This Cinnamon Swirl Bread is ah-mazing! Tender, slightly sweet and absolutely amazing with golden swirls of cinnamon throughout. Easier to make than you might think.
This last Sunday we had some crazy, strong winds in Utah. If you live here, you know what I’m talking about. I was sitting at the computer in our den Sunday afternoon while the winds were fiercely blowing outside. I remember thinking that the wind was so strong something bad was bound to happen. Within a few minutes I saw a trampoline flying through the air. . . our trampoline to be exact. Not even joking! The wind was so strong it literally lifted our trampoline up into the air, over our fence and into the street. If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it. That is something you only see in the movies, right?
I thought for sure our fence would be destroyed, but it wasn’t, that is how insane the wind was. It lifted our tramp high enough that it cleared our fence. It did take out our street sign on the corner of our circle as it flew through the air, but thankfully nothing else. The fact that it didn’t hit another house was a miracle and thankfully no car was driving by and no one was walking by. Needless to say, our tramp didn’t come out unscathed, in fact, it was pretty trashed. It’s now sitting in a pile of pieces on the side of our house waiting for city clean up.
Crazy, crazy, crazy!
Speaking of crazy, this bread is crazy delicious! I could have eaten the entire loaf. It’s tender, buttery, not too sweet and has just the perfect amount of cinnamon swirled throughout. Eaten warm with butter smeared all over it is heavenly!
Once it’s rolled up jelly roll style, use a sharp knife or bench scraper to cut it in half lengthwise.
Rotate each half so the cut side is face up.
Pinch the two pieces together at the top and then carefully twist them together, keeping cut side face up.
Now twist it into a spiral, tucking ends underneath.
Let it raise and then bake it up and it turns into this beautiful, golden pan of deliciousness.
This bread is phenomenal you guys. I used what was left of it the next day for a french toast casserole and it was out of this world! Honestly the best French toast casserole I’ve ever made.
The instructions may look long and daunting, but I promise this is so simple to make.
Your house smells amazing while it’s baking! You will love this bread!
Recipe Source: America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook
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Cinnamon Swirl Bread
- Total Time: 165 minutes
Description
This Cinnamon Swirl Bread is ah-mazing! Tender, slightly sweet and absolutely amazing with golden swirls of cinnamon throughout. Easier to make than you might think.
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm whole milk (110 degrees)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons warm water
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra as needed
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
Instructions
- Whisk milk, melted butter, granulated sugar, water, and yeast together in 2‑cup liquid measuring cup until yeast dissolves. Whisk flour, salt, and 2 teaspoons cinnamon together in bowl of stand mixer. Using dough hook with mixer on low speed, slowly add milk mixture and mix until dough comes together, about 2 minutes. Increase speed to medium and continue to mix until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (If needed, add 1 to 2 tablespoons extra flour if the dough is sticky, it should pull away from the sides of the bowl but stick to bottom.)
- Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover tightly with greased plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Combine brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in bowl. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and roll into 16 by 12‑inch rectangle with long side facing you. Brush the 2 tablespoons melted butter over dough, leaving 1/2‑inch border at edges. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over butter, leaving a 3/4‑inch border at top edge, and press lightly to adhere. Starting with long edge, roll dough tightly. Pinch seam and ends closed. If necessary, gently reshape log to be 16 inches in length with even diameter.
- Grease a 10‑inch cast-iron skillet. With short side of dough log facing you, cut log in half lengthwise, using bench scraper. Turn dough halves cut sides up and arrange side by side. Pinch top ends together. Lift and place 1 dough half on opposite side of second half. Repeat, keeping cut sides up, until dough halves are tightly braided.
- Pinch remaining ends together. Twist braided dough into spiral and tuck end underneath. Transfer loaf to prepared skillet, cover with greased plastic, and let rise until doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Brush the loaf with beaten egg and and bake until loaf is deep golden brown and filling is melted, about 45 to 55 minutes.
- Transfer skillet to wire rack and let loaf cool for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and let cool on wire rack. Carefully cut while still warm if desired, or wait until it cools completely.
Notes
You can see this bread isn’t super “tall” because I put mine in a 12-inch skillet, thinking it was a 10-inch (oops!). Because the pan was a little bigger than is should have been, the bread spread out more than it should have as it raised. It was still amazing, but if you make this and use the right size pan, yours should turn out a little taller.
If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can use any 10-inch oven-safe skillet.
- Prep Time: 120 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Breads
This looks heavenly!
Thanks Tammy! It is heavenly!
I tried this recipe at high altitude and with dark brown sugar and it worked like a charm! I didn’t have a stand mixer so I kneaded it for 10 minutes to develop the structure and I had no problems. Thanks for the great post!
Yay! I’m so glad you made this and loved it. That is a labor of love to knead it by hand. Thanks for letting me know it turned out.
Bread was delicious! But mine wouldn’t rise. I used all purpose flour and the yeast.
Sorry to hear that Michael. Was your yeast expired by chance? I’m glad it still tasted delicious. Hopefully you’ll give it another try.
As I read the recipe I don’t see at what point you are adding the egg.
Hi April, there is no egg in the dough. It says in the instructions (towards the end) that you brush the loaf with the beaten egg before baking it.
Do you think it would work to do the 1st rise and shaping one evening and cover it and refrigerate it overnight for the 2nd? My family can’t wait 2 or more hours to eat breakfast. I think I will try it. I will let it warm up before baking it.
I think you could absolutely do that. Let me know how it works. Thanks Sheri! Happy New Year.
I’ve made this recipe at least a dozen times and intend on making it yet again tomorrow. I’m not a huge fan of bread, but this is heaenly. I’ve even baked this and given it as Christmas gifts. It’s as beautiful as it is delicious. Everyone who’s tasted it, loved it. It’s addicting and good luck just eating one piece:^)
Thanks for a brillant recipe!! Baking in cast iron does wonderful things to the crust. Carmalized goodness.
Thank you Melissa! I love hearing comments like that! Now I want to go make this bread ASAP!
Bread is my all time favorite thing to make!
This recipe is perfect. The instructions are ez to follow. The bread is gorgeous and tastes as good as it looks.
This is a winner keeper!
Thank you!Barbara
Thanks Barbara! I’m so happy to hear it turned out for you. It is delicious! Thanks for letting me know.
I made this bread but because I don’t have a cast iron skillet I used 2 loaf pans. They came out absolutely beautiful and the bread was very yummy!! I’ll definitely be making this again! Thank you!
So happy to hear you loved it. That’s good to know it works in two loaf pans. Thanks Tara for leaving a comment!
Hello, Do you have a printable form of this recipe? for me to do so it pages of added ad’s.. I really want to try this. I eve tried copy and past, did not work.
Thank you,
Rose
Hi Rose, you can press on the print button in the recipe card and it should print the recipe just fine. Let me know if you still have a problem.
Great bread recipe for cast iron. Made it and family gobbled it all up. I love finding new ways to use my cast iron pan. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Sp happy you your family loved this Robin! Thank you for letting me know! Happy holidays!
Was wondering–the instructions say to brush the dough with 2 Tablespoons of melted butter but the ingredient list says 2 teaspoons. Which is correct? Thanks
Hi Cathy! It’s 2 tablespoons, thanks for catching that. I’ve fixed it. Enjoy!
I’ve made this bread twice and it is soooo good. I could eat the whole thing by myself.. for every meal. I love that it’s not too sweet and it has wonderful flavor and texture. Last time I made a cream cheese frosting. Super addictive. I’m going to try the butter on it next time. I look forward to making this on a regular basis.
Hi Laurie! I’m so glad you love this bread! And the cream cheese frosting . . .what a brilliant idea. I am definitely going to try that. Thanks for leaving a comment.
Yes
YOU Should add zest of orange to the cream cheese frosting and. And a teaspoon of orange juice for a fabulous flavor!
Sounds delicious! I will have to try that!
IMHO, there is too much cinnamon in the bread dough. It’s unnecessary and should be more subtle. I would leave it out, or cut by half. Also a video showing how you twist the rolled dough into the spiral would be really helpful.
I’m sorry you thought there was too much cinnamon in this bread. You can leave some out next time. Everyone else that has left a comment has loved it, but I guess everyone’s taste buds are different.
Could never be too much cinnamon for me, but I am also interested in how you do the spiral…just keep twisting the braid until you like how it looks? Thanks!
Hey Linda, yes I just twist it into a circle and place it in the pan. Hope you love this!
I am in the middle of making this now for the first time. I came to the comments to see if anyone added more cinnamon as I was thinking it wasn’t enough (I love cinnamon). When I saw the comment re: expired yeast, I checked mine (didn’t know yeast expired, this being my first time to bake with yeast). Sure enough, being the President of the Procrastinators Club, mine, too, had expired. Too late now as I’d already completed the first step. There are ~30 minutes to go on the “let it rise” step and, sadly, it looks no bigger. Live and learn. Ha! Ha!
UPDATE; It did rise; took about 2 hours, which is ok as I wasn’t in a hurry. It turned out beautifully and is absolutely delicious. I may add some pecans next time. I did seem to lose a lot of the filling to the bottom of the skillet. Is this to be expected or possibly I didn’t roll it tightly enough?
You may just not have rolled it tightly enough. I haven’t ever had that happen. Glad it turned out and finally did raise though.
What do I use the 2 tbsp water for?
Hey Nick, it says it right in the first step of the instructions. . . Whisk milk, melted butter, granulated sugar, water, and yeast together in 2‑cup liquid measuring cup until yeast dissolves. Whisk flour, salt, and 2 teaspoons cinnamon together in bowl of stand mixer. . . .
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I tried it for the first time and my braid/spiral didn’t hold it’s shape during baking. It came out a stripey blob, but it tastes great 🙂
Can’t wait to try again.
Hmmm, not sure why it didn’t hold it’s shape during baking. What kind of pan did you use? Glad it still tasted good!
I used a 10′ cake pan, but I’m thinking the fault is with my inexperience. This is my first venture away from boxed bread mix.
Absolutely beautiful creation and so easy to make. Wish I could post a picture of my finished bread. Just like the photo for the recipe.
Hi Wendy! I am so happy you made this and loved it. I wish I could have seen a picture! Thanks for letting me know. Hope you’re staying safe.
Made it today with my grandchildren and it turned out wonderful! Thanks for the recipe
Has anyone tried to make the dough and shape it then freeze it and bake later?
Just baked this with my kiddo this afternoon and wanted to say for any other bread machine bakers…I found out at the last minute that my dough hook had disappeared, so I still followed the directions on this recipe but let my bread machine do the kneading and 1st rise using the “dough cycle” – came out perfectly and was a hit with my whole family!
Thanks Jenn for letting us know that! So glad it turned out and you loved it! Hope you’re staying safe.
I woke up and decided I wanted to make this this morning! I accidentally added the brown sugar into my dough… oops! I’ll let you know how it turns out but I’m sure it will be fine! It’s in the oven with a damp cloth rising in my oven now!!
Hi Heather! I’d love to hear how it turns out. It’s amazing bread!
Made this twice and both times it looked great until it never baked in the oven even after an hour… was left with bread that looked great on the outside but was still completely dough and inedible. very disappointed.
I’m sorry to hear Taylor that this didn’t bake up right for you, I’ve never had that problem. I have received so many emails, comments and tags on Instagram with nothing but positive things about this bread and how well it turned out. I’m sorry it didn’t work for you, I’m guessing your oven temp could be off and maybe you need to cook it at a higher temperature.
Can this be prepared and refrigerated overnight to bake in the morning?
Hey Michelle, I haven’t ever prepared it ahead of time, but I think you’d be okay doing it. I would cover it in the fridge overnight and then take it out maybe at least an hour before you want to bake it.
Well…I made this tonight and feel a bit silly that I didn’t see where it said to let it rise a second time. I don’t really understand why it turned out ok anyway.
I’ve just recently made this bread multiple times but substituted all vegan ingredients (vegan butter, plant based milk, organic sugar) in the same exact amounts as the recipe and this turned out AMAZING. Instead of the egg wash, I used melted vegan butter to brush the top before baking. I tagged you in IG, but forgot to leave a comment. Excellent recipe and this has become part of our weekly rotation.
Hi Anna! So good to know what this turns out amazingly using those ingredients. Thanks for sharing!
Can I use the regular Active Dry Yeast that’s not quick or instant?
That should work just fine.
Looks so good! Is it possible I could make this dairy butter free? Eating dairy and soy messes with my little nursling when I eat it 🙁 if not, I may have to just make it for my family lol
Hey Katie, I’ve never tried so I’m not sure.