Cinnamon Walnut Raisin Bread

CAUTION! Cinnamon walnut raisin bread made with sourdough starter is extremely addictive 🙂

It is rich and full of flavor, very nutritious with perfectly balance sweetness.

You can spread some butter on top of a slice, or eat it as is. Also it makes the best French toast!

Ingredients

Sourdough Starter 

• 10g sourdough starter
• 50g water
• 45g all purpose flour or bread flour 
• 5g rye flour 

Dough

• 200g bread flour (50%)
• 200g stone ground whole wheat flour (50%)
• 240g water (60%)
• 100g starter (25%)
• 8g salt (2%)
• 20g sugar (5%)
• 20g soft butter (5%)
• 120g chopped walnuts
• 80g raisins 
• Coaster sugar to sprinkle the loaf

Filling 

• 20g cinnamon 
• 60g sugar
• Water to spray the dough

Directions 

Starter

• 10 pm add starter to the water and whisk together, add flour, mix well, cover, let sit at room temp 74-78F until in about 8-10 hours starter reaches its peak (triples or more in volume).
• Learn how to make starter from scratch here.

Dough

• 8 am mix water with sugar, add sourdough starter and flour, mix on low speed of your mixing machine for 2-3 min, or with KitchenAid on speed 3 for 5-6 minutes until well incorporated and gluten will get stronger. The dough should come up together, add salt, continue kneading for couple more minutes then add soft butter.  Keep kneading for 3-5 more minutes until all butter will be incorporated and dough will wrap the hook.
• Add chopped walnuts and raisins, continue kneading for couple more minutes until all inclusions will be incorporated.

• 8.30 am Round the dough and let it proof for 3-4 hours at 76-80F24/28C. Perform 2 stretches and folds every 2 hours. Dough has to become puffier and show signs of fermentation.
• 12 pm Cover the dough and move to fridge for cold fermentation for 9-12 hours or overnight.
• Prepare the filling by mixing sugar and cinnamon together.
• 9 pm or next morning remove the dough from the fridge.
• Roll it into a 9-by-17-inch rectangle. 
• Spray the dough with water then spread the filling evenly all around the dough, leave 1 Inch border.
• Generously spay the cinnamon filling with water.
• Starting with a short side, roll the dough into a tight log. Pinch seam together. Transfer the log onto a tray covered with parchment paper seem side down. 

• Let the loaf to proof overnight at 68-70F/20-21C until double or more in volume. Or, if you pulled the dough from the fridge in the morning, please follow previous step and let the dough proof at 76-80F/24-28C for 4-6 hours until double or more in volume.

• Preheat the oven 480F with oval cast iron pan in it or baking stone for 30-40 minutes.
• When loaf is done proofing, to get rid of air pockets use a wooden stick(or something sharp) to pock a holes alongside of the loaf, 4 times at each side.
• Using scoring knife make 4 straight cuts on top of the loaf.

• Bake the loaf with steam 10 min (to create steam close the lid of your cast iron pan or create steam by pouring ice cubes into a tray, that was placed under the baking stone) 
• Lower the temperature to 365F and continue baking for 30 more minutes.
• Spray the hot loaf with water and sprinkle coarse sugar on top.
• Continue baking for 15-20 more minutes, until the bread will get nice and brown color.

Enjoy!