This sourdough cinnamon swirl bread is so pillowy and perfectly sweet, you’re going to love it. I created this recipe for my brother who is learning sourdough right now. He had quite a sweet tooth last month and needed a simple, beginner friendly recipe to satisfy all the cinnamon roll cravings. This is the one to be sure! Be sure to check out below the recipe for tips, tricks, serving suggestions and a video tutorial!

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A note on sourdough starter: be sure you have an active, bubbly starter before you bake! You can read more about how to achieve this below

Sourdough Starter Tips

Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl Bread Recipe

Print Recipe

Course Sourdough

Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

resting and rising time 15 hours hrs

Total Time 16 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 300 g milk room temp is ideal!
• 150 g active sourdough starter
• 5 TBSP honey
• 450 g organic all purpose flour
• 10 g salt
• 3 TBSP barely melted butter

Cinnamon Sugar Filling

• 2 TBSP melted butter
• 4 TBSP cinnamon
• 4 TBSP sugar

Instructions

The day before you want to bake

• Start by mixing milk, active sourdough starter, honey, and flour until just combined
  300 g milk, 150 g active sourdough starter, 5 TBSP honey, 450 g organic
• Cover and rest the dough for 30 minutes to 1 hour
• Add salt and barely melted butter, knead until the dough is uniform and smooth
  10 g salt, 3 TBSP barely melted butter
• Perform stretch and folds on this dough every 15-30 minutes over the course of the next few hours. Be sure to always keep the dough covered while resting.
• Rise overnight at room temp or for 8-10 hours

Bake Day

• Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured work surface
• Gently stretch the dough until it creates a large rectangle. Don’t roll or press the dough too much here
• While the dough rests for a few minutes, melt the butter and mix only the cinnamon and sugar together
  2 TBSP melted butter, 4 TBSP cinnamon, 4 TBSP sugar
• Brush a little bit of that melted butter to coat the inside of the loaf pan (including sides)
• Brush the surface of the dough with the rest of the melted butter then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture even over the butter layer
• To shape, you can either roll up the dough into a log and then roll that roll into a sort of coil, or you can fold the rectangle in 3rds over itself and then loosely roll (more of a lamination technique) See shaping notes below for more tips on this!!
• Place in your prepared loaf pan and rise again until it’s almost doubled and very puffy (2-3 hours)
• Bake at 425 for 30 minutes covered, then uncover and bake for 10-15 more
• Brush with butter as soon as it comes out of the oven for an even softer crust
• I like to rest it in the pan for a few minutes before cooling on a wire rack
• Try to wait at least one hour before slicing and enjoying!

Sample Baker’s schedule:

• 5pm: mix and autolyse dough
• 5:45: add butter and salt
• 6-9 Stretch and folds over the course of the evening
• 9pm–7am rise overnight 
• 7am: shape 
• 10am: bake
• 11am slice and enjoy

Tips for shaping sourdough cinnamon Swirl Bread

As I mention in the recipe, you can roll up or fold the dough easily with great results. My main tips are:

• Don’t use a rolling pin, this can seriously deflate the dough
• Have your pan prepped before you shape 
• Watch my video tutorial for this recipe!
• I don’t focus on a perfect spiral swirl, I’d rather have cinnamon sugar distributed throughout the dough. This takes a lot of pressure off in the shaping process too!
• If you want to prep this dough ahead of time, you can store in the fridge after shaping for a day or two. Rise at room temp for a few hours before baking! This schedule works great for a night bake, leaving you with fresh sourdough cinnamon swirl bread for the next morning!

Serving sourdough cinnamon Swirl Bread

When this loaf is baked fresh, I’m eating it as a snack with a little cinnamon honey butter, as french toast, with a nut butter or chocolate spread for dessert, you name it! 

Whipped cinnamon honey butter:

1. Whip up softened butter with a stand or hand mixer
2. Continue whipping and add cinnamon and honey to taste

This doesn’t last long, so I will store it on the counter and slather it on everything!