Cinnamon Swirl Bread
[Makes one 9-inch loaf]
- 1/2 c granulated sugar
- 1/4 c packed light brown sugar
- 4 t ground cinnamon
- 1 1/4 c warm whole milk (110 degrees) [I used nonfat milk]
- 3 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for brushing
- 2 large egg yolks
- 4 c all-purpose flour
- 1 envelope (2 1/2 t) rapid-rise or instant yeast
- 1 1/2 t salt
1. Mix the sugars and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Measure out 2 T and reserve for the topping. Whisk the milk, melted butter, and egg yolks together in a large liquid measuring cup.
2. Combine 3 1/2 c flour, the yeast, salt and 1/4 c of the sugar mixture in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. With the mixer on low-speed, add the milk mixture until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes.
3. Increase the speed to medium-low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. If, after 4 minutes, more flour is needed, add the remaining 1/2 c flour, 2 T at a time, until the dough clears the sides of the bowl but sticks to the bottom.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball. Place the dough in a large, lightly greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
5. Grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and press into a 20 by 8-inch rectangle with the short side facing you. Spray the dough lightly with water, then sprinkle evenly with the remaining sugar mixture, leaving a 1/2-inch border at the far edge. Lightly spray the sugar mixture with water until it is damp but not wet.
6. Loosen the dough from the work surface using a bench scraper or metal spatula, then roll the dough into a tight cylinder and pinch the seam closed.
(For some reason my bread roll was so big I cut it in half in the middle and made 2 smaller loaves. I was pretty sure what I had was too big for 1 loaf pan and I didn’t want to risk ruining the recipe and wasting my time and ingredients). Place the loaf, seam side down, in the prepared pan. Coat the loaf with vegetable oil spray, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size and the dough barely springs back when poked with a knuckle, 45 to 75 minutes.
7. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush the loaf lightly with butter, sprinkle with the reserved sugar mixture, then spray lightly with water. Bake until golden, 40 to 60 minutes, rotating the loaf halfway through baking. Cool the loaf in the pan for 15Â minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours, before serving.
Variation: In step 4, after turning the dough out onto the work surface, knead in 1/2 c raisins by hand until evenly distributed. Proceed as directed.
Jen Maan in Amman 
Looks and sounds great.
Oh, yeah! This looks so, so, SO good! Jenna and I are going to try making this next weekend! I love cinnamon swirl bread, and I’ve never made it, so this will be an adventure for me and Jenna :o)
Raj gives this bread his seal of approval!
I’ve been waiting for you to post this one. What are you posting next?
My favorite recipe of all time: deep dish style pizza. Joey and Mikaela would LOVE it!!!
This looks soooo good, I can almost smell it…….Dad
Oh this is a wonderful bread, isn’t it? Pretty and homey and delicious.
Thanks…and it makes the house smell SO good.
There’s something magical about the spice.
I agree…and the way it makes the house smell!
I’ve been doing the five minutes a day bread dough (did you see my homemade pizza post? I talked about the dough there). This would be a fun way to use up the rest of the dough. Looks great!
I saw the pizza and it looks amazing! It sounds similar to the book Kneadlessly Simple; same idea, no kneading, which I love.
I hadn’t seen Nancy Baggett’s book before, but it does look like it will be a similar technique. I bet she has pizza dough in there too. If not, the Mother Earth News article that I referenced discusses it. I bought the two books I did because I’d tried the MEN article and liked it.
I’ve been enjoying seeing your travels (and cooking) even if I’ve not left many comments.
Pizza tonight is using a cheddar cheese crust. I’ll be posting soon about the latest experiments, including how we wrecked a crust on the new pizza stone. It was a good thing we had more dough to roll out.
Looks yummy! I can just about smell it!
Thanks. It smells heavenly and tastes just as good!
Yay for baked cinnamon treats! Thanks for checking out my blog earlier today!
Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to reading more of your blog.
It looks delicious and perfectly airy — and such a perfect spiral you made!
I’m having a love affair with cinnamon right now -YUM!
This looks delicious. I recently made a pull-apart bread version of cinnamon bread and the smell (and taste too!) was unbelievable. Hey, and I use the same knife! Aren’t they the best?
This looks amazing, thank you for sharing! I will definitely be attempting this with some gluten free flour, it looks way to good to miss out on!
Wow, you have some fab recipes, I can’t wait to try some 🙂 Looking forward to reading more 🙂
This bread is so beautiful.
I bet it would make amazing French toast!
Good advice–I’ll try it this weekend!