Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Last October my mom, sister and I started selling bread at our local farmers market. We caught the market right at the end, we only got to do it a couple of weeks. But this year it starts on May 22nd and I’m trying to get ready. We made fall type breads last year, pumpkin and apple cinnamon. But who wants to buy pumpkin bread in May? So I’ve been trying out some new recipes.



I have a good banana bread recipe, lemon poppy seed, maybe a blueberry, but I was looking for something new. I found this recipe for Cinnamon Raisin Bread in Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook.



I almost talked myself out of making it. It has yeast! and I didn’t have any raisins! But I’m glad I didn’t. This was delicious, and not too hard. My only complaint is how long it has to rise. But I'm thinking that I can get several other loaves of different types done while it’s rising.

Do you have any suggestions/recipes for bread I could sell at the farmers market? Let me know!




Cinnamon Raisin (or just Cinnamon Swirl Bread)


1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
2 cups warm milk (about 110 degrees)
6 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 stick butter, room temperature, cut into pieces, plus more for pans
½ cup sugar
2 eggs, plus 1 egg, lightly beaten
2 ½ tsp coarse salt
1 cup raisins
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

filling:
1 ½ cups sugar
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon


1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and whisk to combine. Add the flour, butter, sugar, 2 eggs, and salt. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix on low speed until all the ingredients are well combined, about 3 minutes. Raise speed to medium-low, and continue to mix until the dough is completely smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes more.

Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Pat out the dough into a big round. Sprinkle with raisins and cinnamon and knead and fold until they are just incorporated. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

3. Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and pat into a round. Fold the bottom third of the dough up, the top third down and the right and left sizes over, pressing down the seal. Return the dough into the bowl and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.

4. Make the filling. Combine sugar and cinnamon with 2 Tbsp water in a small bowl.

Generously butter two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans set aside. 6. Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and divide in half. Roll each half out to a large rectangle, a bit bigger than your loaf pans - about 10 inch. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle each with half of the filling.

7. With the short end of the rectangle facing you, fold in both of the long sides of the dough in. the roll the dough towards you, gently pressing forming a tight log. Roll back and forth to seal the seam. Place loafs in the prepared pans. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap, and let rest in a warm place, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425°F.

Brush the tops of the loafs with beaten egg, and transfer pans to the oven. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until loaves are golden brown, about 45 minutes. If the tops begin to brown too quickly, tent with aluminium foil.) turn out the bread onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. The bread can be kept, wrapped in plastic up to 4 days.

Note: I halved this recipe and it worked great for just one loaf, but I did have to add a little more than the flour recommended.

note, January 1st, 2010: A concern has been raised over what temp you should bake this bread. It's been so long since I've made it, but the temp does seem high. I'd suggest turning your oven down to 375-400 and just watch it. Let me know if this works for you!

A girl and her flower.

Easy Cinnamon Bun Muffins

I’ve always wanted to make cinnamon rolls. I love cinnamon rolls. They are gooey and delicious and a totally perfect baked good.

But I’m afraid of yeast. I don’t like baking with it. It never seems to work right for me and it just grosses me out in general. I had seen Joy the Bakers recipe for these cinnamon bun muffins a while back and bookmarked the page, hoping some day I’d conquer that fear.



That day was today. Well, not completely. Me and yeast aren’t bff’s yet or anything, but I’m starting to understand it better.

I’m totally glad I did too, these little things are delicious. It’s a cinnamon bun without all the hassle. The dough is super simple to throw together, as is the topping. I think next time I'll make them in a mini cupcake pan so they are bite size. You can’t really eat more than one full size muffin at a time.



Easy Cinnamon Roll Muffins

from Joy the Baker

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp active dry or rapid rise yeast
2/3 cup warm milk (100-110F; low fat is fine)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg

Filling/Topping

2 tbsp butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground cardamom

Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk or cream

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Dissolve the yeast in a measuring cup filled with the warmed milk, then stir milk mixture, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and egg into the flour mixture. Mix well, until very smooth. Let rest for 15 minutes.

While the dough rests, mix together butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and cardamom in a small bowl using a fork until all the butter has been incorporated into the sugar and mixture is crumbly. Divide the batter between 12 greased muffin cups. Sprinkle evenly on top of rested dough and press the mixture down into the dough with your fingertips (or swirl in with a spatula.)

Place pan into a cold oven, then set the oven temperature to 350F.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until bread is lightly browned at the edges and the center of the bread springs back when lightly pressed. Some of the sugar mixture on top may still be bubbling.
Cool for at least 30 minutes before whisking the powdered sugar and milk together to form an icing and drizzling it onto the bread.
Serve warm. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.

note: this recipe only gave me about 9 muffins, not 12.

Blood Orange Yogurt Cake

I made this cake yesterday. Well, a slightly different recipe, one with more oil.

I dropped it on the floor. When I dropped it on the floor, I realized it wasn’t even done in the middle.

So, that was my day yesterday. But today I tried it again. I found a new recipe through the lovely Joy the Baker. Hers called for pink grapefruit, but I was set on using blood oranges. I LOVE blood oranges. To me, the flavor is a combination of grapefruit and orange. And totally delicious.



I really liked this cake. I’m a big fan of citrusy things in general. It was moist and flavorful, and the glaze was amazing. Plus I LOVE when you have to combine citrus zest in with sugar. It's so much fun to get your fingers in there and watch the sugar change color and start smelling good.

It's the little things. haha

You should totally make this soon. Just don’t drop it on the floor.



Blood Orange Yogurt Cake
adapted from Joy the Baker

makes one 10-inch cake, about 12 servings

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup plain whole milk yogurt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Juice and zest of 1 pink grapefruit. This ends up being about 1/2 cup of juice and 1 Tablespoon of zest.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 Tablespoons powdered sugar


Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch round springform pan and line the pan bottom with a parchment paper round and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt to blend.

On a clean surface, or in a large bowl, combine the granulated sugar and zest. With the back of a spoon or a flexible bench knife, rub the grapefruit zest into the sugar. (I just threw it in a bowl and used my fingers to get it all combined. It’s fun!) The essential oils will release into the sugar creating a beautifully fragrant sugar.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and grapefruit sugar until the eggs are thick and pale yellow. Add the yogurt, oil, 1 Tablespoon of grapefruit juice and vanilla extract. Stir well to combine. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted near the center. Place the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes to cool. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake Release and remove the pan sides. Cool completely on the wire rack.

In a small saucepan, combine the powdered sugar and the remaining grapefruit juice and bring to a boil Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes, or until the glaze is slightly thickened. My glaze didn’t thicken significantly, but still seemed to do a great job on the cake. Remove from heat.

To finish the cake, invert the cooled cake and remove the pan bottom. Carefully peel away the parchment paper if you used it. Reinvert the cake onto a serving plate. Pierce the cake all over the top with a skewer and pour the warm grapefruit slowly over the cake. I did this with the help of a pastry brush.

Store at room temperature, wrapped well for 2 days.