Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Basic Swirl Bread (1 loaf)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup uncooked plain oatmeal
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon oil
1 envelope of yeast
1 1/8 cup warm (NOT HOT) milk (room temp milk is fine)
Swirl: 1 Tablespoon melted butter, 1 Tablespoon cinnamon, 1/8 cup sugar
Make the sponge by combining 1 cup flour, oats, sugar, salt oil, yeast and milk in a large bowl. Mix well. This mixture is called the sponge.
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| Sponge |
Stir in remaining 1 ½ cups of flour.
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| Dough |
Cover with a damp cloth and allow it to rise in a warm draft free place. I usually just leave it on my counter top. Allow the dough to rise until it has doubled in size (about 1 hour).
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| Risen dough |
Once the risen dough, grease 1 loaf pan and set it aside.
Turn dough onto a floured board or counter.
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| Turning risen dough out to knead |
Knead the dough about 5 minutes until it is smooth and elastic.
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| Kneading dough |
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| Done kneading |
Using a well floured rolling pin, roll the dough out until it is a ½ inch thick rectangle.
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| Ready for the swirl |
Add the swirl:
Spread melted butter over dough rectangle. Mix sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Sprinkle evenly over melted butter.
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| Butter, cinnamon and sugar added |
Starting at the long end of the dough, to roll it as tightly as you can.
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| Roll the dough tightly |
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| The roll is too long for the pan. |
Tuck the ends under so that the loaf will fit snugly into the loaf pan.
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| Tuck the long ends under the dough |
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| Now the dough fits in the pan |
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| Waiting to rise |
Cover and set aside to rise. Allow the dough to rise until it has doubled in size. (About 1 hour)
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| 1 hour later, the bread has risen |
Once dough has doubled in size, bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
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| Fresh from the oven! |
Remove from pan immediately. Set on a cooling rack.
Once cooled, slice and eat!
Variations:
For plain white bread: Don’t add the swirl (butter, cinnamon or sugar)
For pesto swirl bread: Use fresh or store bough pesto instead of cinnamon and sugar
For Garlic bread: Add 1 Tablespoon of garlic powder to sponge
For Wheat Bread: Make the sponge using 1 cup of wheat flour and 1/2 cup of all purpose flour. Once the sponge is mixed, add 1 ½ cup all purpose flour.
For Honey Oat Bread: Substitute honey for sugar in the dough.
For raisin bread: add ½ cup of raisins to sponge.
Special notes:
- If your milk is too hot it will kill the yeast and your bread won’t rise. Use room temp or slight warm milk for best results
- If you add oatmeal to the dough it will be a little wetter than usual. Don’t panic. That’s normal. Use a little extra flour when kneading and rolling.
- Be patient! As long as you didn’t kill the yeast, your bread should rise. It usually takes an hour or so.
- Don’t let the dough sit all day to rise. If you forget about it for a long time (4-5 hours) then come back, your bread will have risen and then fallen.
