If Taylor Swift is entering her sourdough era, so am I. This Cinnamon Sourdough Bread is everything and more.
The Swifties will love this Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough
Taylor Swift’s revelation of a deep sourdough baking obsession on the New Heights podcast with the Kelce brothers has NEVER felt more AHH?!?!? Surprising? Endearing? Relatable? And when she said, “girl, I’ve been on your blog” – it felt like a warm hug. Taylor, I’ve been to your concerts. Lifechanging!
Anyway!! What I do know is we are giving the girl what she asked for! A sourdough recipe, specifically cinnamon swirl, that makes the best toast with butter and flaky sea salt with a chai latte on a sunday morning or instead, a midnight snack.
As if Taylor didn’t have a community already, she just took hold of a whole new corner of the internet with the art of bread.
My Sourdough ~ Expertise ~
I’m no sourdough expert, but I sure do love it. Author’s note: Sydney, our Director of Ops here @ APOP, IS a sourdough queen. So for the Swifties out there, we need to thank Syd for starting her sourdough journey. Everyone echos: “Thank you, Syd!!!”
This recipe is a straight-forward ode to our girl Taylor. For the rest of the sourdough girlies out there slaving in the kitchen day and night, you’ll love this recipe. For the beginners, good luck : D
If sourdough bread recipes are a bit too intimidating and you’d instead like to try a quick bread, check out my Cinnamon Donut Bread.
Recipe Ingredients
- Sourdough Starter – We want it extra bubbly. See FAQs for getting a starter.
- Bead Flour – I use organic, unbleached. Unbleached is important to not kill the good bacterias in your starter. It’ll make it more resilient and easier to work with.
- Salt – A necessity in basic sourdough!
- Filling – For our cinnamon swirl, we will mix softened butter, brown sugar (or coconut sugar) and cinnamon.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions and Variations
- If you want Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough bread, simply sprinkle plump raisins on top of the cinnamon sugar mixture after you spread it over your bread dough.
How to Make This Recipe
1. Make the dough:
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the active sourdough starter with water and salt until combined.
- Add the flour and mix until a shaggy dough forms.
- Let the dough rest for 1 hour covered with a damp tea towel (autolyse).
2. Bulk fermentation:
- Perform 3 sets of 4 stretch and folds, spaced 30 minutes apart. (stretch and fold is just what it sounds like: Stretch the dough upward, fold in half, then give a quarter turn and repeat).
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 6 hours to overnight for the first rise, depending on room temperature, until doubled in size.
3. Prepare the filling
- In a small bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon until smooth.
4. Laminate and fill
- On a floured work surface, shape the dough into an approximately 8 × 12-inch rectangle, with the longer side closest to you.
- Spread ⅔ of the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly across the surface.
- Fold the bottom third of the rectangle up toward the center, then fold the top third down over it (like a letter).
- Spread the remaining cinnamon-butter mixture over the exposed long rectangle.
5. Shape the loaf
- Roll the dough up tightly, as if making a giant cinnamon roll, to form a large ball of dough.
- Use a gentle push-pull motion to create surface tension and round the ball without tearing the dough (to keep the cinnamon swirl from oozing out the sides of the dough).
- Place seam-side up into a flour-lined proofing basket.
- Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and refrigerate for the second rise. This should be at least 2 hours or overnight for a cold ferment.
6. Score and bake
- 1 hour before baking, place a Dutch oven (with lid) into the oven and preheat to 475°F (245°C).
- Flip dough from the basket onto a piece of parchment paper (seam side down) and rub any excess flour into the top of the dough so it’s in a smooth ball.
- Score deeply with a dough lame (a baking razor blade, but a sharp knife works, too) at an angle to help create an ear.
- Carefully remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven. Transfer the dough (using the parchment) into the pot.
- Place 4–6 ice cubes under the parchment paper and replace the lid.
- Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on at 475°F. Remove the lid and reduce the oven temperature to 400°F. Continue baking for 5–15 minutes, watching closely. If the top is browning too quickly, loosely tent the loaf with aluminum foil. The bread is done when the crust is deeply golden and the internal temperature reaches about 190–200°F.
7. Let the bread cool for at least 1 hour before slicing. Enjoy!
PRO TIPS
There are a hundred baking blogs out there, way more qualified than me to give sourdough tips, but one thing you may not hear elsewhere: I don’t believe in sourdough discard!
No need for all of those discard recipes, you just need to be baking bread every 1-2 weeks. Here is my schedule:
- Start with 75 grams of starter (see FAQs on acquiring a starter).
- Saturday morning: Feed the starter by adding 75 grams water and 75 grams flour and leave on the counter to rise (the result is you ‘active’ starter).
- Saturday mid day: Make dough with 100-150 grams of the now active starter, which leaves you with ~75 grams remaining.
- Place starter back in the fridge until you are ready to bake with it again, next weekend. No ‘extras’ to discard! (if you need to you can push to 2 weeks in the fridge, I’ve never gone beyond this timeframe, but supposedly there are ways to ‘revive’ an inactive starter which I have not tried.)
Recipe FAQs
Honestly, I don’t think fresh sourdough lasts more than 3 days. If your family is anything like mine, however, we’re feral for this bread and it disappears quick enough that ‘freshness’ isn’t a huge concern.
That said, I do have a few storage tips:
-Only slice off what you’re eating in that moment. It’s convenient to slice the whole loaf at once, but more air exposure = faster it dries out.
-Store in a completely airtight container whether that be a large tupperware, freezer bag or bread box. Let it cool COMPLETELY before storing as we don’t want to trap moisture and get a soggy crust.
-Store at room temperature and never in the fridge. It speeds up staling.
Absolutely! Freezing your sourdough cinnamon bread is a great option for longer storage if you won’t be able to finish the loaf right away. I recommend slicing prior to freezing and storing in a large ziplock. Then, you can just grab a slice or two and heat in the toaster or under the broiler with minimal effort.
You don’t! LOL. It’s a lot of work and there are other blogs that’ll help you on that journey, but I have not made my own sourdough starter and I won’t try to tell you how to either.
What you do instead:
– Acquire an active starter from a friend or family member who is on the sourdough grind. It’s likely there’s is nice and strong if they’ve been baking a while! All they’ll need to do is an extra feed to be able to share some with you.
– Ask a local bakery! This is such a hack that not enough people know about. Most bakeries that sell homemade sourdough are willing to give you some of their starter and it’s likely super strong. Just come with your own jar and ask! They will more than likely say yes:)
My thoughts on sourdough tools:
– Kitchen Scale: For sure yes, for the right flour to water ratio. I’ve never been able to get a loaf right using measuring cups.
– Bench Scraper: Helpful for shaping, but for sure not necessary. I typically use my hands.
– Banneton basket: Nice to have but a floured tea towel in a bowl works in a pinch.
– Dough lame: Gives clean scoring, but a sharp knife will do.
– Dutch oven: Need! Or an equivalent like a cast iron with a lid or I use my ceramic Caraway pot with the lid.
Serving suggestions
Enjoy your sourdough cinnamon swirl bread toasted with a slab of butter and flaky sea salt, it makes a delicious breakfast bread. Even a spread of cream cheese is a tasty option Because it goes stale after a few days, it makes FABULOUS French Toast. Try it in my Berry French Toast Bake or as the base for this Churro French Toast.
More Recipes You’ll Love
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Cinnamon Sourdough Bread
Equipment
- Kitchen scale
- Large mixing spoon
- Banneton (bread basket)
- parchment
- Dutch oven or ceramic pot with lid (I use my Caraway pot)
Ingredients
- 150 grams bubbly starter, fed 4-12 hours before mixing dough
- 450 grams bread flour, organic, unbleached
- 280 grams water
- 10 grams salt
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1.5 tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
Make the dough
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the active sourdough starter with water and salt until combined.
- Add the flour and mix until a shaggy dough forms.
- Let the dough rest for 1 hour covered with a damp tea towel (autolyse).
Bulk fermentation
- Perform 3 sets of 4 stretch and folds, spaced 30 minutes apart. (stretch and fold is just what it sounds like: Stretch the dough upward, fold in half, then give a quarter turn and repeat).
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 6 hours to overnight for the first rise, depending on room temperature, until doubled in size.
Prepare the filling
- In a small bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon until smooth.
Laminate and fill
- On a floured work surface, shape the dough into an approximately 8 × 12-inch rectangle, with the longer side closest to you.
- Spread ⅔ of the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly across the surface.
- Fold the bottom third of the rectangle up toward the center, then fold the top third down over it (like a letter).
- Spread the remaining cinnamon-butter mixture over the exposed long rectangle.
Shape the loaf
- Roll the dough up tightly, as if making a giant cinnamon roll, to form a large ball of dough.
- Use a gentle push-pull motion to create surface tension and round the ball without tearing the dough (to keep the cinnamon swirl from oozing out the sides of the dough).
- Place seam-side up into a flour-lined proofing basket.
- Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and refrigerate for the second rise. This should be at least 2 hours or overnight for a cold ferment.
Preheat the oven
- 1 hour before baking, place a Dutch oven (with lid) into the oven and preheat to 475°F (245°C).
Score and bake
- Flip the dough onto a piece of parchment paper and rub any excess flour into the top of the dough so it’s in a smooth ball.
- Score deeply with a dough lame (a baking razor blade, but a sharp knife works, too) at an angle to help create an ear.
- Carefully remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven. Transfer the dough (using the parchment) into the pot.
- Place 4–6 ice cubes under the parchment paper and replace the lid.
- Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on at 475°F. Remove the lid and reduce the oven temperature to 400°F. Continue baking for 5–15 minutes, watching closely. If the top is browning too quickly, loosely tent the loaf with aluminum foil. The bread is done when the crust is deeply golden and the internal temperature reaches about 190–200°F.
Cool
- Let the bread cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
Looking for this in MyFitnessPal?
If you’re using MyFitnessPal, search ‘A Paige Of Positivity’ and find Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough calories and nutrition facts. Disclaimer: for most accurate macronutrients and caloric breakdown, it is recommended that you input each ingredient into your MyFitnessPal food diary.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. It’s my passion to create dishes that can be shared with others. Tell me something you loved or just say hi!
I followed recipe exactly & there was not enough cinnamon or sugar. We don’t like food too sweet but next time I will double both the cinnamon & sugar. I did get a nice swirl by following the instructions, so that worked great! My sourdough is a bit sour so that’s probably why we didn’t think it was sweet enough, so plan accordingly. I also use Ceylon cinnamon so it’s maybe not as bold as commercial types. Thanks for sharing – I’m now following you on FB!
Thank you for the review, Wendy!
I thought the same of my cinnamon loaf. However, I also made another loaf inclusion w peaches and Gouda, fresh rosemary. And you barely could see the peaches. I wonder , where does it all go. Needless to say, the loaf was very tasty and the texture superb!
sounds fabulous, Cindy!
Amazing bread! I flowed the recipe exactly. This is my first ever sour dough loaf! So happy I found this recipe!
congrats on the first loaf! So happy it was a success.
My family loves this bread! We especially love making French toast with it. Off I freeze a loaf, what’s the best way to thaw?
Hey Emily! We prefer to slice and store in a large tupperware or ziplock bag and then freeze so it’s easier to take out individual pieces when you’re ready to enjoy. Just make sure the bread cools completely before freezing to avoid the steam causing freezer burn!
First sourdough loaf I have made – perfect instructions, came out exactly as pictured. took me a total of like 2 days to complete it all though! Others have said there is not enough cinnamon, I think this is a sourdough loaf with a sprinkle of cinnamon. if you are looking for cinnamon sugar toast, def at least double to sugar cinnamon portion.
we’re so glad you loved adeline!! and yes! play with the cinnamon/sugar ratios to preference
I followed your receipe and all was fine except all the butter cinnamon mixture came out of my score ran underneath my loaf and parchment paper and scorched. What did I do wrong?
Hey Cynthia! I’m sorry that happened! The cinnamon-butter mixture can sometimes melt and escape during baking, especially if some of the filling is too close to the edges of the dough or the score cuts into a pocket of filling. Next time, try leaving a small border around the edges when spreading the mixture and make sure the dough is rolled and sealed tightly before shaping. You can also try scoring a little more shallowly so you don’t cut directly into the cinnamon filling. It doesnt hurt to double line your dutch oven with extra parchment paper either incase you do get some run. Hope that helps. We’d love to hear if your next loaf turns out better!
I’m excited to try this recipe! I regularly bake plain sourdough and am curious (and a bit confused) about the ice cubes under the parchment step. Do you place the ice cubes in the Dutch oven under the parchment paper? If so- doesn’t it make the bread soggy? Thanks in advance for your help with this! My kids LOVE cinnamon sugar flavor so I’m excited to make the loaf.
Hi Kacie! The ice cubes in the Dutch oven are to create extra steam, which keeps the bread crust soft so the loaf can expand fully for a better rise. Too many ice cubes and itpools and in that case it would get soggy, but we only use 4-5 and have found this works perfect!
The recipe is great and the flavor was awesome. However, the top burned badly and it didn’t rise like I am used to. Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you so much! I’m glad you loved the flavor! If the top burned, I’d recommend keeping a close eye on it once you remove the Dutch oven lid. The cinnamon-sugar filling can brown quickly, so if the top is getting too dark, you can loosely tent the loaf with foil for the remainder of the bake.
As for the rise, I’d also make sure your starter is very active and bubbly before mixing the dough, and that you’re letting the dough fully double during the bulk fermentation. Sourdough can be especially sensitive to the temperature of your kitchen, so the timing can vary quite a bit.
I’m going to add a note about tenting the bread with foil to the recipe as well — thank you for letting me know!
I am making this as we speak! It sounds yummy for fall. I am thinking about incorporating either raisins or pecans into this. Has anyone else done that with a good turn out?
Hi Vicky! We’ve tried raisins and it worked great (not to mention the most delicious cinnamon raisin bread!). I sprinkled them right on top of the cinnamon mixture. I bet pecans would work also, just be careful when shaping that they don’t pop through the surface of the dough because the cinnamon sugar mixture will leak out and create a sticky mess.
I have only been baking sourdough bread for a couple of months and this was my favorite loaf so far!!! The only change I made was adding more cinnamon after reading the other comments. It is delicious!!!! Thank you for the recipe and great instructions!!
This was the BEST loaf of sour dough (any flavor) that I’ve ever made! So moist, so perfectly cooked, so delicious. I followed the recipe exactly as is and will definitely be making this again. And a lot! ❤️
Everyone says I could sell this bread…it truly is so delicious!!