Cinnamon Swirl Bread Recipe

How long has an idea grown before it pops out successfully? Let’s make Cinnamon Swirl Bread that’s been growing with us for centuries!

Meatball and flat-packed furniture isn’t the only thing IKEA gave the world. Nor IKEA is the only Swedish company that widened the horizon of possibilities for the human race. Although we could have been better off if they had convinced some people to use public transport rather than sell them cars.

How can ideas grow?

Great inventions go a long way back and have their origins like roots of trees crawling unseen underground, sometimes for centuries. The wider the scopes of their roots are, the bigger and more prominent they can grow up to when the environmental conditions are right.

As a seed can’t grow without soil, adequate amount of water and sunshine, ideas need ground to gain traction, support that encourages growing and clear path to reach the sky. It’s a delicate process that requires all ingredients to be present in the process harmoniously otherwise ideas just like saplings fail.

Is there instant success?

Just think about nowadays ubiquitous led lights that was first invented in 1927 but no one cared to bother with it for half of a century. Then it took another 50 years to start using them but only in the last decade when digitalisation began and environmental issues arose, they started to really shine.

IKEA’s flat packed furniture or Volvo’s safety features weren’t unique inventions that the world hasn’t seen before. Well, maybe Volvo’s unique front that was designed to survive a deer collision was but that wasn’t a real selling point outside of countries with sparse deer population.

Success doesn’t come from great innovations but from those who are able to package them together and find a way to deliver them to people to solve their problems.

What is raisin bread?

Much like we knew about raisin bread and cinnamon, for almost an eternity but no one gave them much thought until IKEA started selling their Swedish cinnamon rolls.

The US raisin bread is attributed as an American invention but throwing raisins into dough reaches back at least to the 15^th century in European written history. Who really invented it is lost forever in the midst of time but what we know is that in the US, it is one of the few recipes strictly regulated by law.

The Code of Federal regulation requires the weight of the raisins to be equal to 50% of the weight of flour used. The rest of the world isn’t as serious about setting a standard for raisin bread and probably this is how innovative ideas as mixing in a bit of cinnamon sprang forward.

Can cinnamon swirl bread win?

Cinnamon swirl bread differs from plain raisin bread that the dough gets a layer of cinnamon and it is rolled up instead of just knead everything in one go. So in a way, it’s an evolutionary improvement in flavors as well as in the applied technique.

Once the dough is cinnamon and it is rolled up to a log, it’s one step away from being a cinnamon roll and sold in furniture shops. Not being able to serve it in bite sized portions or at least per person portions that is why cinnamon swirl will never be as successful as cinnamon rolls.

It remains to be open if its improvement in flavor will be enough to unseat plain raisin bread from it throne or limp behind undeservedly in the never-ending agony of what we should have with our hot chocolate, tea or coffee.

Ingredients

(for 2 rolls)

5 cup / 600g Flour
2 Eggs
8 tablespoon cup / 120g Butter
1 cup / 240ml Milk
½ oz / 15g Fresh yeast
7 oz / 200g Dried fruit
2 oz / 50g Chocolate chips
1 Egg or better just egg yolk for eggwash

Filling

8 tablespoons / 100g Butter
2 tablespoons Honey or sweetener of choice (optional)
3 tablespoons Cinnamon (ground)

Note: Only dried fruit and chocolate chips are used to sweeten the bread. Add sweetener of choice to the dough if desired.

Kitchen Utensils

11½” x 4½” / 29,5cm x 11cm Baking Tray

How to make Cinnamon swirl bread

Dough

In a large bowl add the flour, eggs, butter, yeast and milk.
Knead them together until the dough gets a uniform texture.
Cover the dough and place it to a 68°F – 81°F / 20°C – 27°C place to rise.
After about 30 – 90 minutes depending on the temperature, the dough should be doubled or at least raised.
Take the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. The recipe is for 2 rolls and will need to divide the dough into 4, possibly equal parts.
Roll two pieces of the dough out to the size of our baking tin.
Then roll it out in the other direction about 4 times as much.

Filling

Cut the dried fruit and chocolate to the size we like them best.
Cream butter, cinnamon and optional sweetener with an electric beater.

Assembly

Spread half of the buttery cinnamon on top of one of the dough then sprinkle half of the dried chocolate on top.
Place another dough on top. It doesn’t have to be pretty and luckily the dough will allow us plenty of adjustments one placed on each other.
Roll it up gently. It doesn’t have to be tight.
Sprinkle on some water then cover the dough with a cloth and put it back to a 68°F – 81°F / 20°C – 27°C place for 30 – 60 minutes to rise again.
Once it’s risen, beat egg yolk and brush it on top.
Put the dough into a preheated 365°F / 180°C oven and bake it until its top gets a lovely golden brown color, for about half an hour.
Let it cool a bit then slice and serve.