Thursday, October 24, 2013

Cinnamon Swirl Bread




It seems I am incapable of leaving a single recipe alone. I am almost never able to follow it to the letter. Perhaps it has become a hobby? But it is the reason for my success with certain recipes. You will find me regularly searching google for multiple different versions of the same thing, and I create a completely new recipe using all of those and what I consider to be the recipe's best features.

Cinnamon swirl bread has never been made in our home before. Cinnamon quick bread, yes. It was a recipe made on a regular basis, but because of recent lifestyle changes I am now making nearly everything from scratch. This list includes all of our bread, but I was craving something new with cinnamon(because we all know how much we love cinnamon in this house! refer to Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls).
I used to buy cinnamon raisin bread at the store on a regular basis. It's something both my dad and I have always enjoyed, and I grew up eating it as a treat once in awhile when he felt like spending the extra couple of dollars for it. It is something that holds a nostalgic feel. Maybe that is the real reason I love cinnamon so much?
Determined to find an amazing cinnamon swirl bread recipe I kept running into pictures of breads and recipes that I just didn't get excited about. However, last week I made this white bread that turned out amazingly good. It was just like the texture of the stuff the store sells, except this bread wasn't full of preservatives or unknown ingredients and tasted about 100 times better. I decided this would make a perfect base recipe to do some tweaking with to create a new cinnamon swirl bread recipe! Are you getting excited yet?? Here we go!


First take 1/2 Tablespoon yeast, 1 1/4 cup warm water and 2 Tablespoons sugar and stir together in a bowl, set aside for 15 minutes. In another large bowl cut 1/4 cup butter into 3 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 Tablespoon salt while the yeast is proofing.
Yeast mixture nice and raised after proofing

Make a well in the flour and pour in the proofed yeast mixture. Stir until combined as well as possible. There will still be bits of butter and chunks of flour. Don't worry everything will mix better during the kneading process. 

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead until smooth. If you poke the dough and theres a large indent still, keep kneading. Hand kneading can take quite a bit of time so if you have a mixer with dough hook, use it! Here is a nice little video on how to knead dough if you need a good reference: How to knead bread dough


Before you are completely finished kneading add in your 1 tsp of cinnamon(you can also add 1/2 cup raisins at this point if you choose to) Do not add extra cinnamon, too much can affect the structure of your bread.


Knead the cinnamon in until nice and marbled


Grease a bowl, add dough ball and cover with a warm wet towel. Place in a warm place until doubled.



Punch down dough as much as you can. Try to get as many air bubbles out as you can.


Knead back into a ball and roll out into a 8x16 in rectangle. Beat together 1 egg plus 2 teaspoons of warm water and brush over top of dough. Be generous! This is the glue between layers that keeps the cinnamon filling from making gaps.


Mix together 1 Tablespoon flour, 1 Tablespoon cinnamon powder and 1/4 cup brown sugar.
Sprinkle and press down cinnamon filling mixture then roll it up. Roll as tightly as possible(but careful not to tear the layers)


Pinch seams closed

Fold ends and pinch closed



Place in greased bread pan to rise for about an hour, or until edges reach rim of pan. While dough is rising mix together streusel topping. I used a pastry cutter but you can also just use a food processor in short spurts(too much will cause it to form a ball). Cut together 2 Tablespoons butter, 2 Tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 cup flour



Brush with leftover egg/water mixture and sprinkle struesel topping pressing into the dough lightly. Cut 3 diagonal strips in the top(do not cut a line through the middle, it is very easy to accidentally go to deep and have the top layer fall.)


Bake in preheated oven at 375 F for 35-45 minutes (mine took 45 minutes). Once out of the oven, let cool COMPLETELY before cutting. If you cut to soon your loaf will pretty much fall apart. I learned this the hard way with my first loaf. 


Slice, toast, and pile on the butter!!










Cinnamon Swirl Bread

1 1/4 cup warm water(105-110F)
1/2 Tablespoon dry active yeast
2 Tablespoons sugar
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 Tablespoon salt
1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins(optional)

Filling:
1 egg, beaten with 2 teaspoons water
1 Tablespoon flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Streusel Topping:
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup flour

Directions:
In a small bowl, stir together warm water, yeast and sugar and set aside for 15 minutes to proof.
While yeast is proofing mix flour and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in butter. Stir in yeast mixture and turn out onto a floured surface to knead. Knead for 15 minutes or until you can tell dough is done. It can take less time or more depending on how fast you knead. Taking your time is best. Before done kneading add in 1 tsp cinnamon and knead in until nice and marbled. Grease a bowl, add dough ball and cover with a warm wet towel. Place in a warm place until doubled. Punch down dough as well as you can. Try to get as many air bubbles out as possible. Knead back into a ball and roll out into a 8x16 in rectangle. Beat together egg and warm water and brush over top of dough. Be generous! This is the glue between layers that keeps the cinnamon filling from making gaps. Mix together flour, cinnamon and brown sugar filling and sprinkle over the egg. Press down mixture to get it to stick to the dough. Roll up as tightly as possible being careful not to tear the dough. Pinch seams closed. Place in greased bread pan to rise for about an hour, or until edges reach rim of pan. While dough is rising mix together streusel topping. I used a pastry cutter but you can also just use a food processor in short spurts(too much will cause it to form a ball). Cut together butter, sugar, cinnamon and flour. After dough has risen, brush with leftover egg/water mixture and sprinkle struesel topping pressing into the dough lightly. Cut 3 diagonal strips in the top(do not cut a line through the middle, it is very easy to accidentally go to deep and have the top layer fall.) Bake in preheated oven at 375 F for 35-45 minutes (mine took 45 minutes). Once out of the oven, let cool completely before cutting. If you cut to soon your loaf will pretty much fall apart. I learned this the hard way with my first loaf. 

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