This homemade cinnamon swirl bread recipe is a family favorite and requires only a handful of basic ingredients (just 8!). It’s soft and tender with the most unbelievably gooey cinnamon swirl inside. Each yeasted bread slice tastes fabulous on its own, but try it toasted with some honey butter… unbelievable! For a no-yeast version, see my cinnamon swirl quick bread.
I originally published this recipe in 2015 and have since added new photos and made a few changes to the recipe steps, which are outlined in the post below.
Homemade cinnamon swirl bread is one of life’s greatest treasures. Hot & fresh out of the oven, the smell alone will captivate a large crowd. The bread is buttery soft and the hypnotizing swirls are deliciously sweet. This recipe is basically a simplified version of my cinnamon crunch bread.
You know I love a good cinnamon sugar swirl (I mean, have you tried this cinnamon swirl banana bread??) But honestly, there is nothing on earth quite like the craft of homemade yeast bread. Isn’t it so satisfying? That’s why I have so many homemade yeast bread recipes on this website. Everyone’s favorite!
One reader, Michelle, commented: “One of the best recipes for cinnamon swirl out there. The bread is fluffy like you would find in a bakery and it has just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar, without being too gooey. We made our first loaf last night and by morning it was gone, so we have to make a second loaf. ★★★★★”
Baking with Yeast Guide
Are you a yeasted bread beginner? Reference this Baking with Yeast Guide whenever you work with baker’s yeast. I include practical answers to all of your common yeast questions.
Updated & Improved Cinnamon Swirl Bread Recipe
This recipe has seen some updates over the past decade, and I want to show a quick comparison photo. When I first published this recipe, I shaped the dough into a thick square and rolled it up. This gave me very little swirl inside the baked bread. Now I roll it out into a thinner 8×20-inch rectangle. I brush the rolled-out dough with egg white, and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top. The egg white helps the cinnamon sugar stick, and helps prevent large air gaps in the baked bread.
This method produces more swirls in each slice. The loaf also rises taller as it bakes. I still can’t believe the BIG difference these SMALL changes make. Look at the slices:
How to Make Yeasted Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Today I’m teaching you how to become a bread-baking professional (well, close to it!). This recipe is very similar to my sandwich bread recipe, but it’s a little sweeter. Follow my tips and soon you’ll bake homemade croissants or croissant bread, homemade bagels, cheese bread, and even star bread. With only a handful of basic ingredients, your kitchen will transform into a bread bakery!
- Prepare the Dough: The first step is to mix the bread dough. You need yeast, sugar, water, milk, butter, bread flour, and salt. The thing about homemade bread is that the ingredients are SO basic, but throw the word “yeast” in there and many feel intimidated. I promise it’s not difficult to throw this dough together. As long as you give the yeast, sugar, water, and milk a few minutes to sit before adding the other ingredients, you’re on the right track!
- Use Bread Flour: All-purpose flour doesn’t have enough strength to support the rise and structure of cinnamon swirl bread. Bread flour is sold right next to the all-purpose flour in the baking aisle, and if you need some recipe inspiration for your leftover bread flour, try any of these recipes.
- Knead the Dough: Do you know how to do this? If not, I have an entire tutorial and video for How to Knead Dough.
- First Rise: The dough must rise twice. After you knead the dough, let it rise until doubled in size.
- Swirl the Dough: After the dough rises, punch it down, then roll it out. Brush with egg white, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and roll back up.
- Second Rise: Place the rolled dough into a loaf pan and let it rise for 1 more hour.
- Bake: Pat yourself on the back because—congratulations!—you’re a bread baker with the simplest yet tastiest homemade cinnamon bread recipe in the world.
These Step-by-Step Photos Will Help:
These are the ingredients you need:
Here is the dough after kneading:
Let the kneaded dough rise until doubled in size, like this:
Punch it down to release the air, and roll it out into an 8×20-inch rectangle:
Using a pastry brush, brush the surface with a beaten egg white. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top:
Roll it up into a 9-inch log, place into a loaf pan, and let it rise once again. Here is the dough before and after this 2nd rise:
Before baking, lightly brush the top of the loaf with melted butter.
The bread takes about 40 minutes in the oven. Use an instant-read thermometer to check the internal temperature of the baked bread. This guarantees you won’t under-bake or over-bake the bread. The bread is done when the center is 195–200°F (90–93°C). An instant-read thermometer is an incredibly helpful bread-baking tool; you can also use it at the very beginning of the bread-making process to check the liquids are warmed to the right temperature to activate the yeast.
Gaps can form between the dough and cinnamon swirl in your homemade cinnamon swirl bread. It’s happened to me plenty of times! It’s the moistened dough separating from the dry cinnamon-sugar mixture as it bakes. To help prevent this, make sure you are brushing the dough with egg white before adding the cinnamon sugar. Additionally, you can use a toothpick or thin skewer to poke 3 holes in the top of the risen loaf right before baking; this will help steam escape.
I still can’t decide which is best: the smell of homemade cinnamon swirl bread baking, the buttery and fluffy interior, or the hypnotizing, gooey, sticky, delectable cinnamon swirl.
Try it with a swipe of homemade honey butter or cinnamon butter. And, you’ll definitely want to use this bread to level up your French toast game, especially if you use it for apple cider French toast!
Become a Bread Baker with My Approachable Recipes:
- Homemade Bread Bowls
- Multigrain Bread (so soft!)
- Whole Wheat Bread
- Soft Pretzels & Soft Pretzel Rolls
- Homemade Breadsticks
- Dinner Rolls
- No-Knead Honey Oat Bread
- Homemade Pizza Dough
- Homemade Flatbread Pizza
- Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
Here are all of my bread recipes and video tutorials.
Homemade Cinnamon Swirl Bread
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This homemade cinnamon swirl bread recipe is a family favorite and only requires a handful of basic ingredients. It’s soft and fluffy with the most unbelievably gooey cinnamon swirl inside! See recipe Notes for freezing and overnight instructions. You can also reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (120ml) water, warmed to about 110°F (43°C)
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk, warmed to about 110°F (43°C)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) instant or active dry yeast (1 standard packet)*
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar, divided
- 4 Tablespoons (1/4 cup; 56g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and cut in 4 pieces
- 3 cups (390g) bread flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the Swirl & Topping
- 1 egg white, beaten
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm water, warm milk, yeast, and 2 Tablespoons of sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Loosely cover and allow to sit for 5–10 minutes until foamy and frothy on top. *If you do not own a stand mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula is a better choice.*
- Add the remaining sugar, the butter, 1 cup flour (about 130g), and the salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, then add another cup of flour. Beat on medium speed until relatively incorporated (there may still be chunks of butter). Add the remaining flour and beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. If the dough seems too wet to a point where kneading (next step) would be impossible, beat in more flour 1 Tablespoon at a time until you have a workable dough. Dough should be soft and a little tacky, but still manageable to knead with lightly floured hands.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 8–10 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 8–10 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need; you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading.
- 1st Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 1.5-2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter. Takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan. (I usually use this one or this one.)
- For the swirl: In a small bowl, whisk 1/4 cup (50g) sugar and the cinnamon together.
- Shape the dough: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Lightly flour a work surface, your hands, and a rolling pin. Roll the dough out into a large 8×20 inch rectangle. It does not have to be perfect—in fact, it will probably be rounded on the edges. That’s ok! Using a pastry brush, brush the surface with beaten egg white, then sprinkle on the cinnamon-sugar, leaving a 1-inch border uncovered. Roll it up into an 8-inch log. Place the loaf, seam-side down, into the prepared loaf pan. If any cinnamon-sugar filling spilled out of the sides, don’t waste it! Sprinkle it on top of the bread in the loaf pan.
- 2nd Rise: Cover the shaped loaf and allow to rise for 1 hour, or until it’s about 1 inch above the top of the loaf pan.
- Adjust oven rack to a lower position and preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). (It’s best to bake the bread towards the bottom of the oven so the top doesn’t burn.)
- After the dough rises, melt the remaining 1 Tablespoon of butter. Lightly brush the melted butter on top of the shaped loaf before baking. Bake for 35–45 minutes, or until golden brown. Check on the bread about halfway through baking—if the top of the loaf is browning too quickly, tent with aluminum foil. To test for doneness, if you gently tap on the loaf, it should sound hollow. For a more accurate test, the bread is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf registers 195–200°F (90–93°C).
- Remove from the oven and allow bread to cool for a few minutes in the pan on a cooling rack. Remove loaf from the pan and cool it directly on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes before slicing. Feel free to let it cool completely before slicing, too.
- Cover leftover bread tightly and store at room temperature for 6 days or in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
Notes
- Overnight Instructions: Prepare the dough through most of step 4, allowing the dough to rise overnight in the refrigerator instead of in a warm environment. The slow rise gives the bread wonderful flavor! In the morning, let the dough sit on the counter until it comes to room temperature, then continue with step 5. I don’t recommend shaping the bread the night before as it will puff up too much overnight.
- Freezing Instructions: Baked bread freezes wonderfully! Wrap the loaf in plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then warm to your liking. You can also freeze the bread dough. After punching down the dough in step 7, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature. Once at room temperature, punch the dough down again to release any air bubbles. Continue with the rest of step 7 (shaping the dough).
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer | Glass Mixing Bowl | Wooden Spoon or Silicone Spatula | Rolling Pin | Pastry Brush | 9×5-Inch Loaf Pan | Instant-Read Thermometer | Cooling Rack
- Milk: Whole milk or 2% milk are best. I don’t suggest a lower-fat milk. Readers have used nondairy milks with success, but I haven’t personally tested it.
- Yeast: I always use Red Star Platinum yeast, an instant yeast. You can use active dry yeast instead, with no changes to the preparation. Rise times will be slightly longer. Reference my Baking With Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Flour: Higher-protein flour like bread flour is best for this bread recipe because of its strong gluten formation and high rise. All-purpose flour may yield a flimsy bread.
- Whole Wheat Flour: I don’t recommend whole wheat flour because it doesn’t have the same baking properties as white flour or bread flour (the gluten levels are different). If you wish to use whole wheat flour, try my recipe for whole wheat bread instead, and feel free to add the egg white/cinnamon swirl to that dough instead.
- Can I Add Raisins? Yes, you can add 3/4 cup (about 110g) of raisins to the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Sprinkle it over the egg white-brushed dough.
- Bread Machine Questions: I don’t own a bread machine so I have not tested it, but some readers have reported success in the comments section.
- Prevent Large Gaps: Gaps can form between the dough and cinnamon swirl in your homemade cinnamon swirl bread. It’s happened to me plenty of times! It’s the moistened dough separating from the dry cinnamon-sugar mixture as it bakes. To help prevent this, make sure you are brushing the dough with egg white before adding the cinnamon-sugar. Additionally, you can use a toothpick or thin skewer to poke 3 holes in the top of the risen loaf right before baking; this will help steam escape.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I love this recipe, my grandfather and I used to make a cinnamon swirl bread a lot like this when I was a kid. The recipe is also really easily adapted to be vegan, so I can make it for my mom who is vegan or my cousins who are allergic to milk and eggs (I substitute soy milk for the milk). I am not vegan or allergic to eggs so I also love this recipe for making absolutely bomb french toast.
This was so easy to make and so delicious. Just sweet enough with a beautiful exterior and it looks so impressive!
I made this recipe two times and we love it, but it always burns a little on the top in our oven. We have tried the tin foil tent technique but it doesn’t work. Is it possible for us to lower the temperature and cook for longer? Do you have any recommendations?
Hi Katie! Is it possible to move the bread to a lower position in your oven? You can try lowering the temperature by 10 degrees F and baking for a few minutes longer.
It was already at the lowest spot. Thank you, I will try lowering the temp!
I love your cheese bread and make it often – Have you used your cheese bread base for this recipe? I guess the biggest difference in the buttermilk vs whole milk?
Hi Taylor, the doughs are similar, but in addition to the buttermilk vs. whole milk difference, the cheese bread uses an egg, while the cinnamon swirl bread does not.
One of the best recipes for cinnamon swirl out there. The bread is fluffy like you would find in a bakery and it has just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar, without being too gooey. We make our first loaf last night and by morning it was gone, so we have to make a second loaf. We pinned this recipe to make again and again.
My first attempt at your cinnamon swirl bread recipe and it turned out great! Have tried other, similar, recipes that were NOT successful. Thank you.
I have been making this bread for a couple years now, and it is my family’s absolute favorite! Although we love it as cinnamon bread, a couple times a week I make it into rolls without the cinnamon and serve it with dinner…my kids literally fight over who gets the last rolls. When we recently moved to a new home at high altitude, I made a few small adjustments, and it still turns out perfect! And our absolute favorite thing to do with it is to leave the cinnamon bread overnight, and make it into bread pudding the next day. It makes the most amazing bread pudding ever!
This is a delicious recipe and nice and easy for beginner bread makers. I actually used all purpose flour (didn’t have any bread flour) and it was still so good! It definitely didn’t rise as much during the bake but the result was still very good- it wasn’t too dense or stodgy!
Hi Sally,
great recipe! is there a way to eliminate the gap between cinn. and bread as it bakes, someone mentioned in the comments an egg wash and extra flour, would this help tighten up the finished product?
Ric
Glad you enjoyed it! Best way to eliminate or reduce the gaps is to poke a toothpick in a few places on top of the bread right before baking. This helps that steam escape (which is creating the gaps!).
Taste and texture great! I didn’t really get a swirl when I cut into it though, wondering what I did wrong? Thank you!
Hi Steph, it’s completely normal for the dough to separate from the cinnamon swirl– that’s steam trying to make its way out. What we’ve found helpful (and what we instruct with this apple cinnamon babka) is poking a few holes in the top of the loaf right before baking. This helps steam escape from the baking bread and holds the layers together a bit better.
Hi! I love this bread!
I’ve made it a few times before, and it’s worked out great. Lately, I’ve had trouble with the second rise, though. I don’t have a stand mixer, so I’m working the dough by hand, and I wonder if that’s where I’m going wrong?
Do you have any tips for doing the mixing/kneading step by hand?
Thanks!
Hi EMD, is the dough not rising much during that 2nd rise? It may simply require more time. (Especially if it’s cold in your kitchen this time of year.) Lately I’ve been kneading this dough by hand too and yours may require extra kneading. Try extending the time to 5 full minutes of kneading.
Can you split dough to make two smaller loaf’s?
Absolutely!
I love this recipe so much ❤️ can we double it and would we still get the same results?
Hi Youmna, for best results, we recommend making two separate batches of the bread rather than doubling it. So glad you love it!
Delicious recipe! Nice dough, rolled out easily , and created nice tight swirl of cinnamon
can you use whole wheat bread flour for 1/2 flour?
Hi Lee! The bread will be more dense and a little less soft. What I’ve done in the past is used our multigrain bread dough and shaped it with the cinnamon swirl as directed in this recipe and it worked great. Let us know what you try!
I’ve made this bread for all of our neighbors this Christmas. It’s the perfect gift!
The recipe is great – easy to do, dough is beautiful and bakes up perfectly!
Hello,
The bread tastes delicious but mine burned on the bottom which is very odd. Any suggestions please. Thank you.
Hi Amal, if it’s just the bottom of the bread, it could possibly be the pan that you’re using. Isn’t it a dark pan? For next time, you can try moving the pan further away the heating element, too, which should help prevent burning. Glad you still enjoyed this recipe!
I made this last night to eat this morning. I love that it is not too sweet. It’s light and it makes great toast!! I’m thinking this could join my Christmas bakes that I give to family and friends. I use so many of your recipes. I always try your website first.
Can this bread be modified for a larger 12” bread pan
Hi Joyce, what are the dimensions of the bread pan beyond 12 inches? How deep? It may be best to find a dough recipe that can fit into your exact size pan instead of altering this recipe. I hesitate to give advice since I haven’t tried modifying this recipe to yield more dough.
this recipe is real good and it also makes real soft bread and delicious ones. i reduced the sugar for the cinnamon filling and it tasted real good if u prefer less sugar
Hi, can I use dried cranberries instead of the raisins? If I can’t, I’ll just omit them. TIA!!
Absolutely!
Love your site and especially the feedback.
Yum! I let my dough rest overnight in the refrigerator, following directions. I added 2t of flour to the raisin, sugar, and cinnamon filling mixture and then scattered it onto the rectangle of dough where I had brushed on an egg wash. After rolling up the dough and letting it rise, I brushed on some remaining egg wash to the top of the loaf. The result was a completely buttery, delicious, and photogenic bread. Next time, I’ll try brown sugar in the filling. And there will be a next time. Thank you, Sally.
I do quite a bit of baking but bread and pie are two things I’d avoided. After making your all butter pie crust (twice now) and having it come out beautifully I decided to try bread. I picked this one and I was certainly not disappointed. Your directions are always wonderful and additionally, I used two tricks from KAF to reduce the gaps…egg wash and three teaspoons of flour. It came out beautiful and really delicious. I used sweetened dried cranberries instead of raisins which really worked well. Thank you for the great recipes. I have already picked out my next bread recipe from your site and will make it in the next few days. I will also most certainly make this again.
We’re so happy to hear that you’re enjoying our recipes, Lucy! Your cranberry bread sounds fantastic.
I have made this bread at least 10 times and have enjoyed it every time. The recipe is free of glitches if I don’t refrigerate the dough. I, however, want to share my experience with the slow rise: When I refrigerate the dough, it never doubles in bulk. Is this normal? It takes at least an hour to come to room temperature (I use a thermometer for this). Is that too long to sit on the counter on a pastry cloth? And in order for it to rise once rolled, I have to put it in the warm oven described. The 100-degree proofing function environment in my oven does not seem warm enough. Does this bread need the warmer environment to rise? Finally, whether I choose the slow-rise method or the standard, I find taking the temperature of the bread a better way to determine if it is baked optimally. I like it between 185 and 190, which in my electric oven is after 30 minutes. What is your thought on this?
Hi Carol! We’re so glad you love this bread. Your fridge may run extra cold which would cause this bread not to rise. It’s fine to let it sit at room temperature until properly doubled after being in the fridge. Whatever method of proofing your dough you find works for you is perfectly fine! Using an electric thermometer is a fantastic way to check yeasted breads for doneness.
Hi, can I use all purpose flour instead of bread flour
Hi Cascadia, All-purpose flour doesn’t have enough strength to support the rise and structure of cinnamon swirl bread. We recommend sticking with bread flour which has a higher level of gluten.
Oh my goodness. Crazy Delicious!! I did use a couple of the tips from KAF to minimize gaps in swirl bread…I brushed dough with egg wash before adding cinnamon/sugar topping which I added 2 tsps AP flour to. Cant Stop Eating It!!!
Yes!! The egg wash plus additional flour ensured zero gap and that perfect cohesive bread I’ve always dreamed of. This bread recipe plus that addition makes it perfect!
When do you add the additional tsps of AP flour?
This bread makes for the best French toast
Great idea!!
Hi! Is it possible to use an 8×4 pan for this recipe? If so, would the baking time need to be adjusted?
Thank you,
Gabrielle
Hi Gabrielle, We haven’t tested it but it should be ok. The pan is a bit smaller so your dough may rise taller. Let us know if you give it a try!
It worked out perfectly! Thanks for another great recipe 🙂
First time making this…and my family loves it! I did make some vanilla icing to put on it.
Hi Sally! I made this recipe today, and it was absolutely delicious. Just toasted a slice, and craving more. I struggled a bit with rolling the loaf as neatly as you did, and it didn’t bake as evenly as yours, either, but I’ll try again!
Having tasted this, my father is asking me to replace the cinnamon sugar filling with something savoury, ideally healthier than cheese. Do you have any suggestions as to how I could go about this recipe with a difference swirl filling?
Hi Svasti! You could try savory fillings like pesto, tomato sauce, cheese, herbs, etc. We recommend you reference this cheese bread recipe for a savory dough and shaping process.