Gluten-Free Cinnamon Bread

5 from 1 vote

This gluten-free cinnamon bread is a soft, moist quick bread with a rich cinnamon sugar swirl and a tender, cake-like crumb. Made without yeast and using simple pantry ingredients, it comes together easily and bakes up beautifully every time.

Prep Time10

Cook Time55

Total Time1 5

Course: Baking, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: gluten-free cinnamon bread

Servings: servings

Author: Cheryl Johnson

Ingredients

2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (280 grams), I use Cup4Cup
1 tsp xanthan gum (3 grams), unless the flour blend you use already has this included
2 tsp baking powder (10 grams)
1 tsp baking soda (6 grams)
¼ tsp salt (1.5 grams)
5 tbsp unsalted butter (70 grams), melted (but not too hot)
½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
¼ cup light brown sugar (50 grams), packed
¾ cup buttermilk (180 ml), room temperature
¼ cup sour cream (60 ml), room temperature
2 large eggs room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract (5 ml)

Cinnamon Swirl

½ cup granulated sugar 100 grams
1 tbsp ground cinnamon 9 grams

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Spray a 9” x 5” loaf pan with non-stick baking spray and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum (if needed), and salt. Set aside for now.
In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, buttermilk, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk until well combined.
Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir just until combined (until there are no more dry streaks of flour in the batter). Do not overmix.
Place half of the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Stir the cinnamon swirl ingredients (sugar and cinnamon) together in a small bowl, then sprinkle almost all (all but 2 tablespoons) of the mixture over the first layer of batter in the loaf pan.
Place the rest of the batter in the loaf pan over the cinnamon swirl layer.
Sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp of cinnamon swirl mixture over the top of the second layer of batter.
Use a table knife or wooden food skewer to swirl the layers of cinnamon throughout the bread. Swirl the knife through the bread from top to bottom and side to side. Do not overmix. You want just a swirl, not to fully blend the cinnamon sugar mixture layer into the batter.
Bake in the oven for 35 minutes, then top the loaf pan with a large piece of tented aluminum foil (so the foil is not touching the bread, only touching the sides of the pan while hovering over the bread) and bake for an additional 20 to 23 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean).
Let the cinnamon bread cool for 15 minutes before removing it from the loaf pan. Let the bread cool completely before storing.

Notes

Double-check labels. Make sure all of your ingredients are certified gluten-free, and don’t skip the cross-contamination warnings on packaging. This is especially important for baking powder, vanilla, and flour blends.
Xanthan gum provides structure. It helps bind the ingredients and prevents the bread from crumbling. If your gluten-free flour blend already contains xanthan gum, you can skip adding more to avoid a gummy texture.

Nutrition