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Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Source of Recipe

From "The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion"


Recipe Introduction

"This tender white bread, with its swirl of cinnamon in the center, cries out for toasting and buttering. The streusel topping adds just the right final touch. The following recipe incorporates a few tips for success that we've discovered over the years. First, for a deep, dark, moist cinnamon swirl inside the bread, whirl sugar, cinnamon, and raisins or currants together in a blender or food processor until smooth. The fruit adds moistness as well as subtle flavor to the filling. And second, rather than brush the dough with butter before sprinkling on the filling, brush it with beaten egg. Butter acts as a barrier between the pieces of rolled-up dough, preventing them from cohering and giving you bread that 'unravels' when you cut it. On the other hand, the protein in egg acts like glue, cementing the bread and filling together, and allowing much less (though still a bit) unraveling."

List of Ingredients

Dough:
â—¦ 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
â—¦ ¼ cup potato flour or â…“ cup potato flakes
â—¦ ¼ cup nonfat dry milk
â—¦ 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
â—¦ ½ teaspoon cinnamon
â—¦ 3 tablespoons sugar
â—¦ 2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
â—¦ 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, at room temperature
â—¦ 1 cup water

Filling:
â—¦ ¼ cup sugar
â—¦ 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
â—¦ ¼ cup raisins or currants
â—¦ 2 teaspoons unbleached all-purpose flour
â—¦ 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Topping:
â—¦ 2 tablespoons butter
â—¦ 2 tablespoons sugar
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
â—¦ ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour


Recipe

To make the dough:
In a large bowl, combine all the dough ingredients, mixing until the dough begins to come away from the sides of the bowl. Knead (about 10 minutes by hand; 5 to 7 minutes using a mixer) until the dough is smooth and satiny. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set it aside to rise for 1 to 1 ½ hours; it will be puffy, if not doubled in bulk.

To make the filling:
Pulse filling ingredients except the egg wash in a food processor or blender.

To assemble:
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface and shape it into a long, narrow rectangle, about 16 x 8 inches. Brush the dough with some of the egg wash (set the remainder aside) and pat the filling gently onto the dough. Beginning with a short edge, roll the dough into a log. Pinch the seam side and ends closed (to keep the filling from bubbling out) and place the log in a lightly greased 8 ½ x 4 ½-inch loaf pan. Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap or a reusable cover and let the bread rise for about 1 hour at room temperature, or until it's crowned about 1 inch over the rim of the pan.

To make the topping:
In a small bowl or mini processor, mix together the butter, sugar, cinnamon, and flour until the mixture is crumbly. If you're using a mini processor, watch carefully; topping will go from crumbly to a cohesive mass in just a second or so. Brush the top of the loaf with some (or all) of the reserved egg wash and gently press on the topping.

Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Bake the bread for about 45 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil for the final 15 minutes or so if it appears to be browning too quickly. Remove the loaf from the oven and after about 5 minutes, gently remove it from the pan. Some f the streusel will fall off, but you can alleviate this by first loosening all around the edges of the loaf with a knife, then turning the pan on its side and gently pulling it away from the loaf.

Makes one 8 ½-inch loaf