Our incredible no-knead challah makes such an addictive Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread that I’ve been making it every week. But I got tired of going back and forth between our recipe for challah and the recipe for our three-loaf Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread. So I finally combined the two into this simple, cinnamon-lover’s recipe. The aroma alone from this beautiful, oversized loaf can make you swoon.
The secret to great cinnamon bread? Lots of tight swirls. And you get them by rolling out the dough into a long, thin rectangle, covering it with more cinnamon sugar than you’d imagine, and then rolling it up tightly. The dough will expand as you incorporate the filling, and it often takes some smushing to fit it into the pan. But even if the swirls go a little wild and off-center, you’ll still get a big cinnamon kick in every bite.
For another use of this miraculous challah dough, try Better-Than-Brioche Burger Buns. Or use it as a basic sweet dough. Ounce for ounce, it’s the most fun and versatile bread dough we’ve got.
No-Knead Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread
(Challah adapted from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois)
Makes one large 9″ x 5″ loaf.
Dough:
- 7/8 cup water, lukewarm*
- 1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast (SAF Gold works best with sweet doughs like this.)
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup oil
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose or bread flour
(*Bread flour may require about ¼ cup more water to keep it stretchy.) - ½ cup raisins
Swirl:
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1-2 tablespoons milk or water to moisten dough
- Stir together water, yeast, salt, lightly beaten eggs, honey, and oil in a 4-quart bowl using a wooden spoon or a dough whisk (our preference).
- Mix in flour. The dough should be moist and tacky. Mixing will only take a minute or two. Then mix in raisins. If you’re using bread flour, you may need to add a little more water to keep it stretchy.
- Cover bowl completely with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature until the dough rises and slightly collapses or flattens, about 2 hours. Use the dough now, or refrigerate it for up to two days.
- Dust the dough with some flour, and remove from the bowl. On a lightly floured surface, using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a long rectangle, about 7″ by 25″. Brush the dough with a little milk or water to lightly moisten. Mix the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle it evenly over the dough. It will seem like a lot, but use it all up.
- Grease a 9″ x 5″ x 3″ loaf pan.
- Starting at a short end, tightly roll up the dough and pinch the bottom to seal. You don’t need to pinch ends. The roll will be have grown to about 9” wide, the length of the pan. Place the loaf in the pan, gently smushing it to fit if necessary.
- Let rise for 90 minutes or until doubled in size. It may take a little longer if dough was refrigerated. In the meantime, preheat oven to 350°.
- Bake about 35 minutes, until top is golden brown and the sides pull away a little from the pan. The interior should register 180°-190° on an instant-read thermometer. Let sit in the pan for a couple of minutes to let the dough shrink, then run a knife around the sides and remove. Rub some butter or margarine over the top of the warm loaf. Cool completely on a rack before slicing.
