Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin Bread {Easy Recipe}

Name: Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin Bread Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 185 min
Total time: 190 min
Ingredients: 1 ⅛ cup whole milk, warmed to 90f (255g); ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted (57g); 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt (7g); 2 tablespoons brown sugar, lightly packed (25g); 3 cups unbleached bread flour (400g); 2 ½ teaspoons instant/ bread machine yeast (8g); 1 cup Thompson seedless raisins (160g); hot water, to soak raisins; 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (28g); 1 teaspoon cinnamon (2g); butter, for brushing

This bread machine cinnamon raisin bread is as easy as it gets; minimal hands-on time, big cinnamon flavor, and an irresistible aroma. Packed with juicy raisins and a double hit of sweetness from brown sugar and white sugar, it's a soft, tender loaf you can truly set and forget!

Sliced bread machine cinnamon raisin bread.

Craving The Recipe Details?

Fully sliced loaf of cinnamon raisin bread made in the bread maker.

What it is: A soft, fluffy loaf loaded with sweet raisins and warm cinnamon, and a golden crust that’s brushed with butter for extra deliciousness.

Why you’ll love it: Sweet cinnamon raisin bread fresh from your bread machine in just over 3 hours, no hand kneading required.

How to make it: Combine milk, butter, brown sugar, salt, flour, and yeast in your bread machine. When it chimes, add plumped raisins, cinnamon, and sugar, then let the machine finish the work. Brush with butter and enjoy!

There's just something magical about the smell of cinnamon raisin bread baking. Especially when your bread machine is doing all the hard work for you. This loaf is soft, fluffy, and absolutely loaded with sweet raisins and cinnamon. It's the kind of bread that that has my kids walking through the kitchen, noses in the air sniffing, searching for the deliciousness they know they are about to find.

If you're a fan of easy homemade bread, don't miss my bread machine whole wheat, a total staple in our kitchen, or go full flavor with something fun like my bread machine banana bread or my bread machine cardamom cranberry bread (trust me, it's a game changer).

This bread machine cinnamon raisin bread recipe is dedicated to sniffing out the good stuff.

Jump to:

Craving The Recipe Details?
Key Ingredients
Variations + Substitutions
How To Make Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin
Expert Tips
Why This Recipe Works
Bake In The Oven
Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin Bread FAQs
See What Else I’m Making In My Bread Machine:
📖 Printable Recipe

Key Ingredients

Ingredients for bread machine cinnamon raisin bread.

Flour: Use a high protein flour in this recipe, something like unbleached bread flour or all purpose flour with at least 12% protein. Check out my easy bread machine recipe to learn how to calculate protein content.

Cinnamon: I prefer Saigon cinnamon to Ceylon cinnamon for this recipe. It's more affordable, easily accessible, and has a rich, spicy flavor that's perfectly paired with the sweet raisins.

Raisins: I recommend Thompson raisins. These seed-free raisins are sun-dried and have a delicious, caramel-like flavor that pairs perfectly with the spice in the cinnamon. Golden raisins will work in a pinch, but they are treated to prevent their skin from darkening and tend to have a more acidic taste.

Variations + Substitutions

Yeast: This recipe calls for instant yeast, or bread machine yeast, but if you don't have any, you can use active dry yeast. Increase the amount to 2 3/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast and add it along with the liquid ingredients instead of on top.
Butter: The butter in this recipe can be substituted for vegetable oil, or margarine! Heck, I’ve even used rendered leaf lard from our home grown pork! I would avoid oils with a savory flavor though.
Brown Sugar: The brown sugar in the dough can be substituted for granulated sugar, maple syrup or honey. Though I prefer the caramel flavor that brown sugar adds this recipe.
Whole Wheat-ish: You can sub up to 1 cup of bread flour for whole wheat flour, if desired, but the bread may be a bit more dense.

How To Make Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin

Add Ingredients To Bread Pan:

Step 1: Combine the liquid ingredients: 1 1/8 cup milk (warmed to 90f), 1/4 cup melted butter, 2 tablespoons lightly packed brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt in the baking pan of your bread machine.

Step 2: Layer the dry ingredients as follows; 3 cups bread flour and 2 1/2 teaspoons instant or bread machine yeast. At this point, I like to shake my flour out and cover the entire surface of this water, this helps to keep the yeast out of the water and away from proofing before my bread machine is done its warm-up cycle.

Bake:

Step 3: Place the bread pan into the bread machine and select Basic or White Bread, 1.5 lb, Medium Crust, and Mix-in settings If your machine does not have all these settings, simply select the Basic or White Bread setting.

Step 4: In a small bowl, add 1 cup raisins and 1 cup hot water, set aside.

Adding raisins, sugar, and cinnamon to bread pan.

Step 5: When the mix-in signal chimes, press pause on your bread machine, then strain the water from the raisins. Add the strained raisins, 2 1/2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the bread maker pan.

Step 6: Resume the cycle and allow the bread machine to finish mixing and bake. This is the hard part! Walk away! You’ll be tempted to check on your bread and then start panicking because the texture looks weird, or the dough looks too wet, or the mix-ins aren’t distributed. Don’t worry, I did the peeking for you through the process – pics are below.

Pro Tip: If your bread maker does not have a chime for add-ins, add them to the second knead cycle when there is between 8-10 minutes left. For my machine, this is about 15 minutes into the kneading cycle.

Brush + Cool:

Step 7: Using oven mitts, remove the bread pan from the bread machine. Overturn the baked cinnamon raisin loaf onto a wire mesh cooling rack. It's important to get to your machine as soon as possible once it beeps complete to avoid it kicking into keep warm mode, this will dry out your baked bread and make it less than pleasant.
Step 8: Brush the top of your loaf with softened butter or margarine and a pastry brush. This step is optional, but it makes for a softer more visually appealing crust. I prefer to brush my loaves.
Step 9: Allow the bread to cool completely (if possible, I know it's hard!) before cutting.

Expert Tips

Check Your Capacity: This recipe makes a 1.5 lb loaf, please ensure that you have the capacity for this size of loaf before beginning.
Measure Correctly: Use the scoop and level method for your flour: stir the flour well in the bag, then scoop the flour into your measuring cup and level the cup by scraping a knife across the top. This will result in more consistent scooping!
Layer: When adding the dry ingredients, I like to gently shake the flour over the entire surface of the water. This helps keep the yeast from coming into contact with the water too soon, especially during the bread machine's warm-up cycle.
Prevent Holes: After the last punch down or prior to the final rise, I like to open the bread machine and remove the kneading paddle. This helps to prevent a large cavity in the bottom of the loaf.
Crust Color: I prefer a deep dark crust on this bread, but if you prefer a light crust, you can always choose that option!

Why This Recipe Works

Warm milk and butter create a tender crumb. Using milk instead of water, along with melted butter, enriches the dough and produces a soft, fluffy loaf that stays moist, exactly what you want in a sweet breakfast bread.

Soaked raisins stay plump and evenly distributed. Pre-soaking the raisins keeps them from “stealing” moisture from the dough during baking keeping your bread softer. Adding them at the bread machine's mix-in signal ensures they're gently folded in without damaging the dough or the raisins.

Layered sweetness keeps the flavor balanced. A mix of brown sugar and granulated sugar adds warmth and depth without making the bread overly sweet. The cinnamon is added with the raisins so it perfumes the dough without inhibiting yeast activity early on.

The bread machine does the timing perfectly. Mixing, kneading, proofing, and baking are all calibrated for consistent results. This removes guesswork and makes it easy to get a bakery-style cinnamon raisin loaf with minimal hands-on work.

Bake In The Oven

You can certainly bake this cinnamon raisin bread in the oven! Here's how to do it:

Follow steps 1-2 as you would if baking in the bread machine.
Place the baking pan into the bread machine and choose the Dough cycle. In a small bowl, add 1 cup raisins and 1 cup hot water, set aside.
When the mix-in signal chimes, press pause on your bread machine, then strain the water from the raisins. Add the strained raisins, 2 1/2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the bread maker pan. Resume the dough cycle.
Once the dough cycle is complete, turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into loaves, then transfer it to a greased 9×5″ loaf pan.
Cover loaf pan with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise for 45- 60 minutes, or until domed in the baking pan - about 45 minutes. Near the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 350f.
Bake your homemade cinnamon raisin bread at 350f for approximately 40 minutes or until golden brown on top. You can check the doneness with an instant read thermometer - the internal temperature should be 195- 200f.
Turn baked loaf out onto a wire rack, then using a pastry or basting brush, brush the top with softened butter.

Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin Bread FAQs

How do I store homemade cinnamon raisin bread?

Once your cinnamon raisin bread is fully cooled, pop it into a sealed plastic bag and store it at room temperature. It'll stay fresh for 2-3 days. Alternatively, you can freeze it.
Freezing a Whole Loaf:
To freeze, wrap the loaf tightly in plastic wrap, then again in aluminum foil to prevent freezer burn. Freeze for up to 3 months. When you're ready to enjoy it, let the loaf thaw at room temperature for a few hours-no need to unwrap it until it's fully defrosted.
Freezing Slices:
For easy, grab-and-go portions, slice the cooled loaf and lay the slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Freeze until solid, then transfer to a freezer-safe bag or container. This way, you can pull out just what you need. Toast or let thaw at room temperature and you're good to go!

When should I add raisins to my bread machine for cinnamon raisin bread?

Most bread machines have a chime or buzzer that indicates it’s time to add mix-ins, but if your machine does not, add the raisins to the second knead cycle when there is between 8-10 minutes left. For my machine, this is about 15 minutes into the kneading cycle.

What bread machine setting works best for cinnamon raisin bread?

The Basic or White Bread setting works best for this recipe. Choose a 1.5 lb loaf size and your preferred crust color. If your machine has a Sweet Bread setting, that will also work well.

Sliced bread maker cinnamon raisin bread on a wire cooling rack.

See What Else I’m Making In My Bread Machine:

If you tried this Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin Bread recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!

📖 Printable Recipe

Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin Bread Recipe

Allyson Letal

Sweet, tender, and loaded with raisins, this cinnamon bread is made easy in the bread machine. A mix of white and brown sugar adds just the right amount of sweetness and depth.

5 from 6 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 3 5

Total Time 3 10

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Servings slices

Calories 264 kcal

Ingredients

1 ⅛ cup whole milk, warmed to 90f, 255g
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted, 57g
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt, 7g
2 tablespoons brown sugar, lightly packed, 25g
3 cups unbleached bread flour, 400g
2 ½ teaspoons instant/ bread machine yeast, 8g
1 cup Thompson seedless raisins, 160g
hot water, to soak raisins
2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 28g
1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2g
butter, for brushing