Cinnamon Crunch Braided Bread
I have been craving all things cinnamon lately. I just made some old fashioned sugar cookies & I sprinkled cinnamon on top which I never do. After those cookies were eaten up I was still craving something with cinnamon so I decided to make some Cinnamon Crunch Braided Bread. Now I’ve made Cinnamon Bread many times but never in braided form or with the extra cinnamon crunch topping. I may never go back to regular cinnamon bread again! This was delicious!
Some photos of the process:
You divide the dough into 3 pieces & roll each piece out into a rope.
You brush them on all sides with melted butter then sprinkle/roll in cinnamon/sugar mix.
Then you take the 3 pieces & braid them together. Then take the cinnamon/sugar mix & butter to make a paste & pat that on top. Now your ready to let it rise again then bake!
This recipe was inspired by Panera Bread’s much loved Cinnamon Crunch Bagels. Now my bread doesn’t have cinnamon chips inside but it is swirled with cinnamon & it does have the sweet, crunchy cinnamon & sugar on top.
PS. If your looking for a bread machine to help knead the dough I always use my Sunbeam bread maker. It’s such a time saver for kneading dough plus it helps the dough rise faster because it heats the dough up.
- -Bread-
- ½ cup warm water
- 1⅛ teaspoon yeast
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup melted butter (1/2 stick) I used salted
- -Coating for Rolling-
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoon melted butter
- Use your favorite bread making method (bread machine, stand mixer w/ dough hook, or by hand). If making by hand: Add yeast, water, then the rest of the dough ingredients to a large bowl & begin stirring with a wooden spoon. Once a dough ball has formed move the dough to a well floured surface.
- Knead dough for 10 minutes until it is smooth & elastic like.
- Move back to the bowl & cover with a clean cloth.
- Let rise 1 hour or until double in size
- Prepare the coating by mixing the sugar, brown sugar, & cinnamon together in small bowl, set aside.
- After 1 hour rise, divide dough into 3 equal pieces. Take each piece, roll into a 15" log. Brush the pieces with 2 Tablespoons melted butter. Take the cinnamon/sugar mixture and sprinkle over the logs, roll each piece in mixture to coat evenly.
- Take the 3 pieces, pinch the top, braid the logs together, pinch the end when done.
- Carefully place on greased cookie sheet. Scoop up the unused cinnamon/sugar place in bowl with remaining melted butter, mix, then gently pat the mixture on to top of loaf. (If you don't have enough butter or cinnamon/sugar mix you can make some more with 1 tablespoon butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoon brown sugar, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon).
- Let rise 1 hour or until loaf is double in size.
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
- Bake at 350 F. degrees for 23-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
- Let cool, then slice & enjoy.
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