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 butter… unbelievable! For a no-yeast version, see my cinnamon swirl quick bread.
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. ★★★★★”
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!
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.
By the way, 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
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. Using a pastry brush again, gently brush it on top of the loaf. Be gentle, so as not to deflate the dough. 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.
Can you please comment on glass versus metal loaf pans? Any considerations with either?
Hi Dan, you can certainly use either in this recipe. Glass pans may take a few minutes longer to bake through. Hope this helps!
That sounds like a wonderful recipe for homemade cinnamon swirl bread! I love recipes with simple ingredients and delicious results. The updated version with the thinner dough and egg white glaze sounds like a great improvement, definitely leading to a more even and gooey cinnamon swirl. https://pansreviews.com/tag/skillet/
The bread itself was so delicious and soft on the inside but I seem to be having issues making my crust tender. It’s always so thick and hard.
Hi Emily, does the crust seem burnt? You could try moving the bread down a rack (away from the heating element) or lightly tenting it with aluminum foil. This will allow the bread to bake through, without over baking the crust. So glad you’re enjoying this recipe!
I was just wondering at what point do you add in the yeast and milk mixture. You didn’t mention when that was added in your instructions.
Hi Tammy! The yeast/milk mixture is the base of the dough – add everything else to it in step 3, starting with the butter.
The flavor in this swirl bread is so so so good! My husband said it tastes like a cinnamon roll. This is the second bread I’ve made this week from your website and it also came out so amazingly well. I’ve never made bread before and now my family thinks I’m an expert baker! All the tips are so helpful. Thank you!
We have a large family and I usually bake quick breads in an extra long loaf pan. I don’t typically make shaped loaves of yeast bread, would I need to adjust any times or temperatures in this recipe to make it work in a double pan?
Hi Rachel, we haven’t tested this bread in a pan of that size, but the bake time will likely be a bit longer in a pan of that size. Same temperature. Hope the bread is a hit!
A wonderful easy recipe. Loved this toasted for breakfast and as a base for some amazing French toast.
This was so easy. I did the refrigerator version and it turned out terrific. It was so easy and it’s delicious. Thanks, Sally for another great baking recipe!
Recipe is perfect, mine took exactly 35 min. Bread is so soft and delicious, I did not even need butter. Made french toast with it the day old, it was delicious!
This bread is spectacular! Followed the recipe except I added a little brown sugar to my filling. This is a win win for my family! Made this 3 times already and they are asking me to make it again!
Thank you Sally
When I brush with butter, it deflates. But I am super gentle with doing it. What could I be doing wrong? Can I spray with something instead?
Hi Missy! The bread could be over-proofed if it is deflating so easily. You could try a shorter rise time. Or, you could try a butter spray if you think that would work better for you!
Delicious bread… I did use raisins and had a huge air pocket at the top… About an inch and a half. Any ideas
Hi Debbie! Make sure to roll the bread tightly (without any air pockets) when shaping.
Absolutely delicious as good or better than anything we have bought at bakery! We added raisins and it is gone is gone in no time. We butter and toast in skillet. Definitely will make it again.YUM
Followed your instructions exactly and my dough did not rise. From my understanding, yeast will be killed in a warm environment and it needs oxygen. I think your instructions to cover the bowl tightly and then warm it killed the yeast. It was certainly active before I tried proving it because it was bubbling and smelling right before I added all the other ingredients.
Came to this recipe from the wonderful sandwich bread recipe. This recipe sounded good for my family this morning, so I made it last night about 5pm w/ only 1 tsp regular yeast. Punched it down hourly til about 9, then made the loaf. It sat, covered, overnight. Perfection!! I also added cardamom to the dough as we love Finnish pülla. Thanks for another great recipe, Sally!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Very good but I think the cooking time is off. My oven runs ‘cool’ and 35 minutes is too long.
This is the best cinnamon swirl bread recipe yet. I have tried several. So good I doubled the recipe and made one with raisins and one without. I did substitute half of the swirling sugar for brown, and rubbed the 9X18 rolled out dough with cream. I also presoaked my golden raisins so they were soft. I have never found one of Sally’s recipies that I couldn’t trust or love. My only go to site I love.
I recently made the sandwich bread and loved it so much that I thought I’d try this one. Yet again another phenomenal recipe. I absolutely love it. Was so easy and the best cinnamon raisin bread I’ve ever had. It looks very pleasing too!
This bread is a showstopper in my book. It might be my fave from your site. I’m wondering when doubling if I should I lower the yeast amount? Asking because the notes in your sandwich bread recipe suggest lowering the yeast and butter when doubling, so I thought I’d ask. Thank you!
So glad you enjoy this! Yes, I would follow the same doubling instructions as the sandwich bread.
I was wondering what the rational is for not doubling the yeast and butter when doubling the recipe.
This *was* amazing! I only use nondairy and saw your note. I am so happy to say that coconut milk worked like a charm. My family devoured it. I am back to make 2 more. 🙂
This recipe is fantastic! Tastes great, good texture. I bet it would make an insanely good French Toast once it went stale. Per other reviewer suggestions, I added 2 teaspoons of AP flour to the cinnamon sugar mixture and egg washed the dough before adding the cinnamon mixture–both of these suggestions are to prevent gaps, and I achieved a nice tight swirl all the way through. Next time I will keep the rack in the middle or upper third of the oven though, as I did not get much in the way of browning on top.
This bread was absolutely delicious. I made it to step 3 then finished in the morning so we could have fresh bread for breakfast. Thank you for such a great recipe!
My friends and I stood around eating this and it was soooo fabulous! I didn’t think I would ever make bread this good!!
This bread was the best cinnamon bread ever. My husband and I both loved it and I’m not normally a cinnamon bread lover.
Changes made based on other reviews. Melted 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter and spread on rolled out dough. I added 2 1/2 tsp of flour and 1 Tbls of brown sugar to cinnamon sugar mix and baked in a 12”x4” loaf pan. Baked for 50 minutes. Used thermometer and took out when temp was 190.
Thanks so much for great recipe!
made this yesterday and my whole family enjoyed it! i replaced the whole milk for a blend of full fat oat milk and unsweetened soy milk, and used miyoko’s vegan butter. i also added a few tsps of AP flour to the cinnamon-sugar mix before rolling, as other readers suggested. lovely recipe!
I made this tonight, used buttermilk instead of whole milk, added my raisins to the dough, and even though it TASTES right, it doesn’t look right. Almost doughy, but it is cooked all the way through. Any ideas on what I did wrong?
Hi Searcy, if the middle is doughy, it’s possible it needed a few more minutes in the oven. How soon after coming out of the oven did you slice into it? The middle of fresh baked bread can look gooey/gummy if it’s sliced too soon after coming out of the oven. Hope these tips help for next time.
I was wondering if I could use buttermilk for this recipe as well – just made the cheese bread this weekend (absolutely DELICIOUS, by the way!) and now I have buttermilk to use.
Hi! any chance this can be baked outside of a pan or in something else?
Hi Abby, you’ll need to sides of a loaf pan to help this bread contain its shape. For a bread that bakes directly on a pan, you might enjoy this artisan bread, cranberry nut bread, or no knead seeded oat bread.
this is my go-to recipe! ive used regular milk and butter, and I’ve made it with almond milk and vegan butter. you can’t tell the difference! the overnight method is the best – so yum!
I’ve made this several times now, thank you so much! I do slather about 1.5T of softened butter on the dough before adding the cinnamon sugar for extra richness but that is gilding the lily. What a great recipe – thank you!
Can the dough be made in a bread machine?
We haven’t tested it but can’t see why not!
I was wondering the same thing. I suppose you would put all the wet ingredients first, then the dry and use dough cycle. Since it’s had great reviews…I’ll give it a try.