Friday Findings: Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Hey you guys! It's Friday, and I thought that I might start a new series, Friday Findings! I have come to recognize that while I do bake a lot, I always bake the same things on repeat. That cannot possibly be good for someone who's trying to get better at baking. So I've decided to use my sleeping in/no classes day, Friday, to expand my baking repertoire.
This week, I'm making......Cinnamon Swirl Bread! YAY! I have always loved it, but it's always so expensive at the store, and it only comes in teeny tiny loaves. Bah humbug. I found this recipe at another blog who found it here. So - here we go!!!
I've completed the first few steps of the recipe and have finally gotten the dough in the bowl to rise. Since I had no other immediate tasks, I thought I'd look at the original recipe from the link above. I am extremely glad I did, because the other blog skimmed over the instructions and called it a recipe. The original website (kudos to The Pioneer Woman) had so many more details and things that were left out. So instead of using a dough hook in our handy dandy electric mixer, I kneaded by hand. And since I kneaded the dough by hand, this happened.
That's not a pleasant feeling. Blech.
I also learned that I wasn't supposed to mix the eggs in cold, because that would prevent the yeast from working. Are you serious? I didn't know that!!!!! So now the dough is in a bowl rising, or not rising because the yeast may or may not be deactivated. I've heard it both ways.
UPDATE
The dough has actually risen!!! This is quite exciting, as I didn't quite do this the right way... Anyways, I turned it out, rolled it out, cinnamon and sugared it (i didn't know until now that that was a verb), rolled it up, put it in the tin, and left it to rise for....another 2 hours. Bummer.
It rose!!!
Rollin it out...
Well, it kinda flopped into the tin because it was really, REALLY floppy. Oh well.
Now in for the second rise. And a heckload of waiting.
It's out! The cinnamon swirl bread is out!
The bread was an instant hit at my house. It was long gone before a day had passed! Mine was a little bit dry; I'm not sure if that's because I baked it too long or it wasn't covered well enough. Oh well. It was good though!
What do you guys think of the Friday Findings idea? Should I keep doing it? What kinds of breads have you made? What should I make next? Sorry that this didn't get posted on Friday....I was a little preoccupied. XD
