Cinnamon Raisin Bread (No-Knead Recipe)
Save RecipeHi Bold Bakers!
Since getting my Alfa Pizza wood-burning pizza oven, I have been experimenting with a lot of different homemade bread and doughs. Since Fall is in full swing here in LA (well, it’s still 80F out) I thought why not start baking with some fall flavors and get in the mood for the weather to cool down (from 80F to 72F). I want to show you my recipe for No-Knead Cinnamon Raisin Bread. Although this bread looks like it would be a lot of work, it could not be easier to make. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl by hand and leave for 12 hours. Amateur or professional bakers, this recipe is for everyone!
Bread making is really fascinating to me, espicilaly using the “No Knead” method. It is incredible that you bring your yeast to life by mixing your dough correctly together, then watch as it grows and takes shape. Then you know you did a great job because you have a beautiful loaf of bread at the end.
We have made Pretzels, Cinnamon Rolls and Donuts using this method because I think it yields the best flavors and texture in your bread. And the fact that you mix the dough by hand, and not on a machine makes life easier.
The first job I had in the U.S at 25 was as a morning baker, and by morning I mean 2:00 am. To a 25 year old work and 2:00 am don’t usually go together successfully. It was in South Lake Tahoe, on the border of California and Nevada. In the winter when it would snow, all of the doughs would become sluggish and slow down. They would just lay there heavy with no life in them. I would take them into a warm part of the kitchen and try and get the dough active again. With a little TLC they would come back to life. So, when you are working with doughs just remember that they are like us, they need warmth, water, love and a little sugar to keep us going :).
This was the very first loaf of bread I made in my pizza oven! No lie. I stood there and watched very carefully as it puffed up and the crust started to form. With a wood-burning oven you do have to rotate the loaf but luckily I knew to stand close so one side didn’t get more “tanned” than the other. I’m proud of myself because one thing I have practiced is controlling the heat but also keeping the fire going at the same time. I can safely say I have gotten a lot better. I knew something wasn’t right when I baked a pizza in 90 seconds (a delicious pizza I might add).
When you slice the bread you can see your handy work. All of those bubbles, texture and crumb were created simply by the fermetation process. It is the gases that form in the dough. Just think about the little work you had to do to get this artisanal loaf of bread, it’s crazy! I have never been able to achieve this on a machine and that’s why I am an advocate for the No-Knead technique. No loaf is the same, which is the beauty of it.
HOMEMADE FLAVORED BUTTERS FOR YOUR BREAD!
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp active dry yeast
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1½ tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 cup (120g) raisins
- 3/4 cup (188g) milk
- 3/4 cup (188g) water
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In a large bowl whisk together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, raisins, and cinnamon.
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Pour in the milk and water, and stir it in with a wooden spoon until your dough forms a ball.
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Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave on the counter for over about 12-15 hours (no less than 12 hours, it needs this time to grow)
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After this time you will see your dough is sticky, boozy and has at least doubled in size.
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Scrape your dough out of the bowl and onto a floured surface and fold it two times on itself, kind of like a book
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Roll your dough into a round ball or ‘boule’ getting it nice and smooth on the bottom
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Let rise for 1 hours at room temperature covered with a floured tea towel. It might take longer than an hour. It will rise and grow, and also spread out a little too
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Score the top of the bread with a sharp knife.
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Bake in a HOT oven at 400oF (200oC) for 45/50 minutes. To get a crispy, thick crust KEEP THE OVEN DOOR CLOSED DURING BAKING, please.
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Let cool completely before devouring.
Don't open the door while baking
Any left over bread, slice and freeze. Then toast it and have with butter, heaven!
Meet Gemma
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I’m new to no knead bread, but I have noticed that most are baked on parchment paper in a Dutch oven that has been preheated at 450°F.
Your recipe does not call for preheating the baking tray or a Dutch oven while oven is heating and the temperature is lower at 400°F. Is there a reason for this? I did notice that you said a Dutch Oven could be used. Would you suggest preheating it with the oven? Will the temperature be higher with a Dutch oven?
Thanks for your help, Pamela
Hi Pamela,
So I don’t use a dutch oven so my temps are a little different. You can use one and you can follow the directions for using one.
The extra heat is just compensating for keeping the dutch oven hot during baking and giving you golden bread without being exposed to the direct heat.
Best,
Gemma.
Can I substitute the regular flour for Gluten Free All-purpose flour instead? Can use the keto bread recipe due to nut allergy.
Hi Connie. Yes you can substitute regular flour with gluten-free flour. But know that there’s likely going to be a difference in texture.
This is a lovely bread! Thank you!
What is the purpose of the bench rest after folding and shaping?
My bread spreads easily after the folding and shaping into a ball.
Thank you!
The purpose of the bench rest is to relax the gluten after its workout during rounding. It will be easier to handle during final shaping. It maximizes the surface tension of the dough. When slashed and baked, the dough will spring up instead of out. I hope this helps.
I have been reading all the reviews and can’t wait to try this. Am I correct that this will make two regular loaf pans and the baking time remains as the recipe states? Do I allow the dough to rise above the rim of the pan? I would also like to make buns with this recipe. About how many dinner sized buns would I expect to get and how long would they bake if formed separately on a sheet pan? I’m also wondering about shaping them and baking all together as pull apart dinner rolls in a 9×13 pan. I do a lot of baking for fundraisers and I think this recipe is going to be a real keeper. Thanks for all your follow up to all the comments and questions.
Hi. My recipe has a yield of one loaf. I am not sure what you mean by regular pans in terms of measurement. You can allow the dough to rise a bit above the rim of the pan. As to yield in terms of buns, I would say anywhere between 10 pieces to a dozen. I hope this helps.
Hi Gemma,
Love from Kenya! I’ve been following you for the past 3 years and I’ve tried a couple of your recipes and all came out great. I tried this cinnamon raisin bread and lets just say that my family said they won’t eat the store bought bread ever again. Thank you so much for your endless teachings and your love for sharing.
A request to kindly share a rich fruit cake recipe, preparation from soaking fruits to the end product as we are approaching the Christmas season.
May you be blessed always.
Hi! Here’s a family favorite in our home; my Aunty Rosaleen’s Irish Christmas Cake https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/irish-christmas-cake/. I hope you’ll love it as much as we do. Let me know how you get on.
The initial dough from this recipe is so versatile. This time I substituted the ground cinnamon with 2 Tbsp of matcha powder and the raisins with 3/4 cup of store bought adzuki bean mochi. Everything was great as always beside that the mochi didn’t stay cubes and they all melted in. I need to figure this out and should adjust the sugar if mochi is too sweet.
Feel better Gem!
Thank you Rachel. I am feeling much better today. Thanks for this input. It’s interesting to know what other flavor combinations you will come up with. Keep me posted.
Hi Gemma. This is something that I’ll miss a lot of I don’t make it up to every two weeks. I couldn’t find big raisins as good as Chinese ones so I used dried unsweetened prunes. Still tastes great! As you know, my husband hates stuff like raisins. Every time he was surprised how awesome this bread is! Thank you so much for making professional artisan bread possible and easy at home!
Yes I bet prunes would work well. This is one of my favorites Rachel AND if you leave out the cinnamon, raisins and sugar it is an amazing plain white bread that you can add sweet or savory ingredients too.
I actually made it yesterday and added black olives.
Gemma 🙂
Wow. You read my mind! I was going to ask you about this. Kinda want to try to substitute cinnamon with cocoa powder with dark chocolate chips instead of raisins. Do I need to add more liquid? Thanks!
Haha! Rachel, you are turning into a food scientist!
It is worth a shot for sure. For this mix, I think I would sieve in 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa with some of the flour and mix it through.
Cocoa is a bit like cornstarch, not really absorbent. You probably will not need to adjust the water or the time. To get the chips to stay where they are put it may be better to prove the initial dough, the stretch it out, scatter the chips on the surface of this and fold it or roll it before returning it to the pan for second proofing. That will work well I think, go for it Rachel, you can do it!
Gemma <3
Hi Gemma. I tried the chocolate version. Did what you’d said with 3/4 cup of dark chocolate chips instead of raisins. 20 hours of fermentation since it wasn’t hot at night and a bit more than one hour of proofing. You won’t believe how delicious it is unless you take a slice! Thin and crispy crust with soft spongy inside, full of gluten strands. Somehow the cocoa powder really proved the initial dough. It’s bittersweet and totally light up my day! Big mahalo! Seriously, make one!
Hi, I tried this recipe and it was a success! My husband loved it! I was just thinking if is it ok if I substitute the all purpose flour to almond flour instead?
Really glad you like this recipe. I made it myself just yesterday.
I would be a bit worried about subbing the flour for almond flour in this recipe and I would not be sure what kind of results you would get.
Maybe you might like this bread https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/keto-bread-best/
Best,
Gemma.
Every time it’s getting better. I baked it on my non preheated cast iron pizza pan this time at 380F for 55 minutes. The crust is thinner and crunchy with soft bubbly inside. Thank you!
Thats great to hear! You know I keep forgetting about this bread and I need to make it because I love it.
Best,
Gemma.
This was absolutely fantastic. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Several modifications this time. My oven runs high so I lowered the temperature by 10F and baked 7minutes more. Tried brown sugar. Just so amazing! The crust is thinner but still thick and nice crunchy. The inside is so soft . Heaven heaven heaven! Right out of the oven, 1/4 is gone !
Hi there,
I love this recipe too, I am delighted you got this to your taste. Well done, persistence is everything!
The problem with baking your own bread is that it is impossible to resist it straight from the oven! Bread is a joy, for sure,
Gemma 🙂
You know what, my husband hates raisins. But he said this bread tastes good even without butter! Thank you !
Hi Rachel,
I am really delighted to hear this, thank you for letting us know. It is great bread, we love it here too.
He may like dried cranberries! that would be good too, and sultanas are also nice, but maybe too much like raisins for that boy!
Thank you for this lovely review,
Gemma 🙂
My favorite favorite! Slices of heaven! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Rachel,
I know, really is a big bang for the effort! we love this here too. Thank you for the kind review,
Gemma 🙂
Cinnamon raisin no knead bread is FABULOUS!!!! Will be a keeper for sure!
What do you think of using whole wheat flour (either half and half or entirely)?
Hi Paula! Whole wheat flour is brown flour, containing the germ and bran of the wheat, and that is a different thing. See this recipe where I use both (https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/whole-wheat-bread-recipe-no-knead/).
You can do 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 white but I will warn you that you might not get the same results. It can tend to be very heavy.
I hope this is of help,
Gemma 🙂
Can you use a different substitute for milk? Or is it needed for a baking reaction? We have a dairy allergy 😭
Hi Ana,
you can use any milk you like in this recipe. I hope your family will enjoy it,
Gemma 🙂
Can you sub the A.P. flour for white whole wheat?
Hi Sana,
The flour I use in most recipes is All-purpose flour, which is also known as plain wheat flour. It is white flour.
Whole wheat flour is brown flour, containing the germ and bran of the wheat, and that is a different thing. See this recipe where I use both (https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/whole-wheat-bread-recipe-no-knead/).
I hope this is of help,
Gemma 🙂
This was a wonderful recipe as written to get me started on the magic of no knead bread! As I’ve continued to experiment very the last couple of years with bread making, I’ve started working a with a sourdough starter. This bread is perfect to play learn with as the sugar/milk/slow ferment give you lots of food for your starter to work with. After a couple of false starts (my starter wasn’t mature enough), I found this recipe works fantastic with 100-120g or so of happy 100% hydration (50% flour and water) starter in place of the dry active yeast. Don’t be worried about adjusting for the flour or liquid in the starter. I keep all quantities the same but use a half and half mix of dark rye and whole wheat in place of 1C if AP flour, then give it an extra 12 hours in the fridge after the initial overnight room temp rise, with a couple of rough stretch-and-folds mixed in. No knead gives you such freedom and is so forgiving! Time and patience are your friends! I highly recommend some subbing 1Tb of regular cinnamon (Cassia) for Ceylon Cinnamon. The flour and cinnamon blends just add so much depth of flavor. ….blackstrap molasses …You’re up next!! Thank you, Gemma for making such informative, useful, and FLEXIBLE recipes! I didn’t know I loved baking until the interwebs pushed me here. Good luck, everyone!
Hi there,
many thanks for this wonderful input. There is no doubt that you bold baking boys tend to take a different, may I say, scientific, approach to baking. I love it!
Your starter sounds perfect, and you are right, you will not need to adjust for the extra water in this, this is a little like how a Tanzhong works! Now I challenge you to look that one up 😉
I am going to try your way now and keep this suggestion in my notes. I do hope other bold bakers take heart from this too, I really appreciate your taking the trouble to let us all know,
Gemma 🙂
Oooooo…interesting! Sounds like I’m going to have to try some Hokkaido rolls next! Thank you, Gemma!
Hi there,
many thanks for this wonderful input. There is no doubt that you bold baking boys tend to take a different, may I say, scientific, approach to baking. I love it!
Your starter sounds perfect, and you are right, you will not need to adjust for the extra water in this, this is a little like a Tanzhong works! Now I challenge you to look that one up 😉
I am going to try your way now and keep this suggestion in my notes. I do hope other bold bakers take heart from this too, I really appreciate your taking the trouble to let us all know,
Gemma 🙂
I make this often using cranberries. I have a daughter who is lactose intolerant and am wondering what to substitute for the milk.
Hi Trudy,
I would use coconut milk, which is high in fat and will enrich the dough or almond milk for much the same reason. The coconut milk is easy to have on hand. Dried coconut milk is available too, and this also is a good store cupboard ingredient, lots of options for your daughter.
I hope this is of help,
Gemma 🙂
Can I use aluminum foil instead of parchment?
Hi Andy,
you can butter/oil the pan, scatter on a little flour, shake to distribute, and there you are. I sometimes refrigerate the pan to set this up, works well for fine sponges etc.
I hope this is of help,
Gemma 🙂
What type of raisins to use in this recipe
Hi Andy,
I use Californian seedless raisins, as I am here in California. Generally this is a dark raisin, but really you can use what you find available to you. golden raisins will be good too. Try to get good quality, not over shrunken, as these wil lhave the best flavor and stay moist in the bake.
Hi Gemma,
Love the no-knead recipes!! Just wanted to know that if I’m making the no-knead dough in a really humid and hot environment (from India here) could I still keep the dough to “ferment” for 12-15 hours or would I need to put in the fridge? Also I only have access to instant dried yeast, would I need to change the proportion used?
Hi, if you’re using fresh yeast you can use the same amount. If you are in a warmer climate i would not suggest putting the dough in the fridge but just maybe cut the ferment time down.
Hi Gemma. Love the recipe. Have you ever made a cinnamon chip bread? I’m looking for a recipe for making the cinnamon chips, as the store bought ones have unhealthy ingredients.
Hi Dan,
This should be easy to do at home, leave it with me. I am thinking butter/sugar/cinnamon and something to bind it, like honey/agave/maple syrup. I have it on my list, thank you,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma,
What if I skip the cinnamon and raisin, what would the result be?
Astor
Astor, I love the way you think.
This makes an amazing white loaf of bread if you leave out those ingredients. I do it all the time.
Let me know how you like it.
Best,
Gemma.
Hi Gemma,
Great, I would try it this way.
By the way, if I skip the raisin and cinnamon, other ingredient remain the same?
Can’t wait to try it.
Astor
Hi yes, you can leave those out if you dont care for them. Enjoy!
Gemma: This bread looks amazing except for one thing…I’m allergic to raisins! Can I still make the bread without raisins and have it be Cinnamon Bread? Would like to add a swirl of cinnamon too…is this all possible?
Hi Karen,
Sure you can, I have never heard of anyone being allergic to raisins before! I hope this does not mean you are allergic to grapes, and the resultant wine!
Try dried cranberries, with a little orange zest, that would be spectacular too. dried apricots too, with almond slivers, or, candied peel, lots of options, but try this one, it is really good.
Hope all well,
Gemma <3
Hi Gemma:
Unfortunately grapes and wine are taboo for me. Instead of raisins I used my favorite….chopped dates and put it in a loaf pan so I’d be able to slice it for the toaster. Toasted and a small schmear of cream cheese. Divine. Do you have a quick, easy and cute way to decorate a cake for a baby shower? I was thinking pastel butterflies but do I need more baby things like booties and how would you make them? Karen
I sure do, they these guys :
Best,
Gemma.
Do you cook in a Dutch oven or a flat cooking sheet on parchment paper?
I do this on a baking tray with parchment however if you have done the dutch oven before you can absolutly do that method also.
Best,
Gemma.