Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread Recipe

Feed your starter so that it’s at peak when you’re planning to make the dough. Around 4 to 12 hours before you want to make the dough is the general timeframe, but you know how long it takes your starter to reach peak after a feeding, so go with that. To feed your starter, mix all ingredients together in a clean jar. Cover loosely and let it rest at room temperature until it peaks. This usually takes about 4 to 12 hours; I like to do this the night before I want to make the dough, right before I go to bed.

To make the dough, add the starter, water, and honey to a large bowl (with a clear bottom and sides so you can see the dough) and whisk until the starter and honey are fully dissolved. Whisk in the salt. Mix in the flour. The dough will be shaggy at this point (don’t knead it). Cover the bowl and let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
While the dough is resting, add the raisins and 1 cup of boiling water to a bowl. Make sure raisins are submerged, and soak 20 to 30 minutes.

After the dough has rested for 30 minutes, drain the raisins, gently pat them dry, and sprinkle them onto the dough.
Wet your hands and perform your first set of stretch and folds. To do so, grab a piece of dough, gently stretch it up, fold it over, and then rotate the bowl 1/4 turn. Repeat this process 3 more times until you come to the point where you started. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, repeat the stretch and fold process. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest at room temperature for another 30 minutes. Repeat this process 2 more times, for a total of 4 sets of stretch and folds spaced 30 minutes apart.

After the 4th stretch and fold, cover the bowl and let the dough rest at room temperature until puffed (roughly doubled in size), the top of the dough is slightly domed and bubbly, and the bottom looks spongy. At 74F room temperature, for me this usually takes around 6 to 7 hours, but it can anywhere from 4 to 8 hours depending on your conditions (such as how active your starter is, your kitchen’s temperature and humidity, etc.).

Once your dough is done with bulk fermentation, mix together all ingredients for the brown sugar cinnamon swirl in a medium bowl.
Line a large bowl with a clean cotton tea towel, and sprinkle an even layer of flour across the towel.
Lightly spritz your countertop with a little non-chlorinated water and wet your hands (I prefer to roll out my dough with water instead of flour). Scrape your dough out onto the dampened countertop and roughly shape it into a rectangle about 13 to 14 inches long by 8 to 9 inches wide (it doesn’t have to be perfect and you aren’t rolling it out here). Gently press the dough with your fingertips to get rid of excess gas bubbles. Evenly dollop on the brown sugar cinnamon mixture, leaving a border of about 1 inch all around. Fold your dough in thirds like a letter, then starting with one end, roll up the dough into a log. To get some surface tension, cup the dough with your hands and gently pull it towards you across the countertop a few times (because of the filling, don’t overdo it here).
Place the dough (seam side up) into the prepared bowl. Cover with plastic wrap.

Let the dough rest until it’s properly proofed. You’ll know it’s properly proofed when it looks puffed and jiggles when you gently shake the bowl. Also, the poke test is helpful as a guideline; lightly flour your finger and the dough’s surface, and gently press your finger into the dough. If it springs back slowly (instead of springing back quickly or not at all), it’s ready to bake. You can let it proof at room temperature or cold proof in the fridge. At room temperature it’ll take 1 to 4 hours, and in the fridge around 12 to 24 hours.

An hour before you want to bake, put your Dutch oven (with the lid on) into the oven and preheat it to 450F. After preheating, take your dough out of the fridge, invert it onto a parchment paper-lined plate, and score the top. Use the parchment paper to carefully lift the dough up and place it into the Dutch oven (with the parchment still underneath it).
Put the lid on and bake for 35 minutes, then remove the lid and bake until done, about 18 to 25 minutes more. The bread is done when it’s golden brown outside, sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom, and reaches an internal temperature of 205-210F.

Transfer the bread to a wire rack and cool completely before slicing. This takes at least 6 hours, but overnight is better.