cinnamon sugar pull apart bread

This baby has been on my to do list since I first saw it some time last year. I'm not even sure where I saw it first because once it got out, everyone was making it. And for good reason. Savory versions with cheeses and herbs too! That's next on my list. I had the recipe from Joy the Baker bookmarked so that's the one I went with.

I had the house to myself yesterday so I got all domestic, kneading dough in between loads of laundry. ;) Once the dough comes together and rises to double it size, you knead in a bit more flour, let it rest, and get your beautiful cinnamon sugar filling together.

Roll out the dough, brush on the melted butter, and top with the cinnamon sugar mix until your dough looks like warm sand on a beach. :)

Like Joy says in the recipe.. it's going to look like way too much sugar. But go for it. Trust me, I almost backed down but after it bakes up and some of the sugar runs down to the bottom, you'll be glad you packed it all in there! Also, some of it spills off as you're cutting and stacking dough so you'll be glad you have back-up.

After your dough is rolled and sugared, cut it into six long strips and stack 'em, one on top of the other.

Cut the strips into six small stacks. Then grab your bread pan and pile the stacks in, one in front of the other. You may have to push them back to fit them all in but it'll all spread out nicely as they rise and bake.

 

I love how the slices twist and turn to fit as they bake. :)

It's best eaten warm so if you manage to have some leftover the next day, heat it for a few seconds and it's good as new. I had to go to class right after I pulled it out of the oven so I wanted to take some shots the next morning of the finished product but I definitely had to taste it right away. I took the one above last night and then more than half of it disappeared! Well, not exactly disappeared, but was "sampled" by a few people who sang it's praises.

Anyway, this morning before Charlie left for work, we heated up a few slices and had it with coffee. It was a wonderful way to start the day. :)

 So good. I whole-heartedly recommend trying it! Hope you have a great weekend!

Check out the recipe below!

brioche french toast

Did you ever make something just so you could make other things with it? That was pretty much me with brioche. I saw few recipes I wanted to try with brioche, but that involved making the brioche first. On Friday, I decided I would tackle step one, and then this weekend I would make the other two things with it for breakfast.




I'm not completely sure if I did this right even though I followed the directions exactly, and when that didn't seem to be working, I consulted another recipe. It didn't seem to help much. The bread came out delicious, don't get me wrong. I just don't know if the texture and everything is the way it should be. It would probably help if knew what brioche was supposed to taste like in the first place, but I'll have to experience that another day.



My problem was that the dough didn't seem to rise much at all. And it remained very sticky which made it hard to work with. The recipe I followed gave strict instruction not to add more flour, so I didn't. It said to let it rest until doubled in size. Usually, for other breads I've made, this is about an hour. I let this one go for two hours and it barely changed. I remembered seeing in another recipe that the first rise wouldn't show much change, but a second two hour rise in the fridge would make it double. So I popped it in the fridge for two hours. Still nothing.

Now, I'm not the most patient person in the world so I decided to just go to the next step and hope for the best. The recipe said to break the dough into balls and put eight each into two loaf pans. I put eight in one pan but then tried to roll out the other eight like a boss and bake them in a muffin tin. Looks easy right? Not when the dough is sticking to you and the surface like glue. Thus, these didn't come out as pretty as I had hoped. So after letting the dough balls rest again for an hour in their respective pans and not seeing them rise again, I popped em in the oven and crossed my fingers, hoping for something edible.



Well I got this lovely loaf and some little mutant muffin rolls and they tasted really good so I'm satisfied, for now. On Saturday morning I sliced this bad boy up and made french toast.



Saturate in some egg mixture and fry it up!




Put on your favorite topping and serve.



Speaking of toppings, let me say something really weird. Remember before how I mentioned that sweet things and I don't get along too well? I crave salty things over sweet. I was the kid at the birthday party who carved out the cake and ate it, leaving behind an icing shell. Brioche is known to be a sweet bread and, with normal french toast in mind, I topped it with powdered sugar. Charlie smothered his in syrup and scarfed it down. I sat there, musing over the sweetness.. trying to suppress my weird thoughts of wanting to put salt on it. Charlie, not surprised by this at all, suggested I try it but delicately. I shook some salt into my palm and carefully sprinkled the littlest bit onto it.

Perfection. I swear, a little salt makes everything better. Does anyone else out there crave salty over sweet? Am I not alone? ;)



The other recipe I wanted to try was this. I did make it and it was delicious, but not so photogenic. I regret not just taking a picture of it now but oh well. If you click on the link you can see how pretty it might have been.

I'll post the recipe I used below and if anyone has any suggestions or tips on what I could do differently next time, I'd be glad to hear it!


Brioche
from Rock Recipes

4 cups flour

1 packet of instant yeast

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp sea salt

1 cup real butter cut up, softened and near room temp

1/2 cup whole milk

4 eggs at room temperature

1 tbsp vanilla extract

In a mixer, add flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Mix until flour is just combined. Using dough hook, add butter a chunk at a time until it is all mixed in. Continue until dough is smooth and elastic. Do not add more flour. Cover and let rest until doubled in size. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead for five minutes. Form 16 dough balls. Put eight each into two bread pans. Cover and let rise until dough comes over the edge of the pan. Brush with egg wash. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes until top is a golden brown. Cool on a wire rack, at least 15 minutes.

Make some french toast with the leftovers! :)
I can't believe there's less than a week until Christmas. Crazy!

pesto buns

To be honest, I didn't even know what pesto was until my boyfriend. He is a pesto fiend and now, thanks to him, I am too. As a snack we would sometimes get a tub of pesto and a baguette from the market and just go to town on it until there was no more pesto. Anytime I see a pesto recipe I have to try it and I know who my best judge will be.

I tried a pesto swirl bread before and while it was delicious, it pales in comparison to these. I was going to make the bread again for when we hung out this weekend but I wanted something that felt a little more snackish than just chomping down on a loaf of bread. Since these are sort of like individual servings of pesto muffins so to speak, I thought they'd be perfect. They were. The texture is so tender and it had the perfect pesto to bread ratio. Charlie said they reminded him of a sort of savory cinnamon bun which is why I'm calling them pesto buns.

So if you're like me and prefer savory over sweet any day, these make the perfect snack. If you're a normal person then just make them with dinner and they'll be the perfect side :).

Start by putting all of your liquids and sugar into a mixing bowl.




Dump all your dry ingredients on top.




Get in there with some clean hands and knead until it turns into a smooth dough.




After it rises and doubles in size, roll it out flat on a floured surface. Spread all that pesto-y goodness on top. Don't be stingy with it!




Begin to roll the dough into a log and pinch the seam shut to close everything in. You may lose some pesto along the way but this just means you put enough in ;).




Cut the log into 12 equal slices.




Put each slice into a section of a greased muffin pan.




Bake in the oven and eat one warm. To die for.





Pesto Buns
adapted slightly from Savory Sweet Life

1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
1 egg, room temp. and slightly beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
4-5 cups flour (4 was perfect for me)
2 1/4 tsp (1 package) instant yeast
7 oz (just shy of a cup) pesto


Place water, milk, egg, butter, and sugar in bowl. Mix. Dump 4 cups of flour, salt, and yeast on top. Knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Add more flour as necessary. Put dough in a greased bowl and cover. Let sit somewhere warm for about an hour or until doubled in size. Roll out dough on a floured surface. Spread pesto on top. Roll dough into log and pinch seams closed. Cut log into 12 equal slices and put each into a section of a greased muffin tin. Let them sit, covered for about another 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375F. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let them cool but be sure to have one warm. Enjoy!



I can't believe it's already Thanksgiving week! November flew by. There will be lots of cooking this week in preparation for Thursday so I'll try to document some of that and share it with you. I saw a great dessert on shutterbean I'm planning on making. I'm sure most people will be exceptionally busy this week so I wish everyone luck in the kitchen and safe travels :).

cinnamon raisin swirl

Check out that swirl! This bread is seriously amazing. I thought this loaf might be around for a few days since it wasn't even done until after dinner time last night but my family loves this stuff. There are maybe about two slices left since everyone had it for a snack last night. I think I might grab one for breakfast before it's all gone!

So you wanna get all your ingredients in a bowl. Either use your standing mixer with a dough hook or get in there with your hands. I didn't feel like pulling out the mixer so, off with the rings!





Knead dough until it is fully combined and smooth. Put ball in an oiled bowel and cover. Put it some place warm and let it sit for about an hour until it is doubled in size.




After dough has doubled, place on a floured surface and pat it flat. Fold the bottom third up and the top third down like you're folding a business letter. Then turn that longways and do the same thing again so you have a nice little package. Put it back in the bowl and let it double again. (About another 40-60 min.)




Take the dough out and roll it out flat onto a floured surface.




This is the good part. Brush the dough with a beaten egg. Pour the cinnamon sugar mixture all over the surface, leaving a small border.




Now starting at one of the short ends, begin rolling the bread up.




Pinch the edges closed so that all of the goodness stays inside and place the dough log into a greased bread pan.




Let this sit again, covered with a tea towel for about a half hour until the dough peaks over the pan. Then pop it in the oven. This is the part where you enjoy the smell of cinnamon raisin bread baking in your kitchen. So good.




Take this bad boy out of the oven and let it cool, if you can resist. Cut it open while it's still warm and eat it as is or spread on a little butter. You won't be sorry. Perfect for a cold November day :).





Cinnamon Raisin Bread
adapted slightly from Annie's Eats

Dough..
1 1/8 tsp. (half a packet) instant yeast
1 cup warm milk
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins
olive oil for greasing

Swirl..
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 egg, lightly beaten
(I only ended up using about half of the cinn/sugar mixture.)

Combine the yeast, warm milk, and sugar in a bowl. Let the mixture sit for a little until the yeast begins to bubble (around 5 min.) Pour in the rest of the dry ingredients except for the raisins and mix/knead until well combined. Add raisins now and knead until they are evenly dispersed. Put the dough ball in an oiled bowl and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave it some place warm for an hour so it can double in size.

Remove dough and pat it out onto a floured surface. Fold the bottom third up and the top third down like you're folding a business letter. Then turn it longways and do the same thing again so you have a nice little package. Put it back in the bowl and let it double again. (About another 40-60 min.)

Preheat oven to 425F. Place dough on a floured surface and roll it out into a flat rectangular shape. Brush beaten egg over the surface and generously sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on top, leaving a small border around the edges. Starting at a short end, begin rolling the dough into a log. Pinch the seams closed and place into your oiled bread pan. Let this sit under a tea towel for about 30 min. so that the dough peaks over the top of the pan. Brush egg wash onto the top. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

The top usually browns pretty quickly so about halfway through you may want to loosely tent the pan with foil. When done, let the bread cool for about 5 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack. Wait as long as you possibly can and then cut yourself a nice warm slice. Enjoy!

*Also, please excuse the horrendously blurry pictures lately. There is a tripod en route to me as we speak so this shouldn't be a problem much longer :/