Dutch Oven Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Updated: Dec 4th, 2023 By Bethany Kramer
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The most delicious homemade cinnamon raisin bread baked to perfection in a hot dutch oven! It has a doughy inside with sweet raisins and cinnamon, and a crunchy outer crust.

Cinnamon raisin artisan bread in a pot with brown parchment paper.

There is nothing quite like homemade bread. Especially this perfectly sweet cinnamon raisin bread. It has a light and crunchy crust, with a doughy inside, and it’s of course studded with perfectly sweet raisins. We love toasting this bread with butter or our recommended cinnamon honey butter for complete perfection!

For this recipe, all you’ll need is 1-bowl for mixing, a dutch oven pot, and a little over 30 minutes for the bread to bake. It’s EASY, so so tasty, and freezer-friendly.

Let’s get baking!

How to Make Cinnamon Raisin Bread

  1. 1

    Activate the yeast with warm water.

  2. 2

    Add rest of ingredients and stir until dough is sticky.

  3. 3

    Place the dough on a floured surface then shape with hands into a ball. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a damp towel in a warm place and let rise for 3+ hours or until doubled in size.

  1. 4

    Remove risen dough and use just enough flour on your hands and on the surface to form it into a ball.

  2. 5

    Place on parchment paper then use edges of the paper to lift into the dutch oven. Cover and bake at 450F for 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake until golden brown on top (another 5-10 minutes).

Hands holding a grey napkin with cinnamon raisin bread in it.

Tools You’ll Need

  • Kitchen Aid electric mixer with a dough hook (optional, but recommended)
  • Cast iron pot
Lodge Cast Iron Pot

Our favorite dutch oven pot

We recommend a 6 Qt dutch oven pot for this recipe because it creates high & stable temperatures that are ideal for bread making. We love Lodge cast iron because they are quality cast iron and affordable! We use it with bread making, soups, popcorn, and so much more.

If you click this link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Tips for Success

  • Use your oven to proof the dough: whenever dough needs to rise, it’s best to let it sit in a consistent and controlled climate. I prefer using my oven with the light on (oven settings are off). This creates a consistent temperature while the oven light develops a small amount of warmth to encourage the dough to rise.
  • Freeze it: Let the bread cool and store in a freezer-friendly bag (press all the air out) and freeze for 1-2 months. Let thaw at room temperature and reheat in the oven at 350F until warm.
  • Tips if preheating dutch oven: this recipe doesn’t call for preheating your dutch oven, but if choose to do this I recommend doing a double layer of parchment paper to ensure the bottom of the bread doesn’t get too brown.
  • Easy cinnamon honey butter recipe: Make delicious and slightly sweet honey butter to spread on your homemade bread. You’ll need 1 tsp honey, a pinch of cinnamon, 3 tbsp room temperature butter – mix together in a small bowl and spread on your bread when done. SO good. 

Baking with Yeast

Active dry yeast: You’ll need to take different steps when baking bread with different yeasts. If you have active dry yeast on hand, you will need to activate it in water before adding flour (this step is included in the instructions).

Instant yeast: If you have instant yeast, you can skip dissolving it in water and stir it into your dry ingredients before adding water. Instant yeast has super small granules compared to active dry yeast so it does not need to be activated in water first.

A cinnamon raisin bread cut into two halves.

If you love this cinnamon bread, you might also be a fan of our cranberry walnut bread! Equally as delicious and just as easy to make.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread Recipe

4.87 from 93 votes
The most delicious homemade cinnamon raisin bread! It has a doughy inside with sweet raisins and cinnamon, and a crunchy outer crust. Serve toasted with butter for absolute perfection!
Prep Time 3 hours
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 40 minutes
Serves 10

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Make the dough: In an electric mixer add warm water, sugar, and yeast. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes for yeast to activate tip: sugar feeds yeast so I include it in this process. Add raisins, cinnamon, flour, and salt. Use bread mixing attachment and mix together until dough forms. If dough is too wet or dry, add water/flour 1 Tbsp at a time until right consistency.  
  • Let it rise: Toss dough on lightly floured surface, place in lightly greased bowl. Cover with a damp dish towel and let sit in a warm area for 3+ hours. Dough should be doubled in size. Tip: I like placing my dough in the oven with the light on (oven is off). This helps create a consistent climate for the dough while the light creates a small amount of warmth to help it rise.
  • Preheat oven to 450F.
  • Transfer dough: Place dough on lightly floured surface and form into ball again (keep lightly flouring your hands to prevent sticking). Lay dough on parchment paper, lightly dust paper to prevent sticking, and lift edges of paper to transfer dough into dutch oven.
  • Bake: Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for 5-10 more minutes until golden brown.
  • Let it cool: Remove and let bread cool for 20 minutes before slicing.

Notes

Freeze it: Let the bread cool and store in a freezer-friendly bag (press all the air out) and freeze for 1-2 months. Let thaw at room temperature and reheat in the oven at 350F until warm.
Tips if preheating dutch oven: this recipe doesn’t call for preheating your dutch oven, but if choose to do this I recommend doing a double layer of parchment paper to ensure the bottom of the bread doesn’t get too brown.
Easy cinnamon honey butter recipe: Make a delicious and slightly sweet honey butter to spread on your homemade bread. You’ll need 1 tsp honey, pinch of cinnamon, 3 tbsp room temperature butter – mix together in a small bowl and spread on your bread when done. SO good. 
 
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword cinnamon raisin bread, dutch oven recipe, homemade bread, raisin bread recipe
Freezer Friendly Yes
Author A Simple Palate

Nutrition

Serving: 0g | Calories: 149kcal | Carbohydrates: 31.5g | Protein: 4.1g | Fat: 0.4g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 3.2mg | Potassium: 0mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 2.7g | Vitamin A: 0IU | Vitamin C: 0mg | Calcium: 0mg | Iron: 0mg

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295 Comments

  • sue says:

    4 stars
    I love this recipe and the results probably because I love rustic style breads. the only thing I had trouble with is the bottom cooking too much. Thanks for the tip to use a layer of flour; I am going to try that today and see if it works for me! If not, I just take the bottom off when I slice it before I eat it…I still love it!

    • Bethany Kramer says:

      hi sue! So glad you love the recipe. A tip you can do to prevent the bottom from browning is using 2 layers of parchment paper. That should help it from cooking too fast! Hope this helps.

  • Nancy says:

    4 stars
    Bread tastes yummy but bottom was a bit too brown. Used an enamel Dutch oven which had to be preheated along with the oven. Next time, I might try baking for a few less minutes before browning with the cover off.

    • Bethany Kramer says:

      Hi Nancy! Next time if you preheat the pot, double layer it with parchment paper. It will prevent the bottom from burning!

    • Nancy says:

      5 stars
      I made this again and placed an insulated cookie sheet under the Dutch oven. The bottom of the bread came out perfectly browned. Also added flour to the Dutch oven as suggested.

  • Elizabeth says:

    5 stars
    Love this recipe. I soak the raisins in dark rum over night, drain and add. It is amazing!
    And of course make the cinnamon honey butter to go along with it. My family looks forward to really cold days knowing I will make this bread.

  • Ginny says:

    5 stars
    Made this yesterday to have for breakfast today! It turned out great. I like my raisin bread a tiny bit sweeter and a tiny bit more cinnamony, so after toasting my slices and buttering, I sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon that I keep in my pantry. I was marvelous, and it will take a lot of willpower to not devour the rest today. I did cut and slice half of the loaf for the freezer for future easy breakfasts. Yummy!

    • Bethany Kramer says:

      So happy to hear it! I also very much enjoy this as toast for breakfast. Thank you, Ginny! 🙂

  • Diana Fear says:

    5 stars
    This has been the best Cinnamon Raisin Bread I’ve ever made. I would have given you 10 but no room. Thank you👍

  • John J says:

    Can I let this proof overnight, or up to 24 hours like other no knead recipes?

    • Bethany Kramer says:

      yes! I would place it in the fridge while it rises, this will help the yeast slow down.

  • Dort says:

    Since I don’t have a Dutch oven and don’t want one I made this with about 1/4 cup more flour and maybe a Tablespoon less water and baked it in a 9 by 5 bread pan. Baked it at 360 for about 35-40 min. Let set 15 minutes and turned it out onto a rack to cool. Super good.

  • Chris says:

    This bread is sooo good! Thank you.

  • Arna says:

    5 stars
    I did do a second rising cast iron dutch oven. It seemed to need some more rising (it looked great until I put it in the dutch oven when it sank a bit.) My husband cannot stop eating it. Really delicious. I used craisins since I didn’t have since I didn’t have raisins.

  • Tejal says:

    Has anyone tried to make this gluten free? Any tweaks or adjustments you would recommend?

  • Drew says:

    This bread is a family staple! My husband and son gobble it up in a couple days! My only recommendations would to be have the total salt be 1 tsp and add one more tablespoon of brown sugar. Thank you so much for sharing this!

    • Julie says:

      This is the first yeast bread I ever made. It turned out to be quite the crowd pleaser. My family loved it! One thing I noticed was a slight yeasty taste to the bread. No one else noticed it, but because I am a bread snob, I caught it right away and could not get past it. I used active dry yeast dissolved in warm water along with the sugar. I wondered if it had something to do with that combination. Aside of that, I will make this bread weekly, mildly yeasty flavored or not.

  • Audrey says:

    Do you sift your flour before mixing

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