There are plenty of ways to enjoy Cinnamon Swirl Bread besides making French toast – we’ll get to all those ideas in a minute. But if you’re a French toast fan you’ll be making this bread regularly, and pretty soon that little brunch place that serves what you used to think was the best French toast you’d ever had will wonder whatever happened to you.
Cinnamon Swirl Bread is made with the dough for Mamie’s Rolls, the same versatile recipe that’s the foundation for Sticky Buns and Blueberry Dirt Bomb Sweet Rolls. Similar to brioche, it has a dense and cake-like crumb and a soft, shiny crust. Dark rivers of buttery brown sugar and cinnamon meander through the center.
Each slice will have a different pattern of cinnamon sugar swirling through it. Is it just me or does the cinnamon swirl in this slice look like a panda face, with big sad eyes and a little triangle nose? Slices of Cinnamon Swirl Bread are like tea leaves I suppose – what will your slice reveal?
My technique for rolling up the filling (also known as the “smear”) inside the dough is a little different than the usual, and there’s a reason for it. I like to explain stuff like this – I understand if you don’t need the whole story, but just in case you’re a baking geek who wants to know why something works (and why what you’ve tried in the past doesn’t), I’ve gone into more detail about the technique at the bottom of the page. For now, just notice how this bread has two side-by-side spirals of smear, not one central spiral. And that deep canyon down the center of the top crust? It keeps the top from rising too high and helps keep the smear contained near the center of the loaf.
Some people like raisins in their cinnamon bread. That’s not my thing. I don’t object to raisins in some places (like Oatmeal Raisin Cookies), but in this bread I find them distracting and unnecessary. If you want to add them, by all means do. Toss a handful or two into the mixer with the last of the flour before turning the dough out and kneading it.
So, back to that French toast I mentioned earlier. French toast made with this bread is soft and sweet and eggy and super-cinnamon-y. Luckily this recipe makes two loaves, so you can enjoy one loaf for toast and sandwiches throughout the week and save the other for the weekend to make Cinnamon Swirl French Toast for brunch.
Sandwiches? Really? Yes, Cinnamon Swirl Bread makes surprisingly delicious sandwiches. Keep it simple – the bread is so special, you don’t need a lot of fillings or condiments. A few ideas:
- Smoky ham, Swiss cheese and Dijon mustard (great cold or grilled)
- Peanut butter and banana
- Toasted, with cream cheese
- Grilled cheese made with sharp Cheddar
- Toasted, with egg, cheese and a sausage patty
Making this ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- Cinnamon Swirl Bread will keep, well-wrapped at room temperature, for at 3 days. Even after it starts to dry out a little, it still makes great French toast – slightly stale bread soaks up the eggy custard even more readily than fresh.
- To keep the bread longer, wrap each loaf separately in a freezer-safe zip-lock bag or freezer paper, and freeze for up to two months.
Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Ingredients
- 1 recipe of dough for Mamie’s Rolls
- All-purpose flour for the board
- ½ cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, preferably European style, at very soft room temperature, plus additional for the pans
- ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream or water
Directions
- Step 1 Prepare the dough for Mamie’s Rolls, through to the end of the first rise. Generously butter two standard (8½ x 4½-inch) loaf pans.
- Step 2 To make the smear, mash together ½ cup of butter with the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl until they’re very smooth.
- Step 3 When the dough has finished rising, roll it out with a rolling pin on a floured board, to a large rectangle (roughly 14 x 18 inches), with one of the long sides facing you. Use the back of a knife or a dough scraper to make a faint impression across the center of the dough, halfway back from and parallel to the front edge. You’re not cutting the dough, this is just a guide to help you visualize where the center of the dough is, so when you roll both sections toward the center they will meet in the middle.
- Step 4 Spread ½ of the smear on the front half of the dough, extending it out all the way to the left, right and front edges, but stopping 1 inch from the center line. Spread the other ½ of the smear on the back half of the dough in the same way. Roll up the front half of the dough, tightly rolling away from you and stopping at the center line. Roll up the back half of the dough to meet the front half. The dough should look like a scroll. Cut the scroll of dough in half crosswise into two scrolls, each approximately 9 inches long. Place one piece of dough in each of the buttered pans, seam side up. Align the scroll so the seam sits in the center of the pan and makes a straight line.
- Step 5 Cover the pans with a kitchen towel and let the dough rise at warm room temperature for 45 to 60 minutes or until the loaves are puffed and about double in volume. During the last 20 minutes of the rising time, heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Step 6 Combine the egg and the cream (or water) in a small bowl and beat them together just until blended. Brush the egg wash over the loaves.
- Step 7 Bake the loaves for 40 minutes. Turn them out of the pans and onto a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
As promised, here’s my geeky explanation about the rationale for the filling technique: It starts out in the usual way, by rolling out the dough to a large thin rectangle. The standard technique is to smear the entire rectangle with the filling, then roll it up from one side to the other, “jelly roll style”. The problem with this is that there will be one large spiral of filling in the center of the loaf. Part of that spiral will be very close to the bottom of the pan, where the loaf is usually more dense, less risen – that filling will puddle thickly at the bottom of the loaf and actually impede rising of the dough at the bottom. At the top of the loaf, where the rising action is more vigorous, a layer of filling right below the top crust will cause the crust to separate from the rest of the loaf and leave a big air bubble.
Instead, I spread half the filling on one half of the dough, and the rest on the other side, leaving a bare stripe down the middle. Then I roll each edge toward the center, forming a double roll. After the loaf is baked and sliced, each slice will show two spirals, one on each side of the loaf, and there will be no filling concentrated at the center of the bottom where the loaf is more dense. This shaping of the dough also creates a deep crevice that runs down the center of the top, giving the slices a pretty shape while making sure the loaf doesn’t rise too high.
