Homemade Cinnamon Bread

*From thepioneerwoman.com

Homemade Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients
■1 cup Milk
■6 Tablespoons Butter
■2-½ teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
■2 whole Eggs
■⅓ cups Sugar
■3-½ cups All-purpose Flour
■1 teaspoon Salt
■⅓ cups Sugar
■2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
■Egg And Milk, Mixed Together, For Brushing
■Softened Butter, For Smearing And Greasing
Preparation Instructions
Melt butter with milk. Heat until very warm, but don’t boil. Allow to cool until still warm to the touch, but not hot. Sprinkle yeast over the top, stir gently, and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Combine flour and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix sugar and eggs with the paddle attachment until combined. Pour in milk/butter/yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add half the flour and beat on medium speed until combined. Add the other half and beat until combined.

Switch to the dough hook attachment and beat/knead dough on medium speed for ten minutes. If dough is overly sticky, add 1/4 cup flour and beat again for 5 minutes.

Heat a metal or glass mixing bowl so it’s warm. Drizzle in a little canola oil, then toss the dough in the oil to coat. Cover bowl in plastic wrap and set it in a warm, hospitable place for at least 2 hours.

Turn dough out onto the work surface. Roll into a neat rectangle no wider than the loaf pan you’re going to use, and about 18 to 24 inches long. Smear with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Mix sugar and cinnamon together, then sprinkle evenly over the butter-smeared dough. Starting at the far end, roll dough toward you, keeping it tight and contained. Pinch seam to seal.

Smear loaf pan with softened butter. Place dough, seam down, in the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix a little egg with milk, and smear over the top. Bake for 40 minutes on a middle/lower rack in the oven.

Remove from the pan and allow bread to cool. Slice and serve, or make cinnamon toast or French toast with it.

How it went:

That is one HUGE loaf! On thepioneerwoman's blog she kept talking about how hard it is to get her bread to rise where she lives (up in Montana or somewhere). I obviously do NOT have that problem here in the desert heat of Las Vegas. I didn't even let the dough rise as long as the recipe calls for, and still this is how big it was!

My take: I'd probably make it again. It was pretty good, and it'd be even better if it hadn't risen so much. That way the bread to cinnamon sugar ratio would be more even. I did find myself thinking that with all the work that went into it, I might as well have made cinnamon rolls. So keep that in mind. But I guess it all depends on what you want - bread, or more of a sugary treat.