Easy whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread

September 16, 2016 By Kathryn

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This easy whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread recipe requires no yeast, no kneading, no bread machine. It’s lightened up, soft and so delicious!

Cinnamon raisin bread just speaks family to me.

I guess it started with my Dad, who loves cinnamon raisin bagels, cinnamon raisin bagel chips, cinnamon raisin English muffins – you name it.

Cinnamon raisin bread, too, but he prefers it toasted so it gets a little crispy. He spreads it with butter while still warm, so it melts right into the bread (or bagel or muffin) and crunches on into it.

And so it happened one day that I saw cinnamon raisin bagels in the grocery store, while pushing my little ones around aisle by aisle, that I became nostalgic and wanted to share that with them.

One look at the ingredient list though, and, well, didn’t buy anything that day.

I did find a brand of cinnamon raisin bread at Trader Joe’s that was whole wheat and not half bad. We tried it out that weekend. I topped it with peanut butter for the kids and they gobbled it up, taking after their Pops (as they call my Dad).

The loaf was super sturdy, which was great for storing it, but it always made me think it was a bit stale.

So of course I came up with my own homemade recipe that’s whole wheat, naturally sweetened and full of real food ingredients.

And oh wow, what a difference! No hard bread here, no indestructible loaves that can sit around for ages.

This whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread is unbelievably soft and moist. It melts in your mouth and just floods you with warm, comforting emotions.

I now make this bread almost every 2 weeks. My kids inhale at least half of a loaf each Sunday for their breakfast. (Still topped with peanut butter of course!)

I freeze and save the other half of the loaf for the next weekend – unless my husband and I devour it that same day – and so I’m quickly back to making more.

So now I’ve started doubling the recipe to make two loaves at once 😉

A few notes on this whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread:

I’m lazy so I use one bowl to make this bread. If you make a well in the center of the flour mixture and stir together your wet ingredients there before mixing them with the dry mixture, you’ll be fine.
This bread has a lot of raisins. Raisins running throughout it. No bites without raisins. You can reduce the amount of raisins to 3/4 cup if you’d prefer.
Be sure to break up the raisins as you measure and add them – you don’t want huge clumps of raisins stuck together in your bread.
My children highly recommend you top this with peanut butter for an extra hearty breakfast. (Plus then you’ve got carbs, protein and fruit all in one!)
I highly recommend you double the recipe so you can make two loaves at once. Freeze the extra (as a whole loaf or in halves, depending on how much you eat at a time) and defrost in the refrigerator overnight. Or give the extra loaf to a friend or neighbor!
I freeze my breads by wrapping them first in saran wrap then in aluminum foil. I write the contents and date on the aluminum foil and pop it into the freezer.

If you’ve ever been intimidated by homemade bread, this is a great starter recipe. Quick breads like this that don’t use yeast, don’t need kneading and don’t require a bread machine will show you how simple it is.

And it’s light years beyond what you can buy at the store in terms of taste. 👌

I’m gonna have to toast some up and take it to my Dad 😉

Happy weekend to all of you, and I hope it features some of this whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread. You know it’s what we’ll be having Sunday morning!

Enjoy!

~ Kathryn