Quick Cinnamon Swirl Bread

The fall season is fast approaching with cool nights and cool crisp mornings. The leaves on the trees will be beautiful colors very soon, and to me, that means it's time to bake. This Quick Cinnamon Swirl Bread fits the bill.

I found this recipe in our small-town newspaper and just knew that I had to give it a try. Jamie and the boys were on their way home from vacation. I thought, what a nice treat to have one of these ready for them when they got home. It turned out to be a great idea because everybody loved this quick cinnamon swirl bread.

On the way home from Jamie's house I had another great idea. Monday was Giada's first day of kindergarten. Fran and I drove down to see her off with another treat. I made a 2nd loaf that day to take to Sammy's house. And, once again this bread was a hit.

This quick cinnamon swirl bread is so easy to make. The ingredients are simple and I'm sure you already have everything you need in your pantry. The ingredients and instructions are below to make one loaf of this delicious treat.

Prepare the dry and wet ingredients in two separate bowls. Then add the dry to the wet and mix until you have a nice batter. I used my hand mixer but, you can use a whisk or spoon.

Next, I sprayed my 9-inch x 5-inch bread pan with Baker's Joy. I poured in the bread batter and then spooned in the swirled mixture. I used a knife to swirl it all together.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and baked the bread for 45 minutes on the center rack. I used a knife in the center to make sure it came out clean. Place the bread on a rack to cool and just before it cools completely add the glaze.

Quick Cinnamon Swirl Bread:

Ingredients for the Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup milk (I used Skim)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream (I used Greek yogurt)

For the Swirl

1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons water

The Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk

Instructions

1. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients.
2. In another bowl combine egg, milk, yogurt, and vanilla.
3. Add the wet and dry ingredients together and mix until batter forms.
4. Pour the batter into a prepared bread pan.
5. Mix the swirl ingredients together with a spoon or whisk.
6. Spoon the swirl mixture on top of the batter and swirl with a knife.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
8. Remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack to cool.
9. Whisk together the ingredients for the glaze and drizzle over when the bread is almost cool.

Now cut yourself a slice and enjoy. Try not to eat the whole thing at one time! This bread is a sure-fire winner the next time you're having friends over for coffee.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

You might also like my Maple Cinnamon Rolls

Savory Cheddar Cheese Bread

This savory cheddar cheese bread is a perfect anytime snack or served as a side with your lunch or dinner. It's also a great side when you're just having a salad.

This cheddar cheese bread recipe was given to us by a good friend years ago. I had the recipe written a little recipe card and found it a while back.

The last time I used this recipe I made it as a muffin Quick Cheddar Cheese Muffins.  You'll find this to be the same recipe but this time I used extra sharp cheddar cheese instead of mild.

Savory Cheddar Cheese Bread: Ingredients

1/3 cup butter (5 tablespoons)
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (8oz.) extra sharp shredded cheddar cheese
1-1/2 cups Quaker old-fashioned oats Or, (quick oats)
1-1/2 cups milk
2 eggs

I started off by mixing the flour, baking powder, butter, and salt in my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Mixing on low speed with the beater bar attachment until it looked like coarse crumbs.

Then I added the oats, cheese, milk, and eggs one at a time. Continue mixing on low speed until batter forms.

I sprayed a 9-inch x 5-inch bread pan with Pam Non-Stick Spray and transferred the batter to the pan.

I preheated the oven to 375 degrees and baked my savory cheddar cheese bread for 60 minutes. When a butter knife came out of the center clean I knew it was ready.

The bread popped right out of the pan. I placed it on a rack and let cool for about 15 minutes before cutting it.

The result was the outside of the bread was nice and crusty while the inside is soft with a nice cheddar cheese flavor. 

Some nice options for this Savory Cheddar Cheese Bread: Try adding some bacon bits, diced ham, or how about some diced pepperoni. If you like cheddar cheese you'll love this easy recipe.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it.

KitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Qt. Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield - Imperial BlackGood Cook Set of 2 Extra Large 13'' x 5'' Nonstick Steel Bread Loaf Pans, Gray

 

Syrian Bread

This bread is a great flatbread to serve with lunch or dinner. We serve this bread with a wonderful dish called Lamb on the Rod. 

Grilled Lamb served with Syrian Bread

 Where I grew up you can buy this bread in any grocery store, but not here in Western New York. Since we were having lamb on the rod I decided to make my own fresh.

So I did what anybody would do, I searched the internet, and found this recipe:

 allrecipes.com by: Sue Litster.

I modified it just a bit by using less yeast, I also doubled the recipe, which would have called for 3 teaspoons of yeast I used one package of dry yeast or 2-1/4 teaspoons. Sue’s recipe mixes the dough in a bread machine, but I used my KitchenAid Stand Mixer.

By doubling the recipe, I yielded one nice 12-inch flatbread and four small about 8 inches round flatbreads.

It came out perfect and was a delightful addition to our grilled lamb on the rod, so thank you. Sue Litster.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it.

Easter Bread

Easter Bread Easy Recipe

We spent the day yesterday making our Easter bread. We don’t have a freezer so we wait until Easter week and do all of the work in one day.

This recipe might seem difficult but it’s really not, most of the time is waiting for the dough to rise. It rises three times and then after that, you make the loaves and you let it rise to the top of the bread pan before putting it in the oven.

This recipe yielded four loaves of Easter bread baked in a 9-inch x 5-inch bread pan and two braided loaves baked on a cookie sheet.  Unless you like Easter bread like I do you may want to cut the recipe down to make less.

Here is what you need:

8 large eggs

2 tablespoons Anise extract

1 tablespoon Lemon extract

2-1/2 cup scalded milk

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2-1/2 cup sugar

1 cup milk (lukewarm)

4 packages dry yeast

10 to 12 cups flour

Okay now let’s make this easy Easter Bread Recipe:

Using my KitchenAid Stand mixing bowl, I added the eggs, anise, and lemon extract; beat this until it’s fluffy. I used the medium speed setting for this.

 While that is going on, start two saucepans, one with 2-1/2 cups of milk and the butter. Bring this to a boil to scald the milk, then set this aside until it cools to lukewarm. Now in another pan or your microwave heat the cup of milk to lukewarm and add the yeast to dissolve. 

Scaled milk and butter with yeast dissolved in milk

Now back to the mixture it should be fluffy by now. Add the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes. Continue beating and add the two saucepans of milk until you have a batter. Again make sure both are lukewarm.

There are too many cups of flour in this recipe to use my stand mixer so I transferred the batter to a large bowl and began adding the flour one cup at a time.

We used a hand mixer until we got to seven cups of flour. After that, I worked in the remaining flour by hand to a smooth ball of dough.

Tip: If the dough is too sticky while hand kneading, add some flour until the dough forms.

Cover this and let rise 3 time

Cover and let the dough rise three times, about an hour each time. The third you time punch it down make the loaves and place them in a lightly greased and floured bread pan. I used the Pam baking spray for this. Now cover and let these rise to the top of the pan.

After it rises to the top of the bread pan

I baked two loaves at a time at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, and then lowered to 275 degrees and baked for one hour. I bushed them with melted butter right out for the oven and let them cool on a rack.

The braided loaves baked on a cookie sheet at 300 degrees for 50 minutes. We rolled out three equal length logs of dough, set them side by side and rolled one over the other to make the braided loaves.

 We made a simple glaze for the braided loaves with a little bit of water and powdered sugar, then drizzled it over the top and added some colored sugar sprinkles.

A simple glaze of water and powdered sugar

Although this is time-consuming the results are absolutely worth the work and the wait, the bread is soft, moist, and Oh so tasty.  I was eating this Easter bread 10 minutes after it came out of the oven.

I hope you enjoyed this Easter bread recipe, as always thanks for stopping by.

KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Tilt-Head Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield, 5-Quart,Bakeware Loaf Pans Value 4 PackSilicone Oven Mitts - Commercial Grade, Extra Long Quilted Cotton

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