Cinnamon Swirl Bread

After baking a basic sweet dough recipe multiple times successfully, I wanted to try something more challenging and more of an artisan type of bread. I have always loved cinnamon swirl bread and thought I would give it a try. It looks great and makes the entire kitchen smell like fresh cinnamon.


I found the following recipe online at the following address: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-cinnamonraisin-swi-156018

These are the amounts which i used to create the bread.

• 1 cup of warm water
• 1 packet of yeast
• 1 cup of 2% milk
• 1/4 cup of unsalted butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 5 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

The filling which is brushed onto the rolled out dough is as follows.

• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons of hot water

Directions:
Place warm water in a large mixing bowl and add yeast on top of the water. Allow to sit for a few minutes before mixing. Next, add milk, salt and butter to the mix. Add the flour and mix until completely incorporated into the mix. Then kneaded until a nice lively dough constancy. The dough is allowed to rise until doubled in size.

After dough has risen for the first time, remove from bowl and cut into two pieces. Roll out each piece to the width of the baking pan and as thin as possible. Spread the filling on one side of the rolled out dough and roll into a log and place into a bread pan. Allow to rise until above the edge of the bread pan. Brush with remaining filling and bake at 350F for 35 minutes.

Thoughts:
While yummy, I believe I needed to sprinkle more cinnamon sugar unto the sheet of dough before rolling to get a more pronounced cinnamon taste after baking. The current recipe has that taste, but it is muted.

Pictures:
Below are pictures which depict the various steps but not all.

The bread after it has risen for the first time, rolled into a tube with one side with the filling and placed into a 9" x 5" bread pan.

Halfway through the second rise.

After completely risen and a fresh coat of cinnamon and sugar filling have been applied to the top of the loafs.

A front view of the loafs just prior to baking.

After 35 minutes of baking at 350 F.

The loafs once extracted from their pans.

Here is the sliced loaf once it has cooled though i was too impatient to allow it to cool completely as I just had to try it.