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.
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
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1
Activate the yeast with warm water.
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2
Add rest of ingredients and stir until dough is sticky.
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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.
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4
Remove risen dough and use just enough flour on your hands and on the surface to form it into a ball.
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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).
Tools You’ll Need
- Kitchen Aid electric mixer with a dough hook (optional, but recommended)
- 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.
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
Ingredients
- 3 cups (360 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup raisins
- 2 tsp cinnamon
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.
Absolutely delicious!
The bottom of the bread is burnt or black because of too much flour on the bottom of the Dutch oven. The same thing happens when making wood fired pizza
I used a few extra raisins and a little more cinnamon. A little extra flour (a tablespoon at a time). Also had to use my convection setting on my micro/convection oven since my regular oven was in use. The highest setting on this appliance is 425 so that is what I used. Turned out perfectly and cannot get enough of it. Will definitely be making it again! I think it would be great with cream cheese. The parchment paper is a brilliant idea! Cannot wait to try the craisian walnut recipe!
I’ve made this wonderful bread recipe over and over and over with success every single time. Highly recommend! Make sure your water is less than 110 degrees F and above 101 degrees F to activate the yeast and not kill it.
I made this recipe twice and cooked it per your directions it was under baked. How much more time should I bake the bread?
Check the internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer. It should be ~205℉. Get used to using a good instant-read thermometer such as the ThermoWorks ONE. You’ll never over- or under-cook anything again. It’s cheap insurance and will change your cooking forever. Food it too expensive to be throwing it away.
Best Cinnamon Rain Bread I have ever made or eaten. Awesome recipe and thanks so much for sharing it with everyone. Can not wait to try other simple recipes of yours. Great job!
It took way longer to cook than what the recipe said. So I think it got flat from my taking the lid off. Won’t be making this again
Hi there I’m new to baking bread, how “loose” is the dough supposed to be ? It’s quite wet and there’s no form. Just a blob. Should I add more flour or will that dry it out ?
I prefer to use honey vs brown sugar. Would you recommend 3T of honey or a different amount?
Using honey would be a 1 to 1 ratio as brown sugar. 🙂
Made this for my hubby and was amazed at how easy it was!! I plumped the raisins before and add more cinnamon than called for and it came out perfectly. No burning on the bottom, and I even used a regular pot with a bake sheet on top instead of a Dutch oven!
Yay! Thanks, Alexandra! Love to hear it. 🙂
Hi! So I just tried this, my first time baking bread too, and I’m not sure what I did wrong. The inside is different colors, like some of it looks almost wet or denser, but the outside is way crispy and perfect. Is there something I’m doing wrong that I’m just not realizing?
Hi Mikaela! I’m sorry the bread didn’t turn out. That’s usually not the case! Since I’m not able to see it, it’s always hard to diagnose the precise problem. Was the bread ingredients mixed properly? And did you let the bread cool for the full 20 minutes after baking? This step usually helps the bread bake fully while it sits and rests.
This was excellent and so easy! I like that I didn’t have to let it sit for 12 hours before baking. Definitely a keeper!
Really happy you enjoyed it! Thanks so much, Michelle 🙂