Don't you want a slice of this? Right now? Toasted and buttered? Ladies and gentlemen, let's bake some bread.
Cinnamon swirl bread always feels like a special treat. It did when I was five and it still does now. I like to toast it and peel the layers away one at a time. Nothing compares to that last buttery bite from the very middle.
I'm a big fan of raisins, so I always throw a healthy handful into my cinnamon swirl bread. I also find that they stay in the loaf better when kneaded directly into the dough. You can nix the raisins if you don't like them or add them along with the cinnamon-sugar before rolling up the loaves if you like it better that way.
Speaking of rolling up the dough, I picked up a trick a while back from King Arthur Flour to help prevent big gaps from forming between the layers during baking. Instead of brushing the dough with butter, brush it with a beaten egg. Where the fat in butter keeps the rolled-up layers separate, the protein in the egg will actually fuse them together. Nifty, huh?!
Makes 2 loaves
1 cup (6 oz) raisins
1 cup (8 oz) warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup (8 oz) milk, whole, 2%, or skim
1/4 cup (2 oz) unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons salt
5 1/2 - 6 cups (1 lb 11.5 oz - 1 lb 14 oz) all-purpose flour
Filling:
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 large egg beaten with 2 teaspoons warm water
Put the raisins in a small bowl and cover them with hot water. Let the raisins plump for at least 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Pour a cup of water into the bowl of a standing mixer or large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over top. (You can use the water from soaking the raisins for some extra-awesome flavor in your loaves, but just make sure the water has cooled to room temperature.) Give it a few minutes, then stir to fully dissolve the yeast into the water.
Stir the milk, melted butter, and salt into the water. Add 5 1/2 cups of the flour and stir to form a shaggy dough. Knead in your mixer on low speed with a dough hook or knead by hand for 8-10 minutes to form a smooth, slightly tacky dough. Check the dough halfway through; if it's very sticky (think: bubble gum), add a little more flour. The dough is ready when it forms a ball without sagging and quickly springs back when poked.
Toss the raisins with a few tablespoons of flour to absorb any residual moisture from when they were plumped. With the mixer on gradually add them to the bowl and continue kneading until they are evenly distributed.
If kneading by hand, turn the dough out onto your work surface and pat it into an oval. Sprinkled about half the raisins over the top and fold the dough like a letter. Pat it into an oval again, sprinkle the remaining raisins, and fold it again. Knead the dough by hand for a few minutes to distribute the raisins through the dough. (Alternatively, you can reserve the raisins and sprinkle them over the dough along with the cinnamon-sugar.)
Return the dough to the bowl and cover. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about an hour. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and beat together the egg and water in a second bowl.
Divide the dough into two pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll the dough out on the counter. It should be slightly less wide than your baking pan and as long as you can make it. The thinner the dough, the more layers of crazy-good cinnamon swirl you'll end up with. If the dough starts to shrink back on you, let it rest for a few minutes and then try again.
Brush the entire surface of the dough with egg wash, leaving about two inches clear at the top. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar. Starting at the end closest to you, roll up the dough. When you get to the top, pinch the seam closed. Transfer the loaf to your loaf pan seam-side down. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
Let the loaves rise until mounded over the top of the pan and pillowy, 30-40 minutes. Halfway through rising, preheat the oven to 375° F.
Brush the top with some of the remaining egg wash. If desired, sprinkle some of your remaining cinnamon-sugar over the tops of the loaves as well. Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.
Remove the loaves from the pans and allow them to cool completely before slicing. Baked loaves can also be frozen for up to three months.
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(Images: Emma Christensen)
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This looks delicious. I might use round pans instead of loaf pans and make it for Rosh Hashana when cinnamon and raisins are traditional.
this might be a dumb question, but would I use the hook attachment on my mixer?
We made some cinnamon bread awhile back, but made the mistake of having the cinnamon/raisins layer be too thick, and ended up with a 'C' in the middle of the bread, instead of a swirl.
It's kinda funny.
smooshmallow....yes. you would use the dough hook attachment on your mixer. not a stupid question if you've never done it before.
@smooshmallow (love the screen name!) - Yes, use a dough hook. I'll add a note to that effect in the recipe.
Looks delicious.
Looks great
My next project can't wait to
Make it
Mine in baking right now and is almost finished and man does it look beautiful. I was wondering what to make my kids for breakfast tomorrow when I saw this on the website. Can't wait to cut into it tomorrow.
Hi, When I put the raisins in, a handful at a time, they got stuck to the bottom of the ball of dough and kinda got smushed up over and over again instead of getting incorporated into the dough. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.
Would this ship well? This looks like an amazing treat to ship out for the holidays. Maybe freeze, then ship? Thoughts?
Question from a newbie bread maker! I made my first loaf of french bread this week, half the time spent in my bread machine and the rest rising and oven (turned out very dense though)
Now I do have a kitchen aid mixer with dough hook but would I be able to put this recipe in the bread machine on the dough cycle? it's a 1.5 hr cycle. May be a silly question.
I'm also curious on shipping! My family across state would love this.
Thanks for the recipe I can't wait to try it!! My 6 year old raisin lover will LOVE this! ;)
An overcast, bready kind of day, so I made this already. I wished the dough was a little sweeter, though it grew on me quite a bit by the second slice (toasted). I also like The Best Recipe version quite a bit.
@albyjel - Did you toss them with flour first? That should help with getting them incorporated. I find that the raisins look like they're not going into the dough at first, but then they work their way in if I give it a minute or two. If it's just not working for you, try kneading them in by hand.
@BKLYNBaker and Angiel - Sure! I think if you freeze it and ship it still frozen, it should do quite well. I'd recommend expedited shipping though so it gets there within a day or two. (Longer than that and it will start to get really stale)
I'm not familiar with bread machines, though. Hopefully someone else can chime in on that!
@brookems - I debated SO LONG on sugar! To add a few tablespoons...or not? To add....or not? I typically go for less-sweet things so I ended up cutting it. But if you or anyone else would like a little bit sweeter bread, try adding 2-4 tablespoons along with the milk and butter.
That looks amazing, I am going to dedicate my Friday night to making this. Thanks!
Damn I'm almost out of flour and this looks so good! To the grocery store after work!
Oh yum, this looks so good. Great photos, Emma. And thanks for the neat tip about the brushing the dough with egg. I'll definitely have to try that! :)
The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of butter (which is 4T) but it also says 2T. Which is the correct amount? Thanks.
Oops, it says 2oz, not 2T. My mistake!
I have made it, last night and had it for breafast this morning. Very nice. :)
I recently bought some yeast that's not powdered, it's a little block. I would like to use it for this, how much should I use?
Thank you for including instructions for making this by hand, too! So many recipes only give instructions using stand mixers and it can be so discouraging.
I would really like to try this - but in the past when I've tried using yeast, the finished product always smells strongly of yeast! What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?
@rowanna78 - Sounds like you bought the kind of fresh "cake" yeast that professional bakers use! .6 oz fresh yeast = 1 package/1 T of dry yeast, so for this recipe, try using .5 oz or so. Keep an eye on the bread as it rises as your times might be a little different than the recipe.
@adry - You might have been following recipes that called for more yeast than necessary if you're noticing a really strong yeast aroma (though all breads will have at least a little yeast aroma). Some recipes do this in order to make the breads rise more quickly. Try cutting back on the yeast and giving the bread a longer rising time. I generally use 1-2 teaspoons of yeast for a bread recipe calling for 5-6 cups of flour.
Not as pretty as yours, but this bread turned out to be great treat on wet Saturday morning. We had some Italian cofffe and toasted bread with butter - heaven! Thank you for this recipe. I have changed it slightly:
http://sensesinthekitchen-karolina.blogspot.com/2011/09/cinnamon-sultana-swirl-bread.html
@Pani - Oh, wow, the gorgeous cinnamon swirls in your loaf make me so hungry! I'm so glad you liked the recipe and I'm jealous of your Italian coffee. :)
I'm wondering if you could tweak this recipe to make like a chocolate kuchen...Any ideas on variations or what chocolate might work? I can't figure out if nutella would just dry out and be bad.
This is officially my first attempt at bread baking and I am super excited! My loaves are rising and so far everything is going great; I'm wondering why I haven't tried it sooner. Can't wait to cut the first slice! Thanks so much
I made this on Sunday and I'm thrilled at how well it came out. I added wheat flour instead of completely white and it is so good. I have to stop eating it, I made it for my husband the raisin fan. Great recipe. Thank you.
I don't have a stand mixer...could I do this in the food processor with the plastic blade? I know that's how my mom makes her challah.
This is the most amazing raisin-bread recipe! The house smelled so tantalizingly delicious for the entire day. The recipe creates two loaves so I will definitely halve the ingredients next time or freeze the extra loaf as the 2nd loaf got a bit hard last time.
I'm thinking that stuff wouldn't suck slathered up on top of that bread :)
http://entreethegiant.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/cinnamon-honey-butter/
I made this last night, and it took the dough about three hours for the initial rise. Then, for the second rise, after an hour I just threw it in the oven even though it hadn't risen above the pan. Any tips for getting my dough to rise? Maybe different yeast? Thanks! It's really delicious and I would like to make it again but would like it to look a little better next time!
the rise of my bread is very slow. First rise 1;45 mins the second rise is pushing 1 1/2 hours and has only risen about 25%. I just open a new package of yeast from King Arthur. Never used this brand before. It is a very cool wet rainy day. Moved it closer to fire place maybe that will help.