This is a cinnamon sugar sourdough loaf cut into 6 delicious mini loaves for snacking and sharing. This is an easy way to gift sourdough or split bread for a group of people.
❤️ Why You’ll Love Mini Artisan Loaves
These are special loaves that require very little extra effort. My favorite way to make sourdough bread special, is the easy way. I have a family of 5 and these loaves were perfect personal loaves for all of us for lunch time. Or you can eat it like a piece of toast in the morning, smothered with butter and extra cinnamon sugar or a drizzle of honey.
🍲 Ingredients
Sourdough Starter – Active, bubbly starter that has been fed and is ready to leaven bread. Every good loaf of sourdough bread starts with a strong starter. It is typical to use your starter anywhere from 4 – 8 hours after feeding, depending on the temperate of your home. The colder your home, the slower it will be to rise.
Flours – I use both all-purpose flour and whole-wheat flour in this recipe, but if you don’t have whole-wheat flour you can substitute for all-purpose flour in a 1:1 ratio.
Water – filtered, room temperature water.
Salt – I use pink Himalayan salt.
Cinnamon – mixed with sugar for the filling of the loaves.
Sugar – I use granulated sugar in this recipe, but you can substitute for brown sugar easily.
👩🍳 How to Make Mini Artisan Loaves
In the morning, feed your starter. When your starter has peaked, assemble your dough. Mix together your starter and water until it turns into a milky liquid. Add in the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, and salt until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and let the dough rest for 45 minutes – 1 hour.
After resting, work the dough into a semi – smooth ball by pulling the sides of the dough up and towards the middle, turning the bowl each time. Cover and let rest for 45 minutes – 1 hour.
Perform 3-4 more stretch and folds anywhere from 45 minutes – 1 hour apart. Cover and let rest on the counter overnight for the bulk fermentation.
The next morning, turn your dough over onto a lightly floured work surface. In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Stretch the dough into a large rectangle and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top of the dough surface. Shaping the dough into a Batard (oval) is the easiest way to achieve 6 equal mini loaves.
TIP: Cinnamon has a chemical agent that breaks down the gluten, so it might seem hard to shape the dough because it will seem wet and messy. My best advice would be to work the dough as little as possible during the shaping. If you work it too much, then the dough might rip and it will be harder to get ahold of.
Place the dough seam-side up in the banneton and stitch it up the middle by pulling both sides towards the middle and having them touch. Repeat this all the way down the banneton to make the dough tighter and create tension.
Cover and place the banneton in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or up to 3 days. It’s easier to cut the dough when it’s chilled a bit. When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Turn the loaf over onto a piece of parchment paper, holding your bench scraper vertically, cut the dough in half long ways, straight down the middle. Then, holding your bench scraper horizontally, cut each piece into 3 smaller pieces. Repeat with the second half of the dough until you have 6 total mini loaves. It is unnecessary to score the loaves before baking because they will expand from the cut in the dough.
Place the loaves onto a parchment lined baking sheet and into the oven on the middle rack.
On the lower rack, pour hot water into a cast iron skillet and close immediately to trap the steam. Bake for 18 minutes, remove the steam, and bake for an additional 18 – 20 minutes.
Let cool and enjoy!
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Cinnamon has a chemical agent that breaks down the gluten, so it might seem hard to shape the dough because it will seem wet and messy. My best advice would be to work the dough as little as possible during the shaping. If you work it too much, then the dough might rip, and it will be harder to get ahold of.
- Be sure to chill your dough because the dough is easier to cut with the bench scraper when it’s cold.
🗒 Variations
If you don’t want to cut the loaf to make mini loaves, this would be a great cinnamon sugar artisan loaf. Follow my Beginner Artisan Loaf Recipe for cooking times.
- Classic Artisan Mini Loaves
- Jalapeno Cheddar Mini Loaves
- Cinnamon Sugar Artisan Loaf
🗒 Substitutions
- Whole-wheat flour can be substituted for all-purpose, or bread flour.
- Granulated sugar can be substituted for brown sugar.
🗒 Best Served With
- Dinner
- Lunch Rolls
- Morning toast with butter and honey
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Fresh bread isn’t supposed to stay shelf stable for long, but to increase the longevity of your sourdough bread you can either freeze it in a Ziplock bag or store the leftover bread in a paper bag and in a bread box or kitchen cabinet.
🤔 Common Questions
Nope! This would make a great cinnamon sugar artisan loaf, just adjust the baking times and bake inside your Dutch oven.
Yes! I would suggest adding in raisins during your first stretch and fold so they sit during the bulk fermentation, and then add in the cinnamon sugar as normal.
Mini Cinnamon Sugar Artisan Loaves
Equipment
- 1 proofing basket
Ingredients
- 60 grams bubbly, active starter
- 350 grams filtered water
- 420 grams all-purpose flour
- 80 grams whole-wheat flour
- 9 grams salt
Cinnamon Sugar
- ½ tbs cinnamon
- ½ cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- In the morning, feed your starter.
- When your starter has peaked, it's time to assemble your dough. Mix together your starter and water until it turns into a milky liquid. Add in the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, and salt until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and let the dough rest for 45 minutes -1 hour.
- After resting, work the dough into a semi – smooth ball by pulling the sides of the dough up and towards the middle, turning the bowl each time. Cover and let rest for 45 minutes – 1 hour again.
- Perform 3-4 more stretch and folds anywhere from 45 minutes-1 hour apart. Cover and let rest on the counter overnight for the bulk fermentation.
- The next morning, turn your dough over onto a lightly floured work-surface. In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar.
- Stretch the dough into a large rectangle and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top of the surface. Shaping the dough into a batard (oval) is the easiest way to make 6 equally sized mini loaves.
- TIP: Cinnamon has a chemical agent that breaks down the gluten, so it might seem hard to shape the dough because it will seem wet and messy. My best advice would be to work the dough as little as possible during the shaping. If you work it too much, then the dough might rip and it will be harder to get ahold of.
- Place the dough seam-side up in the banneton and stitch it up the middle by pulling both sides towards the middle and having them touch. Repeat this all the way down the banneton to create tension in the dough.
- Cover with plastic wrap and place the banneton in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or up to 3 days. It's easier to cut the dough when it's chilled a bit. When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
- Turn the loaf over onto a piece of parchment paper, and holding your bench scraper vertically, cut the dough in half long ways. Then, holding your bench scraper horizontally, cut each section into 3 smaller pieces. Repeat with the other half until you have 6 mini loaves. It is unnecessary to score the smaller loaves because they will expand from the cut section on the sides.
- Place the loaves onto a parchment lined baking sheet and on the middle rack in the oven
- On the lower rack, pour hot water into a cast iron skillet and close immediately to trap the steam. Bake for 18 minutes, remove the steam, and bake for an additional 18 – 20 minutes.
- Let cool and enjoy with butter and extra cinnamon sugar, or a drizzle of honey 🙂
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi ! Can I shape the mini loaves?
Yes 🙂
Hi can I store these in the fridge for a period of time before baking or will the cinnamon ruin the dough?
These mini loaves are cut from a standard sized loaf that can definitely be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days before baking!