This homemade Cinnamon Swirl Bread is a great way to get the day started, and it only requires a few basic ingredients. This impressively light and airy loaf is laced all the way through with thick swirls of cinnamon sugar. You’ll wish you had doubled the yeast bread recipe.
This cinnamon swirl bread is ridiculously simple to make. It only requires a few basic ingredients and a few minutes of your time. The loaf is buttery and comforting thanks to the cinnamon’s spicy sweetness. Like my cinnamon roll recipe, this one is perfect for mornings or afternoons.
This cinnamon-flavored bread is never too sweet and is a guaranteed hit at any gathering. If you make the loaf yourself instead of buying it, your whole house will be filled with the delicious aroma of cinnamon.
Materials Required for This Recipe
- Flour is specifically designed for making bread, as its higher protein content makes loaves more dense and chewy than those made with all-purpose flour.
- To save time, this recipe calls for instant yeast, which doesn’t require blooming. Verify that the yeast is still active.
- Milk — milk gives the bread a creamy texture and a subtle sweetness. Whole (or 2%) milk results in richer, softer bread, so I wouldn’t recommend using low-fat milk instead.
- When a recipe calls for butter, use unsalted butter without exception. The bread won’t taste too salty if you use unsalted butter.
Ingredients
- ▢3¼ cups bread flour (390 grams)
- ▢1 package instant yeast (0.25 ounce/7g)
- ▢½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- ▢½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ▢¼ cup milk (60 ml)
- ▢6 tablespoons unsalted butter (85 grams)
- ▢¼ cup water (60 ml)
- ▢2 large eggs
- ▢1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Method for Preparing Cinnamon Twist Bread
- Whisk together the flour, yeast, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Cook the milk, butter, and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until the temperature reaches 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Slowly add the milk mixture to the flour while the mixer is on low speed. When the dough is smooth and elastic, add the eggs and continue mixing at medium speed. Form a ball with the dough and place it in an oil-sprayed bowl; cover and let it rise until it has doubled in size.
- Mix the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the cinnamon in a separate small bowl.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and punch it down.
- The dough should be rolled into a 9-by-15-inch rectangle.
- Leave a half-inch border at one of the shorter ends of the dough uncovered and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
- Roll the dough into a log, beginning at the end closest to you and working toward the edge. In a greased loaf pan, lay the log seam-side down. Keep the dough covered and at a warm temperature until it has almost doubled in size, about an hour. Put in oven and bake for 60 minutes. After ten minutes, remove the cinnamon swirl bread from the pan to cool completely on a wire rack.
HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE LIKE A PRO
- The dough’s rising time will vary based on the ambient temperature in your kitchen. Dough should rise between 75 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough needs at least an hour to rise twice as much. Put the dough in an oven that has been turned off but has the light on if your kitchen is particularly chilly.
- If you measure your flour accurately, you won’t have to worry about adding too much. The most common cause of dense bread is using too much flour in the recipe. A scale is the most accurate tool for measuring flour. If you don’t have a flour sifter, you can use a spoon to aerate the flour before sprinkling it into a measuring cup and then leveling it off with a knife.
- For optimal results when working eggs into bread dough, they should be at room temperature rather than straight from the refrigerator. If you forgot to take the eggs out of the fridge ahead of time, you can quickly bring them to room temperature by placing them in a bowl of warm water for a couple of minutes.
- Use a pan made of a light metal like aluminum because it heats and cools rapidly. Baking times may need to be adjusted if a glass or ceramic loaf pan is used.
- In this recipe, an instant-read thermometer is useful for determining when the milk and butter have reached the right temperature, as well as for testing the doneness of the bread. Above 130 degrees Fahrenheit, the instant yeast may be destroyed.
- Raisins are optional in this cinnamon swirl loaf and can be sprinkled on top of the cinnamon sugar before baking.
FAQ
HOW DO I RETAIN THE REMAINING FOOD?
If stored in an airtight container or plastic wrap, cinnamon bread will keep for up to 5 days at room temperature.
HOW ABOUT WE FREEZE THIS?
In a word, yes. Wrapping the entire loaf in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil allows it to be frozen in its entirety. Allow to thaw in the fridge or at room temperature for at least 12 hours before reheating. Another option is to individually wrap and freeze the slices. Put them in a bag that can go in the freezer. They can then be toasted in a toaster oven straight from the freezer. The maximum time spent frozen is three months.
CINNAMON BREAD: HOW TO SERVE IT?
Serve the cinnamon bread with butter, my honey butter recipe, or my apple butter recipe while it is still warm from the oven. Use the bread for my French toast recipe even if it’s a little stale because it was left out.
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