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!