When I was 12, my parents bought a small bakery. 2 days a week, I helped Mom bake all sorts of cookies, bread, pies. and much more. On Saturday, we loaded up our van with the baked goods and sold them at a Farmer’s Market.
One of my favorite items was the cinnamon bread. Mom would slice off a thin piece from the end of the loaf, to show the pretty cinnamon swirl inside. I liked to smear a bit of frosting on that end piece and eat it hot! It was almost like a cinnamon roll. I no longer put frosting on my cinnamon bread, but I do enjoy a piece hot from the toaster, slathered in butter!
How to make cinnamon bread
Cinnamon bread is so easy to make; just use your regular white bread recipe, add cinnamon and sugar and roll up!
But maybe you don’t have a ‘regular’ white bread recipe? No problem! I have your back! I have included the entire recipe so you can just print it off and use it.
First, I put the warm water, sugar, and yeast in a bowl, and let it set for 5 minutes so the yeast can begin to work.
Then, I add the flour, salt, oil, and mix it well. I knead the dough several minutes, then let it rise for an hour or until doubled.
Tip: I use my KitchenAid mixer, but you can always use your hands to knead if you don’t have a stand mixer.
Forming the loaves
To form the cinnamon bread loaves: divide the dough in half, and roll one half about 15 inches long, and as wide as your bread pan. Try to make sure it doesn’t get wider than your bread pan.
Sprinkle generously with powdered sugar, then with cinnamon. I do not measure either of these, but I did give an estimate in the recipe. Just sprinkle heavily and it will be fine.
When you have the cinnamon and sugar on, begin to carefully roll up from the short side. I tug gently as I roll the dough, so there is no air pockets or holes in the roll. Roll it all the way up, and place into a greased bread pan, seam side down.
I sprinkle the loaf with a dash of cinnamon, then let it rise till nearly doubled. Repeat with second half of dough.
Bake at 350* for 30-35 minutes, till the loaf is golden brown. Turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool before bagging.
Bread rising and baking
Personally, I like a more dense bread, so I don’t let my dough rise too long. You can see in the above pictures how the dough looks when I placed it in the pan, and how it looks when I baked it. Less time rising means a heavier bread with smaller air holes. If you like big holes in your bread, then, by all means, let it rise longer! 🙂
Same goes for baking; I like my bread just golden brown. If you like the crust very brown, just bake it longer or at a higher temp. I bake bread at 350 for 30 minutes. But If you like more crusty bread, bake it at 375 or 400 for 30 minutes. Play around with it till you see what you like best.
Easy Cinnamon Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 TBL yeast
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 5 cups bread flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 TBL cinnamon
Instructions
- Place water in mixing bowl.
- Sprinkle sugar and yeast over water.
- Allow to stand for 5 minutes.
- Add flour, oil, and salt and mix well. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour - ½ cup at a time - until it is smooth and workable.
- Knead 2 minutes with mixer, or 5 minutes by hand.
- Let rise till doubled in size, about an hour.
- Divide dough in half, roll each half 9x15 inches, or as wide as your bread pan.
- Sprinkle generously with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
- Roll up tightly, place in greased bread pans, seam side down.
- Let rise till nearly doubled, about 30-40 minutes.
- Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or till golden brown.
- Turn onto rack to cool. Store in bags.
Nutrition
Looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it!
Loved this recipe! Used regular flour since I didn’t have any bread flour handy and it came out good. Also added some chocolate chips to one loaf after adding the cinnamon and before rolling it up and it came out delicious! Will definitely make again!
That sounds delicious! I will have to try that! Thanks! Glad you liked it.
This was SO good!! I’m sure I’ll be making this often. I didn’t put as much cinnamon since I didn’t want a strong cinnamon flavor and it turned out amazing. Thank you!
Great!! I am so glad you enjoyed it!
How could you make the dough in a bread machine? Would the amount of yeast be different when using bread machine yeast?
I am not familiar with bread machines, unfortunately! Keep in mind that this yeast amount is for 2 loaves – I don’t know if you can make two loaves in a machine? Let me know if you try it!
I’m feeling a bit defeated at the moment. My dough is nowhere near stable enough to roll up… much less handle comfortably. Any tips? I followed yhe recipe to a T!
I’m sorry! Sounds like you need to add more flour – an extra 1/2 cup at a time, until you can work it.
I had the same problem. I used all purpose flour and it was more like batter.
Okay, thanks so much! I feel silly for asking now that I think about it lol I can be so hair brained! Tomorrow will be the day… ♡
Oh no, definitely don’t feel bad! I mess up my baking some days, too! It happens. ?❤️
I’m new to baking bread, with that said, which yeast do you use for this recipe?
I use Fleischmann’s Instant Yeast. Any brand instant yeast should be fine! 🙂 You can find it in the baking aisle at the grocery store in small packets, or you can find it on Amazon. I will link the one I use: (I buy it in bulk because I do a lot of baking!) https://amzn.to/3azY4Hv
Thank you for the information! I’ll get the instant kind then! Just so I know, how would you make it with just the active yeast?
I actually have used both kinds, and I use them exactly the same. I put the water in the bowl first, then the yeast. Either kind works!
I just made this bread, it’s so good. Did not have bread flour made it with King Arthur all purpose flour and had no trouble.recommend this for anyone who has not baked bread. Do you use this recipe for white bread or do you have another?
Thank you for the review! I appreciate it. Yes, this is my white bread recipe, just omit the powdered sugar and cinnamon.
Does it matter if you use quick rise, instant, or pizza yeast?
No, it doesn’t.
I know this sounds stupid but for the yeast u say TBL what measurement is that?
That stands for Tablespoon , sorry that was unclear. ?
Have you ever added raisins to this recipe? My grocery doesn’t always have cinnamon raisin bread during the lockdown, and if I can make my own that would be great! Just wondering how many cups or tablespoons or whatever of raisins to use. Thanks!
I haven’t, but what a great idea! I think 2 cups of raisins would be a generous amount.
Oh, yum!
I noticed that the recipe says to divide it in half and then it never addresses the other leftover half. Does this make two loafs of bread?
Yes, it makes two loaves.
What size bread pans do you use?
Mine are 8x4x2.5 inches.
Do you have a 10x sugar icing for this cinnamon bread, kinda like Hoss’s restaurant…
I don’t have a written down recipe. I do make icing like that with butter, 10x sugar, vanilla and milk.
I start with a couple tablespoons butter, add some sugar and milk and a splash of vanilla… I’ll have to measure and write it down sometime!
I’m trying this, in the oven right now! I’m a newbie at bread, so fingers crossed.
Like someone else commented, the dough was SUPER WET after first rise. I added prob 1 1/2 c before it would come tog. Is this normal a wet dough and it this when to add more flour? Or better to add when kneading before 1st rise?
Thank you 🙂
I would add extra flour before it rises.
What if you don’t have the powdered sugar to sprinkle on the dough,can I use granulated sugar instead?
Yes, that will work too. Some people like brown sugar.
I mix and do the first rise in my bread machine on the dough setting. I use all the same measurements, but put the ingredients in the order my machine recommends (wet ingredients first, then sugar and salt, then flour, then yeast. The dough turns out perfect every time. It’s so velvety soft when I take it out to roll it.
That’s great! I’m glad to hear that.
This recipe is a great keep!! I made my fav cinnamon and cheese loaves. My bread top was a little hard but that was not an issue at all. We still are it happily. Thank you for sharing. ?
Great bread, I add raisins also, makes 1 large and 1 loaf, we love it.
My favourite cinnamon bread recipe.
This is an amazing bread recipe…and I’m a professional Baker. If you want it more like what you might find in the store, add a tsp. of cinnamon to the dough in the beginning, and 1 1/2 cups of raisins when you roll it. Also, brown sugar instead of powdered, will give a deeper flavor. With that being said, making it the way your recipe says, turns out perfect every time…it’s a no fail recipe and the one I make at home (with some substitutions sometimes). My 3 daughters use this recipe as opposed to their Grandma’s! Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you so much! I will definitely try the brown sugar and adding cinnamon. I’m not a fan of raisins, so probably won’t add those – although I have a lot of folks who do that and love it!
Thanks for the tips!
I made this for my husband, he said it reminded him of when he was a kid. Great bread recipe too! Loved it. Thank you.
Awesome! Thank you so much! I am glad you both enjoyed it.
Great review. Any idea how I could incorporate apple into this recipe? Thank you.
You could try spreading shredded apple on top of the cinnamon, and rolling it up. I never tried it, but it might work!
So yum! We did one with cinnamon and one with pork floss!
But how do u keep the bread fresh? Mine gone harden in 2 days.. 🙁
I use bread flour, that really seems to help. But we eat it all pretty fast at our house!😀
Does this bread freeze well? And when exactly would you recommend freezing it? Like should I freeze the dough after the first rise? Or after it’s rolled up and has risen again? Or should I bake the bread and then freeze it? I don’t eat bread so it would just be my husband eating both loaves. He’d never eat it before it went bad.
Also, if I only wanted to make one loaf, would halving the recipe work? I know some recipes don’t work out when you halve or double them.
Thanks so much!! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
You can freeze it unbaked, but if you do that, I’d freeze it immediately after you roll the loaf up. It will rise again as it thaws.
I personally freeze the bread after it’s baked. It freezes well. Just make sure it’s in a airtight container, or wrap it well. Yes you can halve the recipe. Should work fine!
I love this recipe! It’s easy and turns out delicious. I’ve made both the bread and the cinnamon bread and my husband loves both.
Probably won’t be buying store bought bread ever!
I’ve made multiple loaves and it freezes well too.
Thanks.
Thank you so much! It really is so easy.
Dough came out to be very sticky and it was impossible to roll it out.
Hi, if the dough is too sticky, add more flour. I add 1/2 cup of flour at a time until it is the correct consistency.
I made this bread yesterday and it came out perfect! I’m rather new to bread and I have to say, this recipe was bombproof! It came out so well – def a keeper in my book! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you for the review!! It makes me so happy to know the recipe worked for you.
Absolutely delicious, wonderful, turned out perfect and I added black walnuts,
One question: It says 20 servings, does that mean 10 for each loaf? i’m counting calories and just ate 2 slices, 😁
Thanks for the review! I’m glad you enjoy it! Yes, that’s how I have it counted; 10 slices per loaf.
I have never commented on a recipe online before today…this bread was exactly what I have been searching for. The nostalgic bakery common bread recipe has been found! Everything about this bread was right on – I followed the recipe exactly. Thank you so much for sharing some of your family’s excellence.
Well that is good to hear! I am so glad you enjoyed it!
I hardly ever comment on recipes, but this was so lovely! Followed directions but also added 1 tsp of cinnamon to the dough, per another reader’s comment. So easy, so delicious. Thank you!
Hi, making this right now but notice my dough is still sticky, is this how it’s supposed to be before the 1st rise? Or what can I do? I’m fearful that when it goes to rolling it, it will be too sticky.
Hi, if the dough is too sticky, add more flour. I add 1/2 cup of flour at a time until it is the correct consistency.
I cannot wait to try this recipe, I love love cinnamon bread. Would I be able to make the dough the night before and bake it the next day? I’m guessing make it all the way to rolling it up and then let it rise on the counter in the morning before baking?
I haven’t tried that, but I would expect it to work fine. Just place in the refrigerator overnight. 🙂