found the recipe, Natalie, and were able to make it work without all the necessary ingredients. These are strange times for sure!
Help! Have tried this twice sans the malted milk. Having trouble on the second rise despite microwave technique. Any other suggestions? Not sure why it the second when it all runs out of steam?
MC, do you mean the rise in the pan? Did it rise correctly the first time? Is your yeast fresh? It could be the year is weak and can’t handle two rises.
Yep no issues doubling during the first proof, but the second rise in the loaf pan doesn’t make it to the rim much less over the top. I’m using SAF instant yeast, not expired… I’ve tried extending the second proof time to 3+ hours but no luck. If it’s a yeast issue, any recommendations for what to switch to? Thanks :)
MC, oh, I see. Have you baked the loaf? You will get oven spring (a rise in due to the heat). Also, your pan is probably a bit large.
Have you ever tried freezing it? If so how do you bring it back to life?
I haven’t, Alan, as there’s never much left over! If you carefully wrap it in plastic then in foil and freeze, it will be fine. To revive it, let it sit on the counter until it defrosts.
I measured the ingredients exactlly al listed. My dough was runny to the point of not holding its shape. I added more flour, a lot more flour. Is the dough supposed to be runny? Most recipes add 3 cups flour for each cup liquid. This recipe adds much less dry ingredients for the quantity of liquids. Did anyone else have this problem?
Hello, Dianne. So sorry, you had trouble. I’m not seeing the issue in the recipe. I double-checked all of our sources. If you add the all-purpose flour, wheat flour, oat flour, and malted milk powder, that’s almost 4 cups of dry ingredients to 1 cup of liquid, 1/4 cup sold fat, and the thick slurry. I’ve made this many times, and the dough is pillowy soft. Could have left out of the flours?
I am sure I added all of the flours, not sure what went wrong with the dough. After I added about 1 1/2 cups extra flour the dough came together, but overheated my KitchenAid mixer!!! BUT the bread is DELICIOUS!!! The best bread I have ever made, and it is better than Pepperidge Farm. Thank you for replying to my comment, and thank you for the wonderful recipe. I will make it again, and be very careful about the amounts.
Dianne, I gotta say I am plumb confounded! The dough is really a pillow soft variety (as in the photo in step 12). If you make it again, let me know how it turns out. And send photos–either of a majestically risen load or of a loose mess. I might be able to help.
I wonder what this would be like with chocolate chips instead of raisins!!??
Could be great, Kelly. We didn’t test it that way, though. My one concern is when the loaf cools, the chips would firm up and possibly fall out of the slices.
That looks delicious!
It is, FoffS!