Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin Bread

This cinnamon raisin bread is packed with juicy raisins, warm cinnamon, and a double hit of sweetness from brown sugar and white sugar for extra oomph. It's the perfect loaf to pop in the bread machine and let the magic happen!

Jump to:

• Expert Tips
• Key Ingredients
• How To Make Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin
• More Bread Machine Recipes
• Bake In The Oven
• Variations + Substitutions
• Batch + Storage
• 📖 Printable Recipe

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 cozy 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.

I know it will have your family doing the same!

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 recipe is dedicated to sniffing out the good stuff.

Key Ingredients

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.

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 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast and add it along with the liquid ingredients instead of on top.

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.

Read More: Bread Machine Yeast Substitutes

How To Make Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin

Add Ingredients To Bread Pan:

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.
2. Layer the dry ingredients as follows; 3 cups bread flour and 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:

1. 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.
2. In a small bowl, add 1 cup raisins and 1 cup hot water, set aside.
3. 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.
4. 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.

Brush + Cool:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Allow the bread to cool completely (if possible, I know it's hard!) before cutting.

More Bread Machine Recipes

Bake In The Oven

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

1. Follow steps 1-2 as you would if baking in the bread machine.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Turn baked loaf out onto a wire rack, then using a pastry or basting brush, brush the top with softened butter.

Variations + Substitutions

• The butter in this recipe can be substituted for vegetable oil, or margarine! Heck, I’ve even used rendered lard from our home grown pork!
• The brown sugar in the dough can be substituted for granulated sugar, maple syrup or honey. Though I prefer the flavor that brown sugar adds this recipe.
• 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.

Batch + Storage

Batch:

This recipe makes 1 1.5 lb loaf. Please ensure that your bread machine has the capacity to work with a 1.5 pound loaf before baking.

Storage:

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.

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!

📖 Printable Recipe