Cinnamon Sourdough Bread

A golden sourdough crust, a little maple syrup, and a buttery cinnamon–brown sugar swirl—this is the kind of loaf that makes breakfast feel like a treat. Enjoy a slice with your morning coffee, toast it with a little butter, or save a few slices for French toast.

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Makes: 1 loaf · Bake: about 35–45 minutes, plus resting, rising, chilling, and cooling. Use the Print link in the recipe card for a kitchen-friendly copy.

Servings: 1 loaf
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Maple-sweetened sourdough with a buttery cinnamon–brown sugar swirl, baked in a Dutch oven.

Lori’s cinnamon sourdough bread cooling on a wire rack, with a golden crust and cinnamon swirl.

Plan ahead: Allow 1 hour for the initial rest, about 1 hour for the three fold sets, the remaining room-temperature rise, and at least 2 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Preheat during the final hour of chilling. Timing varies with your starter and kitchen temperature.

Ingredients

Bread dough

150 g active, bubbly sourdough starter
30 g maple syrup
450 g bread flour
280 g water
10 g salt

Cinnamon swirl

⅓ cup butter, softened
¼ cup brown sugar
1½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
1½ tablespoons flour

Instructions

Mix and rest. Stir the starter, water, maple syrup, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the bread flour and mix until no dry flour remains. Cover with a damp towel and rest for 1 hour.
Stretch and fold. With damp hands, lift one side of the dough and fold it over the center. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat until you have made 4 folds. Do 3 sets total, 30 minutes apart, keeping the dough covered between sets.
Let the dough rise. Cover and leave at room temperature until puffy, bubbly, and roughly doubled. This may take about 6 hours after the folds or longer in a cool kitchen. Start checking earlier in a warm room; the dough’s appearance matters more than the clock.
Mix the filling. Stir the softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and 1½ tablespoons flour together until smooth and spreadable.
Fill and shape. Gently stretch the dough into an 8 × 12-inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. With a long edge facing you, spread two-thirds of the filling over the dough, leaving a small border. Fold the bottom third up and the top third down, like a letter. Spread the remaining filling over the folded dough, then roll it up snugly from one short end. Pinch the seam closed and gently shape into a round or oval loaf without tearing the surface.
Chill. Place seam-side up in a well-floured, lined proofing basket. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. The loaf should look slightly puffed before baking; if it still looks tight and dense, let it finish proofing at room temperature before baking.
Preheat and score. About 1 hour before baking, heat the oven to 475°F (245°C) with a covered Dutch oven inside, using cookware suitable for empty preheating at that temperature. Turn the chilled loaf onto parchment rated for the baking temperature, gently brush away loose flour, and make one confident slash about ½ inch deep with a bread lame or sharp knife. Carefully lower the dough and parchment into the hot pot and cover.
Bake. Bake covered for 30 minutes at 475°F. Remove the lid, reduce the heat to 400°F (205°C), and bake for another 5–15 minutes, or longer as needed, until deeply golden and about 200°F in the center. Check the bread itself rather than a pocket of filling. If the top browns too quickly, loosely cover it with foil.
Cool. Lift the bread onto a wire rack and cool for at least 1 hour, preferably until completely cool, before slicing. A larger loaf may need 2–3 hours for the center to cool and set.

Starter: Use a recently fed, active starter; unfed discard will not give the same rise. Optional extra steam: The covered pot traps moisture from the dough, so extra ice is optional. Only add ice if your cookware manufacturer specifically permits it. Overnight timing: For the easiest schedule, finish the room-temperature rise, fill and shape the loaf, then refrigerate overnight. Avoid leaving fully risen dough on a warm counter all night.

From dough to finished loaf

These photos from my kitchen show the dough, filling, shaped loaf, and finished bread.

Sourdough dough resting in a glass mixing bowl. — Mix, stretch and fold, then let the dough rise.

Sourdough stretched into a rectangle on a lightly floured countertop. — Gently stretch the dough into a rectangle.

Soft cinnamon-butter filling spread over a rectangle of sourdough. — Spread the cinnamon filling over the dough before folding and rolling.

Shaped cinnamon sourdough loaf resting seam-side up in a lined oval proofing basket. — Place the shaped loaf seam-side up in a floured basket and refrigerate.

Chilled cinnamon sourdough scored lengthwise on parchment before baking. — Score the cold dough just before baking.

Freshly baked cinnamon sourdough loaf on parchment, with a browned cinnamon crust. — The baked loaf, ready to move to a cooling rack.

A little help in the kitchen

For an easier swirl: Use soft butter rather than melted butter, and spread the filling gently so the dough stays intact. A small unfilled border makes the seam easier to close.

For shaping: An oval banneton proofing basket with a liner supports the loaf while it chills. Dust the liner well before adding the dough.

Save some for later: Once completely cool, wrap the loaf well. For longer storage, slice and freeze it with parchment between the slices so you can take out just what you need.

More homemade breads to try

Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough Bread · Carrot Cake Sourdough Bread · Sourdough Bagel Bread

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Adapted from A Paige of Positivity’s Cinnamon Sourdough Bread, with maple syrup in the dough and flour in the filling. All photos are from my kitchen.

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Cinnamon Sourdough Bread