Cinnamon Swirl Bread

One of my favorite activities to do in my free time is baking. This Cinnamon Swirl Bread is a favorite of my family.

Plain white bread is fine, but by adding this cinnamon swirl to it you get a little more flavor. It's like eating a cinnamon roll but in the form of bread. This is a great breakfast or snack throughout the day.

In the following steps I will walk you through how to make it, along with a couple tips along the way. :)

• A large mixing bowl or large bowl of a stand mixer.
• Hand held mixer or stand mixer
• Various measuring spoons and cups (1 liquid measuring cup, 1 cup dry measuring cup, 1/2 cup dry measuring cup, 1 Tablespoon, 1 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon)
• Small bowl for melting butter
• Basting Brush
• Small bowl for mixing cinnamon and sugar
• 2 9x5-in. loaf pans
• Cooking Spray (or something else to grease a bowl and loaf pans)

Ingredients

• 2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup warm water (110°F to 115°F)
• 1 cup warm 2% milk (110°F to 115°F)
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 6 Tablespoons butter, softened + 2 Tablespoons for melting
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 5 1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

• In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water.
• Add milk, 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, butter (6 Tbsp), salt, and 3 cups of flour. Beat on medium speed until smooth.
• Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. ( I added about 2 1/2 cups)

• Turn the dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.
• Place in a greased bowl, turning/ flipping over once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

• Once the dough has doubled in size, in a small bowl mix cinnamon and the remaining (1/2 cup) sugar.
• Punch down the dough and turn onto a lightly floured surface
• Divide the dough in half. set one half aside (I place it back in the greased bowl)
• Roll one half into about an 18x8-inch rectangle.

• In a small bowl melt 1 Tbsp of butter
• Using a basting brush, spread the butter over the rolled out dough, leaving about a 1/2-inch border on the edge without butter
• Sprinkle with about half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
• Starting with one of the smaller edges, roll the dough up kind of like a jelly-roll or a swiss roll. Pinch the Seam to seal.
• Place in a greased pan, seam side down
• If you have extra melted butter, spread it on the top of the roll, sprinkle a little cinnamon-sugar mixture on top.
• Repeat previous steps in this section with the second half after rolling it out to an 18x8-inch rectangle.
• Cover both in the pans and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

• Once both loaves have doubled, preheat the oven to 350°F
• Bake until golden brown, 30-35 minutes
• Remove from pans when done, put them on wire rack(s) to cool.
• Once cooled, cut and enjoy!