Cinnamon Swirl Bread

 

This bread is one of the first successful breads I made. The recipe was given to me by a woman I worked with at the RIT Counseling Center, CB. So delicious and pretty easy. 

It's very economical to make your own bread.  This loaf, which blows any cinnamon swirl bread out of the water, can be made for less than a dollar.  Two loaves for one dollar, if that, really.  One of the loaves is twice as big as the ones you find in a bag at the supermarket.  CrAzY, right?  And seriously, one day off, your doing things around the house, it won't take you any time at all.  You can even make multiples and freeze them or give them away to dazzle your friends and family! 

CINNAMON SWIRL BREAD

If you have instant yeast, you do not have to worry about having warm water to help with rising.  You always have to worry about liquids being too hot though.  The best way to test it is to stick your finger in the liquid, if you can keep your finger comfortably submersed for 15 seconds, your good to go.  If you don't use instant yeast, you will have to make sure your liquids are about 110°F

2 packages (1/4 ounce each) instant dry yeast or 4 1/2 teaspoons yeast 

1/3 cup warm water, maybe a bit more

1 cup warm whole milk 

1 cup sugar, divided

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

5-1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, butter, salt and 3 cups flour; beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

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

Mix cinnamon and remaining sugar. Punch down dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Roll each portion into an 18x8-in. rectangle; sprinkle each with about 1/4 cup cinnamon sugar to within 1/2 in. of edges. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a short side; pinch seam to seal. Place in two greased 9x5-in. loaf pans, seam side down.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours. Preheat oven to 350°.

Bake until golden brown, 30-35 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Yield: 2 loaves (16 slices each).

BUTTER BEER CAKE

I started my new job!  What????  Did my first week there and I really like it so far.  It has a lot of positives.  It's 40 hours and I do miss my old 35 hours a bit.  Getting home later leaves even less time for things that need to get done. Eh.  I am learning to live with not done and lower expectations.  

Thank Goodness for my little minions kids.  They do their part.  Thank goodness.  I definitely need to up their game a little.  They think Saturday morning is the be all end all of cleaning.  We need to work more on picking up after yourself and tidying up on a daily basis.  I can't complain though, I have great kids who are growing, very quickly, into fine young adults.  Don't get me wrong, things are no rosy... but hey, when are things rosy.

I gave my oldest daughter some choices on what cake she would like for her birthday.  She chose butter beer, all Harry Potter like.

I am going to give you two different recipes for this cake here.  The one with cream soda I made and found to be so very dense.  I like the idea of putting the pudding in but I don't think the cream soda much matters.  I think I need to tweak it a bit.  The flavor is good though.

The other cake is much lighter and more of the outcome I wanted.  

Somewhere in between these two cakes is the perfect cake.  I will get back to you on that.

Oh, the frosting... omg! COMPLETELY addicting.  Use it at your own risk!

BUTTER BEER CAKE

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3.5 oz butterscotch instant pudding mix one package
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs room temperature
1 1/4 cups cream soda clear
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F.   Spray or grease and line 2- 9" rounds with parchment.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, pudding mix, and salt until well combined. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugars on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 4 mins). Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.

Alternate adding flour mixture and cream soda, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of cream soda). Fully incorporating after each addition.

Bake for about 40 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Place cakes on wire rack to cool completely.

BUTTER BEER CAKE PART II

2 cups cake flour (like Swan's Down)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar or brown sugar blend, packed
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp butter flavoring

Preheat oven to 350F.   Spray or grease and line 2- 9" rounds with parchment.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well combined. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugars on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 4 mins). Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla and butter flavoring.  Add buttermilk and finally the flour mixture. 

Bake for about 40 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Place cakes on wire rack to cool completely.

BROWN BUTTER FROSTING

1/4 cup butter, and 1/2 cup butter
3 tablespoon flour
3/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar or brown sugar blend


In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, brown 1/4 cup butter. Once the butter is browned, add the flour to the pot and whisk together.

Slowly whisk in the milk, working out any lumps. Keep whisking while bringing the mixture to a boil so it thickens.

Remove the pot from heat and whisk in the vanilla extract and and let cool. If you try to move ahead while it is warm in anyway, this will not work. Be patient. Beat together butter and powdered sugar and then add flour mixture. Cream together until fluffy.