cinnamon swirl bread recipe
it's that time of the year you guys. april.. usually when the end of the school year starts to pressure students to keep up with school work before the year ends. even though i'm not in school anymore, the depression usually associated during this time for the past four years is definitely getting to me. so i decided to bake come cinnamon swirl bread as a treat. this is just the recipe i used and how i did it to remember for the future.
i used this recipe along with this one reddit reply adding a few tips, although i only use one of them (the one regarding the yeast)
ingredients i used:
1 cup milk
6 tbsp. butter
2 1/2 tsp. fast rising instant dry yeast (one packet / 0.25 oz is enough. instant dry yeast does not require proofing.)
2 whole eggs (3 if you'd like to add an egg + cinnamon + sugar wash at the end for the crust.)
1/3 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. cinnamon
just a quick heads up: i did use an electric mixer for this, along with the paddle and hook attachments. there's a way to do that by hand, however i barely make bread in general so i wouldn’t know LOL
directions:
combine 3 1/2 cups flour and 1 tsp. salt.
in the electric mixer bowl, mix 1/3 sugar and 2 eggs using the paddle attachment.
add in 1 cup milk and 6 tbsp butter. mix. add in instant dry yeast. mix. add a bit of the flour in. mix. continue to do this until you've added in all of the flour.
switch to hook attachment. knead dough for ten minutes. if too sticky, add in 1/4 flour until not as sticky.
heat metal/glass bowl (i ran it under hot water) and coat the inside with canola oil. place dough in, make sure dough is also coated with a bit of the oil. cover in saran wrap and add the dough somewhere warm to rise. (i turned on the oven for a bit at it's lowest temp, turned it off, then let cool down for a moment before adding it in.) let rise for about an hour or so. (should look more spongier than before, though you can also test this by poking it. if it springs back, it should have risen enough)
coating your workspace with a bit of flour to make it easier to work with, remove the dough from the bowl and flatten it down to a rectangle with a width that'll fit into your pan. (i used a 8.5 x 8.5 pan, but i added some foil to make it a bit thinner to give it that Loaf look.) mix 2 tbsp cinnamon and sugar. (forgot to smear some butter here??? smear butter on dough before sprinkling cinnamon sugar but i suppose without it is fine) add cinnamon sugar mix onto top of dough. struggle to roll dough. add any excess cinnamon sugar onto your dough as you keep rolling. pinch edge to seal.
smear butter to loaf pan. carefully place dough in pan, seam downward. cover in saran wrap once more and let rise for about 40 minutes to an hour.
once risen, remove dough from oven (if rising in oven) then preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C.
mix 1 egg with a bit of milk, cinnamon, and sugar, and using a pastry brush, brush egg mixture over the top (if desiring a more crunchy crust) bake for 40 minutes on lowest rack, occasionally checking in to add more of the egg mixture, if so desired.
remove from oven and pan, let cool. from there, you're done! enjoy!
honestly, i had such a blast with this. the bread, once toasted, is even more crunchier and it's just so good. had this with some chocolate milk and i just felt like i was in heaven.
here's the result:
it doesn't look as perfect as most picture perfect loaves do, i'm really clumsy and had a bit of a hard time with the dough, but i suppose you could say something about how that connects to me.
the depression i dealt with while in school took away a lot from me, but there's something about fighting back your once paralyzing depression with something as sweet as baking. i'm no longer in that situation anymore, and this'll be my first spring + summer outside school. so being able to make this, despite the loud thoughts of not feeling good enough, despite having had troubles keeping myself fed during school time, is everything to me. it finally feels like i really am reclaiming myself. can't believe a simple little cinnamon swirl bread got me this sentimental but i really can't help it.
anyway. this bread's good. can't wait to have it for breakfast and as a little treat.