Cinnamon Bread Recipe (Plain or Raisin)

Homemade cinnamon bread is soft and buttery with a sweet swirl of the gooiest cinnamon sugar in every slice. My recipe is topped with more cinnamon and a thick blanket of buttery vanilla glaze to make it extra special.

Be sure to read to the end where I share how to get your bread to rise into the big, soft billowy loaves you love.

Next time try this Mexican Day of the Dead Bread. It's traditionally served the first week of November but the slightly sweet flavor is delicious any time!

Jump to:

• Shopping list
• Why this is better than cinnamon rolls!
• Tips
• FAQs
• Related recipes
• Equipment
• How to get bread to rise
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Shopping list

Let's face it, most bread recipes have the same basic ingredients - I don't think any of these will be a surprise.

• Active dry yeast helps the bread to rise. If you want to use rapid rise you can - just add it to the flour instead of proofing it first.
• Powdered ginger wakes the yeast up and gets it moving. I learned this trick from a cookbook that had been published in the 1800s.
• Sugar gives the yeast something to feed on and is also used in the filling.
• Buttermilk adds an acid that makes the bread soft and light. You'll see that I use it a lot in my bread baking. I've added a note for how to substitute regular milk for the buttermilk.
• Vanilla isn't usually in bread but I add it because it gives the cinnamon bread a sweeter flavor. You can omit it if you like.
• Kosher salt is what I use. If you are using table salt use about ¼ less than the recipe calls for.
• Bread flour is higher in protein that all-purpose flour and the bread rises better and has a nicer crust. You can substitute all-purpose flour but your results may be a little different.
• Baking soda reacts with the acid in the buttermilk to add a little more lift to the rise on this bread. It also helps it from being too tangy. Don't use too much - just a scant ¾ teaspoon. If in doubt use just a ½ teaspoon.
• Butter adds flavor and richness to bread plus it's used to "glue" the filling to the dough before baking AND in the glaze. You can never have too much butter.
• Cinnamon is necessary because it's cinnamon bread! Did you know there are a variety of different kinds of cinnamon that all have different spice levels and cinnamon-y-ness? I use Vietnamese cinnamon but whatever you normally use is fine.
• Confectioner's sugar is used for the glaze. You can omit it if you want.

Why this is better than cinnamon rolls!

I love a good cinnamon roll (especially buttermilk cinnamon rolls!) as much as anyone but...

I have to say that a thickly sliced piece of cinnamon bread, toasted until it's hot with just a little crunch, and then slathered with a copious amount of drippy yellow butter makes me go weak in the knees.

The sweet spiciness, the crunch, the buttery ooze? I don't know -- I just know that I am an addict. Totally can't resist the stuff.

What do you think? Are you team cinnamon bread or team cinnamon roll? Let me know in the comments!

Tips

This is a simple yeast bread - it looks much more difficult than it actually is.

If you've never worked with yeast dough before I suggest reading my complete guide to working with yeast doughs before you start this recipe. It has a ton of information that will make you an experienced baker in no time!

• If you'd like to add raisins to this recipe you can knead ½ cup or so of raisins right into the dough. If you prefer them to be in the cinnamon swirl just sprinkle them on top of the sugar mixture before rolling up the loaf.
• Substitute brown sugar for the white sugar in the filling for a sweeter flavor.
• This is a very similar dough to my "never fail Buttermilk bread recipe". If you follow the instructions it will work - period.
• It's important to roll the bread tightly when you are shaping the loaf. If you roll it too loosely it will separate as you slice it - it'll still be good, though.
• Sometimes the bread and the swirl separate just because life happens. Don't worry about it - it's still delicious and, look at you, you've created bread!
• You can mix an egg yolk and a teaspoon of water and brush it lightly on the dough before adding the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Sometimes that helps the layers stick together better.
• If the crust seems to be browning too fast cover it lightly with aluminum foil.
• You can also make cinnamon rolls out of this recipe, just follow the instructions until you've rolled the dough and cinnamon up. Then cut the loaf into about 8 slices horizontally, let rise, and bake them for about 15 minutes.

FAQs

Here are the questions I am most frequently asked about this recipe.

Do you have to use buttermilk?

It's not hard to find a cinnamon yeast bread recipe on the Internet. There are plenty of them and they are good but when you add buttermilk the texture of the crumb becomes pillowy soft and it just takes the cinnamon swirl bread right over the top. Really, you have to try this!

But if you really need to use regular milk just omit the baking soda and substitute the milk in equal measure for the buttermilk.

What is the best cinnamon?

I really like Vietnamese cinnamon but if you can find Korintje it is really deliciously flavorful.

Can I freeze it?

Yep! Don't glaze it, though. Let it cool to room temperature then wrap it tightly and freeze for up to 3 months. I like to slice it before freezing and add parchment paper between the slices to keep them from sticking together. That way when I want a slice of toast I don't have to thaw the entire loaf.

Related recipes

Once you start making this cinnamon bread you'll be hooked! I love, love, love making bread. Here are some of my family's favorite recipes.

• Basic white bread is perfect for beginning bakers. It's simple, with step by step images, and comes out light and fluffy!
• Sometimes you just need big, fluffy, homemade cinnamon rolls!
• Yeast donuts are easier to make that you might think and they're good with powdered sugar, sugar, glazed, or cinnamon topping!

Equipment

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What’s new? Check out my Restless Chipotle & Co. Store on Amazon where you'll find all kinds of nostalgic goodness!  Thanks so much for being a part of Restless Chipotle!

Learning to bake bread can seem very intimidating and many would-be bakers quit in frustration. My book, Bread Bootcamp: It's Not a Cookbook...It's an Adventure, teaches you to create tall, fluffy loaves of bread using an incremental approach - learning the techniques step by step so that by the end of the book you've mastered it. More importantly, you've had fun doing it!

How to get bread to rise

The one thing that gives people the most trouble is getting bread to rise properly. Usually it's something simple. Here are my favorite ways to get those big, puffly loaves -

• Make sure the dough is in a warm spot (at lest 75F) with no drafts.
• You can put it in a cold oven with a bowl of boiling water on the rack beneath it and leave the light on.
• Check out one of these ingredients that will help your bread rise, too.

Get ready to wow your family! This bread is so good! It makes any day a special one.

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!

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📖 Recipe