How to Make Brown Sugar Cinnamon Sourdough Bread – Super Simple Method!

Add a touch of sweetness to your usual sourdough with this no-fuss method for making brown sugar cinnamon sourdough bread. You won’t be disappointed!

Looking to change it up from your normal sourdough? A little swirl of sweetness and spice can add a whole lot of character to any sourdough bread recipe! This method can be used for any medium to high-hydration sourdough recipe.

What I Love About This Method

Super simple method. This method is so easy to incorporate into your sourdough routine, you really don’t have to go out of your way to change it up and make something delicious! Sometimes I like to make a double batch of dough, leaving one plain and making the other into brown sugar cinnamon sourdough.

Make any sourdough into brown sugar cinnamon sourdough bread. This method works on virtually any medium to high-hydration sourdough recipe – anything 60% or above should be fine. I’ve used this method with both my 70% Hydration Sourdough recipe and my Sourdough Buttermilk Sandwich Bread recipe.

Just a hint of sweetness. Since you’re using a regular sourdough recipe, there’s really not much sweetness in the bread – just in the swirls of brown sugar and cinnamon. This hits just the right balance of the tangy sourdough flavor and the sweetness of the brown sugar and cinnamon. And you don’t feel as guilty about enjoying it first thing in the morning!

Such a pretty presentation! The dark ribbons of brown sugar and cinnamon in the bread make such a pretty presentation when cut open. Yes, it can make some irregular areas in the crumb structure, but in my opinion, it’s totally worth it!

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What You Need to Make Brown Sugar Cinnamon Sourdough

Your favorite sourdough bread recipe. I like to use my 70% hydration sourdough bread recipe, but I’ve also done this method with sourdough sandwich bread and buttermilk sourdough sandwich bread – they all turn out delicious!

Brown sugar

Cinnamon

How to Make Brown Sugar Cinnamon Sourdough Bread

Mix your sourdough bread as you normally would and complete stretch and folds. The dough needs to have plenty of stretch and flexibility for this method to work successfully, so make sure you are developing the gluten structure correctly.

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.

Once your dough has completed the bulk rise phase and is ready to shape, turn the dough out onto a clean surface. If needed, divide the dough according to recipe instructions (if the recipe makes two loaves, divide in two at this point).

Wet your hands before working with the dough. You may need to wet them a few times throughout the process so the dough doesn’t stick. Taking each edge of the dough, gently stretch the dough out into a rectangular shape. Make sure not to make any holes in the dough! It helps to lift up on the dough as you’re stretching it out, “waving” it on and off the work surface as if you were making a bed and smoothing the sheets.

Next, spread the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture evenly across the surface.

Then, from the short end of the dough, roll it up into as tight of a roll as you can and pinch the seams. Then fold it into thirds to form a ball.

Here’s where it can get tricky! Try not to mess with the dough too much – no cloaking here! (or if you must, very little and very carefully. The reason for this is the sugar mixture inside is heavy and a little gritty, so it can split the dough very easily. Not a huge deal if it does, you’ll just have some liquid oozing out of the loaf after baking.

Once you have your dough shaped, gently place it in a banneton or loaf pan, depending on which recipe you are making. Continue following the recipe instructions from here. Just one tip: I recommend baking this loaf within a few hours. The sugar mixture will have some liquid, so the longer it sits the more likely it is to ooze out.

With my Favorite 70% Hydration recipe, I will cold ferment it in the fridge for an hour or two before baking – just long enough so the dough firms up to score. With my Sourdough Buttermilk Sandwich loaf or Sourdough Sandwich Bread, I let it rise in the loaf pan about two hours before baking.