This super soft sourdough cinnamon swirl bread is so delicious, people won’t believe you made it!

Once you’ve mastered basic sourdough bread, there’s so much more you can do!!! I’ve been experimenting with a ton of sourdough recipes. I’ve found a plethora of different ways to take the same 4 ingredients – flour, water, salt, and sourdough starter, and mix them up in new and exciting ways! One of my favorite takes on sourdough is my simple sourdough sandwich bread. It’s so soft and squishy and it’s such a simple delicious bread recipe! For this sourdough cinnamon swirl bread, I did a variation of that bread and gave it a sweet and cinnamony swirl! It has a soft texture and a delicate tender crumb and I think you’ll love it.

The other thing you’ll love is that you don’t need a dutch oven to make this! Just use simple loaf pans. The only caveat is that you’ll need two pans for every loaf of bread because you set a loaf pan on top to create that steamy environment that sourdough loves.

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Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl Bread Dough Ingredients

I’ve learned that the food you make is only as good as the ingredients you put into them. Because this recipe has so few ingredients, you’ll want to make sure you use good quality ingredients to make it taste its best.

Flour

For this cinnamon swirl bread, I always use King Arthur Bread Flour. I love that it’s got a high protein content, so as you work the dough through sets of stretch and folds, it gives it a super high rise. I’m also a fan of flour that has not been bleached or bromated. Who needs extra chemicals in our food? You can use a regular all purpose flour for this as well, but I do find that the bread flour gives it a better texture overall and helps the dough rise more.

Water

This recipe uses filtered water. You can use tap water, as long as you don’t use it to feed your starter. Long term use of tap water in your sourdough starter can kill it from the additives they put in the water. However, if you can use filtered water, I think it makes the best tasting bread.

If you use warm water to make the sourdough cinnamon bread, it will help the dough rise during bulk fermentation a little faster. However, I usually just use room temperature water from my water filter and it works perfectly.

Salt

For all my sourdough recipes, I love to use Himalayan sea salt. It’s totally not necessary though. I haven’t noticed much of a difference at all if iodized salt is used.

Active Starter

For this recipe, you can either use sourdough discard, or a bubbly and active sourdough starter. In my sourdough discard sandwich bread, I use discard which just takes a little longer to rise because it hasn’t been fed within the last 12 hours. However, with the bubbly and active sourdough starter, it has had a fresh feed, so it’s ready to go and it will go through the bulk fermentation faster.

There’s no commercial yeast in this recipe, which is what makes true sourdough bread recipes. Because traditional sourdough uses a long, slow rise, it gives the yeast time to work, which breaks down the phytic acid, as well as eating some of the sugar and gluten in the flour. That’s what makes it so much better for you! It’s not a quick bread, but it’s well worth it.

Cinnamon

I love the Kirkland Saigon Cinnamon. While I have been using it for years, I didn’t realize how amazing it was. I needed to grab some cinnamon from Aldi in a pinch a couple weeks ago. I was shocked at the difference. Next time, I’ll just wait until I can get to Costco to buy it!

Sugar

The sugar in this sourdough bread is located in two places – first in the swirl of course! But it’s also in the dough. It makes the bread a little bit sweet, gives it a more tender crumb, and helps to feed the yeast so it makes the bread nice and fluffy!

I normally use brown sugar for the cinnamon swirl, but you can absolutely use white sugar too. I think even coconut sugar would still give it the slightly sweet flavor with a little bit of complexity from the low refined coconut sugar.

Butter

The butter in this recipe is also found in the cinnamon swirl. In addition to that, there is a stick of melted butter in the bread. The fat from the butter makes the bread soft and tender. It is such a perfect addition to make this loaf different from your average artisan sourdough. It’s also used on top of the dough when it comes out of the oven and before you let the bread cool, to keep it soft and delicious.

For the butter, I usually just use normal sticks of butter from Costco. I haven’t seen as much of a difference from using something like Kerrygold in the recipe. However, if I slather butter onto a slice, the grass fed milk that makes Kerrygold really does make a difference!

Raisins

This is an optional addition to the sourdough cinnamon swirl bread, but my husband loves it! Adding a handful of sweet raisins right before you roll the bread up is a delicious addition, making an amazing sourdough cinnamon raisin swirl bread.

How to make Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Making the dough for sourdough cinnamon swirl bread

This dough comes together quite quickly. In a large mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients first –

sourdough starter – either sourdough discard, or fed and bubbly active starter. (The discard will take longer to rise but you do need to make sure it has been fed recently in the prior few days. If you grab old starter that’s been in your fridge for weeks, it won’t rise correctly)

filtered water

white sugar

melted butter (in a pinch, avocado oil or olive oil can be substituted)

I use my favorite dough whisk to mix it all together and add the dry ingredients –

salt

bread flour

I can usually use the dough whisk to bring it mostly together and then knead it to work the rest of the flour into the shaggy dough. It looks like the photo below. As you work it through the stretch and folds, the dough will become much more smooth and elastic. Set it in a warm place and cover it with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel.

Stretch and Folds

Every 30 minutes for the first two hours, you’ll do sets of stretch and folds. I usually grab from underneath the dough, stretch it, and fold it over. I turn the dough a 1/4 turn and do it again for a total of 4-8. Then I flip the dough over so the smooth side is up.

Repeat this every 30 min for a total of 4 sets. You’ll see the dough really build tension with each set you do and it will go from a shaggy dough to a smooth dough.

I thought I’d show you pictures after each of the 4 sets of stretch and folds to show what it’s supposed to look like. You’ll see that the dough begins to look different after each set.

Bulk Fermentation

Typically I make the dough first thing in the morning on a day when I’ll be home, or 2 hours before bed. That way I can get the stretch and folds done, and then let it have its first rise all day and shape the loaves in the evening – or overnight and shape the loaves the next morning.

This bulk fermentation is the first time you rise it. It gives it a chance to let the dough rest and allow the wild yeast in the sourdough starter to go to work. During this portion, I tend to favor plastic wrap over the bowl so that it doesn’t dry out overnight. At this point in time, you’ll also want to pull out your butter so it’s nice and warm and ready to use when you shape the loaves.

Shape the sourdough cinnamon swirl bread

The next day, or after it has risen all day, it’s time to shape the sourdough loaves. Dump the dough onto a clean counter and divide it into 3 loaves (or 2 large loaves if you have large loaf pans).

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a long rectangle. I put my pan at the top of the rectangle and make sure the dough rectangle is a little narrower than the length of the pan so once you roll it up it will fit in the pan perfectly.

Slather the warm butter (or brush melted butter) on the dough all the way to the top and bottom but not quite to the sides. This leaves a little area where you can pinch the ends together.

In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar or white sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on top and get it evenly spread out. Alternately, you can do what I usually do and sprinkle the brown sugar on the dough and spread it out, then sprinkle cinnamon on top, as I did in the photo below.

Roll the loaf towards you tightly. Pinch the seams together and the ends and flip it upside down and place into a greased loaf pan so the top of the bread is the smooth side. My very favorite loaf pans are cast iron ones like these, but I regularly use the metal ones (pictured below) that I purchased at an estate sale that work great too! Just make sure they fit together nicely to keep the steam in.

2nd Rise

The second time you rise the bread has options too! First, you can slide the loaf pans into a plastic bag and throw them in the fridge for 1-3 days and cook them when you have time. Then you’ll preheat your oven. Once it’s screaming hot, pull the bread from the fridge, score it, and cover it with a second loaf pan in the oven.

Alternately, you can put them on top of the stove as you preheat it, creating a warm place for the bread to have its second rise. Give it 1-2 hours until it puffs up and then when it rises up close to the rim of the pan, it’s time to bake.

Baking the sourdough cinnamon swirl bread

This sourdough cinnamon swirl bread is so easy to bake. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

When the loaves are risen on top of the stove, or pulled fresh from the refrigerator, score them. Some people use a sharp knife, but I really find that best way is to use a lame. I love the look of a few horizontal slashes across the top.

Pop the other loaf pan on top and put into the screaming hot stove. THIS PART IS VERY IMPORTANT!!! TURN THE OVEN TEMPERATURE DOWN TO 450 DEGREES. If you leave the oven at 500, your bread will be burned. If you feel like you may not remember, just preheat it to 450 degrees. That extra hot oven does give it a boost in the rise and gives it more oven spring, but it’s not worth burning your loaf to do it!

Leave it in the oven for 20 min and then take the top pan off. Cook another 10-25 min until the top is golden brown.

Cool

Now, you very carefully take the hot bread out of the loaf pans and place them on a cooling rack. In a pinch, I have skipped the wire rack step and flipped the pan upside down with the loaf on top of it to cool. That works too. Just be super careful because the hot cinnamon sugar tends to seep out and that stuff BURNS!

Take a cold stick of butter and run it over the top of the bread. This gives it a super soft top and makes it extra yummy! Now the hard part is waiting for it to cool before you cut it! Sourdough continues to bake inside, so you don’t want to cut into it too soon or it will be gummy!

How to serve Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl Bread

There’s so many ways to eat this super soft and slightly sweet bread.

*It’s such a delicious breakfast bread and my favorite way to eat this is freshly sliced and topped with room temperature Kerrygold butter.

*This makes the absolute best french toast, especially if it’s a few days old and you’re trying to use it up. You could also cut it into cubes and let them sit out to get a bit dry and use it for a sweet breakfast bake!

*My husband’s family eats this toasted with butter and peanutbutter. I was horrified the first time I saw them do it and now I’m a convert!!

*It would make the most incredible grilled cheese with brie, apple, and bacon. I just love that sweet and salty vibe!

Can you make Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl Bread in a stand mixer?

Yes, you can make sourdough cinnamon bread in a stand mixer, but I wouldn’t recommend it. When I was first recipe testing, I tried the normal sourdough method with stretch and folds, and another with my Kitchenaid. The one that turned out the absolute best was the hand made one using sets of stretch and folds. The Kitchenaid one wasn’t as great. With that being said, there may be times when you don’t have 2 hours at home and need to run out the door. In that case, I’d use a stand mixer.

If you use this method, put all the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the dough hook attachment set to level 2. When the dough begins to pull together, set a timer for 5 minutes (or as much as 8 minutes if you want to keep going). Once you’re done with the machine kneading,

Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it by hand a few times. Once you reach this step, you can follow the rest of the directions as written.

Can I use this dough to make sourdough cinnamon rolls?

You could! I normally make sourdough cinnamon rolls using my sourdough challah recipe, but I this did make nice cinnamon roll. It just wasn’t quite as soft and tender as the sourdough challah version. However, in a pinch it worked well!

And that’s sourdough cinnamon swirl bread! I hope you love it!

If you try it, would you let me know in the comments?

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