Sourdough Fruit Bread (with cinnamon and raisins)

This sourdough fruit bread is absolutely next level, it’s the only sourdough raisin bread recipe you’ll ever need! It is an absolute family favorite here and a recipe that I have tweaked over time, to create what you see now. It pairs the wonders of sourdough with the sweetness of raisins and the delicate hint of cinnamon. You can absolutely just make this into a sourdough cinnamon raisin loaf, but I urge you to try it with the other fruits as well!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe!

Flavor – this sourdough loaf combines the sweetness of raisins (as well as other dried fruit) with the homely flavor of cinnamon to create a loaf that you will want to come back to time and time again.

Fresh or Toasted – It is delicious to eat fresh – with it’s delicate crust and tender, soft squishy crumb. But it’s even better toasted with homemade butter!  

If you love sourdough bread with fruit and nuts, why not try this sourdough walnut raisin bread or this orange cranberry sourdough bread.

Ingredients

• Bread Flour – bread flour is non negotiable for this recipe!
• Water – you can replace the water with your favorite tea or even whey if you prefer. Adding whey to sourdough bread can create a soft texture, which works really well in this fruit loaf.
• Sourdough Starter – I’ve used 100g of active sourdough starter to create this loaf. You can use a sweet levain if you want to (and I used to when I made this recipe) however since updating the recipe, I don’t think it’s necessary.
• Salt
• Honey – use maple syrup if you prefer.
• Mixed Dried Fruit – You can just add raisins if you prefer, however, I’ve added an array of chopped dried apricots, dried blueberries and raisins, as well as dried orange peel, which add tangy little bursts of flavor! You can also add “mixed peel” like you would in a traditional hot cross buns recipe. Dried cranberries, cherries or apples can be a nice addition too. I honestly add whatever I have on hand at the time!
• Brown Sugar – I’ve used brown sugar swirl (similar to this sourdough cinnamon swirl loaf) to create a balanced sweetness in this recipe. It works particularly well when you’re using some of the tarter fruits like apricots, cherries and dried orange peel. 
• Cinnamon – you can increase the spice here by adding some allspice and nutmeg to your cinnamon if you want to, but you definitely don’t have to.
• All Purpose Flour – I’ve only added a tiny bit of all purpose flour to the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture to stop the brown sugar from turning liquid inside your shaped loaf and leaking out. 

How To Make Sourdough Fruit Bread

To get started, you’ll mix your active starter with water and honey, making sure everything is nicely dissolved before adding your flour and salt. The dough will come together into a fairly dry, shaggy mix and that’s exactly what you want at this stage. Letting it rest (autolyse, or in this case fermentolyse) for an hour makes a huge difference here, as it gives the flour time to fully hydrate and makes the dough much easier to work with later.

After that rest, a quick series of folds will bring it into a smooth ball, and from there you’ll build strength with a few stretch and fold sets. I like to add the dried fruit during the second or third set so it distributes evenly without tearing the dough. If you add it too early, it can make the dough harder to develop.

After the stretches and folds, you’ll need to leave your dough to ferment at room temperature. Once your dough has finished bulk fermentation and is nice and puffy (don’t be afraid to let it double, this dough can handle it), it’s time for the fun part: shaping and adding that cinnamon swirl. You can see how marshmallow like my dough is in the photos below and how easily it pulls away from the bowl onto the counter. This is how I know that bulk fermentation has finished.

Mixing the cinnamon, sugar and flour beforehand helps prevent clumps and keeps everything evenly distributed through the loaf. As you gently stretch the dough into a rectangle, sprinkle the mixture in layers as you shape. This gives you that beautiful swirl without it all sinking to one spot.

When rolling it up, take a little extra care to keep the dough tight and the ends sealed so all that delicious filling stays tucked inside where it belongs.

Pop it into your chosen banneton seam side up and then into the fridge overnight. After an overnight cold ferment in the fridge, your dough will be ready to bake straight from cold, which helps it hold its shape and gives you a lovely oven spring.

A hot Dutch oven is key here. It traps steam and helps create that golden crust. Bake with the lid on first, then uncovered to finish, and once it’s out of the oven, resist the urge to cut into it straight away (I know, it’s hard!). Letting it cool properly will give you the best texture.

Sourdough Baking Schedule

This is a sample sourdough baking timeline for making a loaf of sourdough fruit bread. You can adjust it to suit your own schedule and time available.

TIME	PROCESS
9 am	Premix and autolyse for around an hour, forming up the dough and leaving to rest for another 30 minutes before stretch and folds.
11 am	1st stretch and fold
11.30 am	2nd stretch and fold – add half the dried fruit.
12 pm	3rd stretch and fold – add other half of the dried fruit.
12.30 pm	4th stretch and fold
1 pm	Bulk fermentation at room temperature remembering that the honey will speed up bulk fermentation.
6 pm	Shape dough into a batard, adding in the cinnamon swirl, place into banneton and then into fridge for cold fermentation.
9 am	Wake and bake! The next morning, you can get up, make a coffee and bake your sourdough fruit loaf!

Sourdough Fruit Bread Recipe Variations

This sourdough fruit bread recipe makes a fantastic loaf – but there are so many ways you can tweak it. This recipe is literally the only sourdough fruit bread you’ll ever need! Check out some of these sourdough fruit bread variations:

Heavy Sourdough Fruit Bread – if you prefer a heavier fruit bread, you can double the amount of dried fruit you add. Instead of a generic “mixed dried fruit” you could also include some chopped apricots and figs. This will add to the heaviness of the sourdough.

Rye Fruit Bread – if you love the earthiness that rye flour brings to your sourdough, substitute up to 30% of the Bread Flour with Rye Flour. You can read about Baker’s Math here.

Sourdough Raisin Toast – love a traditional raisin toast. Substitute the mixed fruit with plain raisins. You don’t have to soak them before you add them, but if you want to, you could soak them in maple syrup, vanilla essence or even just some warm water to plump them up. You can also bake this sourdough in a loaf pan if you prefer.

Fruit & Nut Sourdough Loaf – love some crunch? Substitute half the dried fruit with your favorite chopped nuts. We love a combination of walnuts and pecans.

If you are looking for more of a sourdough raisin loaf perfect for toasting, then I recommend this sourdough discard cinnamon raisin loaf which is baked in a loaf pan. 

How To Store and Freeze

This loaf freezes really well! Whether you freeze it as a whole loaf or in individual slices. It toasts really well from frozen too! 

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