Cinnamon Swirl Bread

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Recipe
2 Questions

Photo by Sarah Shatz

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amanda's Notes: Before I met my husband Tad, I’d never been to the Hamptons on the east end of Long Island, and now we go, like his family has for decades, every August. But I went on vacations there for...
Before I met my husband Tad, I’d never been to the Hamptons on the east end of Long Island, and now we go, like his family has for decades, every August. But I went on vacations there for 5 years before anyone in his family told me about the cinnamon swirl bread from Breadzilla, a bakery that’s tucked away in their tiny hamlet of Wainscott. Breadzilla’s piece de resistance is a pan loaf that’s poufy on top with a sugary, cinnamon crust, and is loaded up inside with a curl of cinnamon butter. When we’re there in the summer, I eat it every morning for breakfast, thickly sliced, toasted and spread with butter and a scattering of sea salt. This is my effort to replicate the bread (though it should be noted that Breadzilla’s bread dough is more of a classic white Pullman, not a butter-and-egg dough). My bread dough is adapted from The American Home, December 1965.

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Makes 1 loaf

For the bread dough:

3/4 cup milk Ask a question about this ingredient

1/4 cup room temperature water Ask a question about this ingredient

1 package active dry yeast Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 cup sugar Ask a question about this ingredient

1 teaspoon salt Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened Ask a question about this ingredient

5 to 5 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour Ask a question about this ingredient

2 eggs Ask a question about this ingredient

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon Ask a question about this ingredient

1 tablespoon sugar Ask a question about this ingredient

2 tablespoons melted butter Ask a question about this ingredient

For the cinnamon filling:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened Ask a question about this ingredient

2 teaspoons cinnamon Ask a question about this ingredient

3 tablespoons sugar Ask a question about this ingredient

3 tablespoons light brown sugar Ask a question about this ingredient

Scald the milk by warming it in a pan over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge; remove from the heat and let cool.
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Pour the water into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (or a large bowl fitted with your hands). Sprinkle the yeast in the water and let proof until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the cooled milk, sugar, salt, and eggs. Beat in 2 cups flour.
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Add the butter, and beat until the butter is broken up into small curds. Beat in 1 more cup flour. Add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Let rest for 5 minutes.
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Knead (in the mixer or by hand), only adding flour as needed, until the dough is soft and velvety and little blisters appear just under the surface. Put into a large well-greased bowl; turn the dough over to bring the greased side up. Cover with a clean damp towel or plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.
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Punch dough down; let rise again for 30 minutes or until almost doubled.
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Heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9- x 5- x 3-inch loaf pan. In a small bowl, blend the 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 tablespoon sugar. In another bowl, prepare the filling: mash together the butter, cinnamon and sugars with a fork until a smooth paste forms.
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Flatten the dough, seam-side-up, into a rectangle, 8 inches by 12 inches. Spread the cinnamon filling on top, pushing it close to the edges. Roll the dough into a log, tightly sealing the bottom seam, and place seam-side-down in the prepared pan. Loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest until puffy and nearly doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
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Brush the top of the dough with the melted butter. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Bake until the bread is a chestnut brown and sounds hollow inside when tapped, 45 to 60 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 1 hour then remove the bread from the pan and continue cooling on a wire rack.
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7 Comments on Cinnamon Swirl Bread

susan g added 7 months ago

I love that photo -- it makes me smile every time I see it!

BettyAnnQ added 7 months ago

Great recipe for fall and the coming colder days. Question: Can I add raisins & nuts ? Or will it weigh down the dough?

BettyAnnQ added 7 months ago

Great recipe for fall and the coming colder days. Question: Can I add raisins & nuts ? Or will it weigh down the dough?

teamom added 9 months ago

I started baking when I was young (and, my son says, the dinosaurs roamed the earth). I loved making cinnamon swirl bread. I had found a recipe that has one spread the dough with butter, sprinkle on the cinnamon, then dot the dough with sugar cubes. The roll starts out lumpy, but the cubes mainly melt during baking. The bonus is when one is not completely gone, so you get a good crunch every-so-often. I made this often for my kids (and the neighborhood kids - their mothers never baked), and suspected that more sugar cubes went into their mouths than in the bread. Good memories.