🍂 Before You Add Cinnamon to Your Dough, Read This

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I see it all the time. Someone makes a beautiful sourdough, decides to get creative and add cinnamon, and the loaf comes out flat, dense, and disappointing. They blame their starter. They blame their shaping. They blame the weather.

It was the cinnamon.

Here's what most people don't know. Cinnamon contains a compound called cinnamaldehyde. It's what makes cinnamon smell incredible. It's also antifungal by nature, which means if it touches your dough too early it starts fighting your yeast. Not a little. A lot. Your fermentation slows down, your gluten development suffers, and by the time you shape that loaf you're already behind.

The fix is so simple it almost feels like cheating.

⏰ Add your cinnamon late. Always late.

Not during mixing. Not during autolyse. After your gluten is built and your fermentation is already rolling. Fold three. Lamination. That's your window.

And before you add it, mix it with a little brown sugar first. The sugar creates a barrier that slows how fast the cinnamaldehyde hits your dough. It also caramelizes in the oven and gives you those gorgeous ribbons of swirl in the crumb.

🎙️ I just dropped a short audio overview walking through exactly how to do this, when to add it, how much to use, and what happens if you get it wrong. If you've ever wanted to make a cinnamon sourdough or you've tried and it didn't go the way you planned, this one is for you.

Link is in the classroom. Go listen before you mix tonight.

We're baking tonight. We bake tomorrow. Let's go. 🔥

— Henry ⭐🔥

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