Raisin sweet bread is the perfect mix of bread and cake – just sweet enough that a spoonful of homemade jam doesn’t hurt. You can make this recipe without any yeast. Instead of yeast, we use sourdough and the Tangzhong method to obtain a particularly fluffy dough.
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Why sourdough and no yeast?
Sourdough is a natural leavening agent that not only provides a unique flavour, but also improves the digestibility of the bread. With sourdough, you not only achieve a more complex flavour, but also a longer shelf life for your raisin bread.
The magic ingredient for fluffy sultana bread: Tangzhong
Tangzhong is a method from Asian cuisine that makes it possible to produce particularly fluffy and soft baked goods. A small amount of flour is cooked with water to form a thick paste and then worked into the dough. This step increases the moisture absorption in the dough and gives the raisin bread a wonderfully soft consistency.
Ingredients for raisin bread with sourdough
- Tangzhong: The technique originally comes from Asian cuisine. To make tangzhong, one part flour is cooked with five parts water to form a thick paste. The bound water makes the finished raisin bread extra soft and, together with the sourdough, ensures that they remain tasty and fresh for days.
- Wheat flour: Bread flour is best for your challah. Cake flour (or type 405) is best for the fluffy raisin bread. The higher the type number of the flour, the more hulls are still contained in the flour. If you want to use wholemeal flour, you may need to increase the proportion of water in the recipe by 5 to 10 per cent.
- Sugar for sweetness.
- Sourdough starter: The sourdough doesn’t have to be freshly fed, but it shouldn’t have been more than a week since it was last refreshed. If you have discard left over, I have the right recipes for you here. I feed my sourdough with equal parts water and flour. For the flour, I use a mixture of wheat flour and wholegrain rye flour. If you feed your sourdough with a different water-to-flour ratio, you will need to adjust the amount of water in the recipe accordingly.
- soft butter or vegan butter alternative
- Water: Cold in summer and lukewarm in winter.
- Sultanas are a must in every raisin bread.
- Salt for the flavour.
In three steps: The recipe for soft raisin bread
- Prepare the tangzhong and soak the raisins.
- Mix the dough and leave to rest at room temperature for six to eight hours.
- Shape the raisin loaf, place in a loaf tin*, put in the fridge overnight and bake in the morning at 200 degrees for 40 minutes until golden brown.
Helpful tools – My recommendations
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- A Danish Whisk* – especially if you don’t use a kitchen machine. This allows you to mix your ingredients without the whole dough sticking to the spoon.
- A kitchen scale*.
- You can use a stainless steel dough knife* to cut your dough pieces or shape your loaves.
- A stainless steel loaf tin*.
- A wooden rolling pin*.
- A steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven mould* and lava stones*. The tray is filled with the stones and placed on the bottom of the oven during preheating. When you put your bread in the oven, pour hot water onto the stones. This creates steam, which ensures that your bread rises well.
- A cooling rack* for bread, rolls and waffles.
- A sharp bread knife*.
- A stainless steel toaster* for slices of bread, toast and rolls.
You can find more product recommendations here.
More sweet breads with sourdough
Soft Sourdough Challah Bread Recipe with Pumpkin
Did you know that you can serve braided brioche not only at Easter, but also in the fall? Today I have an autumnal sourdough challah with pumpkin for you. The recipe doesn’t use industrial yeast and only the sourdough makes it fluffy and soft. You can prepare the…
Sourdough Easter Bread with Almonds and Raisins
A soft and fluffy Easter bread is a must at every Easter brunch. This recipe with sourdough contains almonds and raisins (or other dried fruit) and stays fresh and tasty for a long time thanks to the yogurt in the dough. You can leave the dough to rest overnight in…
Homemade Sourdough Brioche with Poppy Seed Filling
Homemade poppy seed brioche is a must at every Easter brunch. This sourdough brioche with a sweet poppy seed filling is made without yeast or eggs. If you replace the milk in the dough with a plant-based alternative, the Easter brioche will be vegan. Poppy seed…
Recipe: Best Sourdough Raisin Bread
Ingredients
Ingredients for Tangzhong
- 20 g cake flour bread flour (or type 550)
- 100 ml water or (oat) milk
Ingredients for the dough
- Tangzhong
- 400 g wheat flour bread flour (or Typ 550)
- 40 g sugar
- 40 g sourdough starter
- 60 g soft butter or vegan butter alternative
- 220 g water
- 100 g raisins and hot water for soaking
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
Day 1
- For the tangzhong, mix 20 g flour with 100 g water and boil gently while stirring. Cover the tangzhong and leave to cool completely.
- Heat 100g of the water for the main dough, soak the raisins in it and leave to cool.
- Mix tangzhong, flour, water, sugar, soft butter, sultanas and their soaking liquid, sourdough starter and salt to form a dough.
- Cover the dough and leave to rest at room temperature for four to six hours, then place in the fridge for one to two hours.
- Divide the dough into four equal parts with a pastry knife* and roll out into narrow rectangles.
- Roll up the rectangles and place the rolls next to each other in a greased loaf tin*.
- Brush the surface with milk and refrigerate overnight.
Day 2
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees using a steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven dish* and lava stones*. Bake the raisin bread for 20 minutes with steam and 20 minutes without steam or until golden brown.
- Enjoy with butter and jam!
Notes
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