A Sweet Master variation. Soak the raisins first so they stay plump — dry raisins suck water out of the dough.
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bread flour | 360 g | Or 50/50 bread + all-purpose for a softer crumb |
| Whole milk | 140 g | Warmed to body temperature |
| Warm water | 20 g | About 85°F |
| Soft butter | 60 g | Room temp — soft enough to dent with a finger |
| Granulated sugar | 50 g | Sweet but not dessert-sweet |
| Active starter | 80 g | Fed 8–12 hr earlier, passes float test |
| Egg | 50 g | One large egg, beaten |
| Fine sea salt | 8 g | Added after autolyse |
| Raisins | 120 g | Soaked in warm water 30 min, drained |
| Ground cinnamon | 6 g | About 1 tablespoon |
Because my starter is fed with organic whole wheat flour, roughly 50 g of the total flour in this recipe is whole wheat (about 10% of the total). It’s a subtle background note, not a wheat loaf — but it’s part of the character.
Weights use baker’s percentage — the starter’s flour and water are subtracted from the totals. Use the calculator to scale.
New to sourdough? Learn how to make your own starter.
Method
1Soak raisins
Cover 120 g raisins with warm water. Let sit 30 minutes while you start the dough. Drain well before adding.
2Build the Sweet Master
Follow the Sweet Master through Step 3 (salt added).
3Add raisins + cinnamon on first fold
Scatter drained raisins and cinnamon over the dough. Fold them in — four folds.
4Continue folds and bulk
Folds 2–4 and bulk rise. Bulk takes a bit longer with sweet doughs — closer to 75–90 min. You can also use your oven's proof setting at ~100°F — it'll get there in about 45 minutes. Same target either way: ~50% growth, puffy and bubbly.
5Shape and retard
Shape into a loaf or boule. 12–14 hours cold retard. This IS your final proof. No separate room-temp proof needed before the fridge — the cold and the time do all the work.
6Bake
425°F covered 20 min, 400°F uncovered 20–25 min. Sweet doughs brown fast — watch the last 5 min.
7Cool
Wire rack, full hour. Sweet enriched crumb sets slower.
9" Pullman variant (halved)
For a soft sandwich loaf in a 9" Pullman pan (~450g dough capacity). Halve every ingredient.
Ingredients (halved)
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Bread flour | 180 g |
| Whole milk | 70 g |
| Warm water | 10 g |
| Soft butter | 30 g |
| Granulated sugar | 25 g |
| Active starter | 40 g |
| Egg | 25 g (beat one, weigh half; save the rest) |
| Fine sea salt | 4 g |
| Raisins | 60 g (soaked, drained) |
| Ground cinnamon | 3 g |
Because my starter is fed with organic whole wheat flour, roughly 20 g of the total flour in this recipe is whole wheat (about 10% of the total). It’s a subtle background note, not a wheat loaf — but it’s part of the character.
Method changes
- Follow the main method through shaping.
- Shape as a log, not a boule. Roll into a tight cylinder about 8" long, seam-side down.
- Grease the Pullman with butter or spray. Place the log seam-side down. Cover.
- Cold retard 12–14 hours in the fridge, lid off. Pull from fridge — dough should have risen to ~80% up the pan sides. If it's short, let it warm at room temp until it reaches that mark before baking.
- Bake at 375°F. Slide the Pullman lid on. Bake 25 min covered. Remove lid. Bake 10–15 min more until internal temp reads 190–195°F and the top is golden. Watch closely — raisins near the surface can scorch.
- Cool in pan 10 min, then turn out onto a wire rack. Cool a full hour before slicing.
For a fully square pain-de-mie shape, leave the lid on the entire bake (35–40 min total). The top stays pale and flat.
Compared to
The published recipes I learned from and measured mine against. Respect to the bakers who came first.
The benchmark for cinnamon-raisin sourdough. Yours uses an enriched Sweet Master dough — closer to a soft sandwich loaf than KA's lean version.