To my LGBT friends, and anyone who may need cinnamon bread served with love – This recipe is the definitive answer on cinnamon bread.
The following recipe is adapted from the bread making class at East Hill Farm, with my detailed instructions for how you can create the perfect loaf based on several years of attempts at variations on this bread recipe. Special thanks to the bread class instructor at East Hill Farm for making bread with me three times until I could get it perfect, then letting me come back to the class in the years that followed, just for the sheer joy of it!
You got this.
You will need…
1 ¾ cups warm water
2 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp good quality olive oil (or canola oil will do)
3 ½ and then ½ cups flour
Cinnamon-sugar mixture containing 3 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon
A candy thermometer that includes the 100 to 120 degree range
Take a deep breath, and take comfort in the words of the Whos: WE ARE HERE.
STEP ONE
First, run the water so it gets quite hot. I like to make this recipe with water that’s about 110 to 115 degrees. I fill a large liquid measuring cup and then take its temperature with my candy thermometer. Once I have achieved the perfect blend of hot plus lukewarm water to hit that 110 degree goal, I then pour into smaller measuring cups to actually measure the correct amount. I’ve found that using water over 115 degrees is too hot and may kill the yeast. I’ve found that using colder water will work most of the time too, but the most consistent results I’ve had have been around the 110 degree mark.
We have come so far. We have so far still to go, but stop and take stock and remember that we have come so far. And find in these accomplishments, the strength to go on.
STEP TWO
When your water is perfect, combine water with yeast, sugar, salt, and oil. Whisk to dissolve the yeast, then stop whisking so the yeast can activate. Let the mixture sit for ten minutes without touching it so that the yeast will activate accurately. It will be obvious that there is a change taking place in your bowl.
If nothing interesting happens, throw this out and start over with new yeast. You will KNOW if the yeast is activating or not.
I am not a half-dead package of yeast, and I am not giving up on being myself. I am not giving up on you either. Activate your sense of purpose and feelings of hope, and I will activate mine. We are here together.
STEP THREE
In the mean time, mix 3 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon in a tiny bowl with a tiny whisk (or a fork). I would start with 3 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon, and then if it doesn’t look like it’s going to be strong enough for your taste in cinnamon, add an additional 1 tbsp sugar plus 1 tsp cinnamon.
Find comfort in the familiar, like old song lyrics and dialog from the movies and musicals of your childhood. One of my favorite lines from High School Musical is, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Like most of High School Musical, it doesn’t make much sense, but I interpret it to mean that when what you’re doing becomes harder, your determination gets stronger, and you become strong enough to complete the task.
STEP FOUR
After ten minutes have passed: Add 3 ½ cups flour and mix well. I like to use a large wooden spoon for this step.
Find the humor anywhere you can. Humor is the enemy of despair. Humor helps keep hope alive. Think of the lamest inside jokes you possibly can, and remember that what makes them funny is the friends who you share them with. Keep in your mind the image of your best friend’s face when, for example, he discovered that you each have a camper in your group who is allergic to peaches. In a world of life-threatening allergies to eggs and nuts, it’s a relief that there are also minor peach allergies, and if you don’t find that funny, then it’s clearly because you weren’t there that one time Jonathan and I compared allergy lists!
STEP FIVE
Sprinkle remaining ½ cup flour onto the counter or table. Place the dough on the floured surface and knead until elastic and not sticky. The texture you’re going for is similar to the feeling of a Cabbage Patch Doll’s head. Tacky, smooth-ish, and not sticky.
Don’t add any extra flour above the ½ cup mark until you’ve really given the dough a lot of kneading love. If you’ve been kneading forever and it’s used up all the flour and it’s still overly sticky, then try adding maybe a tablespoon of extra flour, but really, that ½ cup is probably the right amount, and sometimes the dough will be perfect and there will be a bit of that ½ cup of flour still left on the counter.
Remember, dough is not an exact science. Trust your instincts.
Trust in your awesome. You may not have all the answers, but you do have mad skillz. Spell it with a z because that will make you laugh, or at least smile.
STEP SIX
When you’re satisfied with your dough, stretch it out to about a 6 by 8 inch or so rectangle, spread with cinnamon-sugar, and then roll up to create a swirled loaf of bread. The seam goes on the bottom, and tuck the two edges in and under a bit. Place the dough in a well-greased 4 by 8 loaf pan and let rise for 30 minutes. I like to grease with butter, but you can also use oil or non-stick spray. Add more cinnamon-sugar mixture to the top of the bread once it’s in the pan. Remember that some of it will fall off the top and stick to the sides of the loaf, and that’s ok; it just gives your bread character!
Let the dough rise in a warm-ish part of the kitchen underneath a clean kitchen towel. The rise is 30 minutes in total.
It’s ok to be exhausted. So that’s the time when you take a bubble bath, or a figurative mental bubble bath, and then you pick yourself up and keep on being yourself.
STEP SEVEN
At the 20 minute mark, remember to preheat the oven!
A wise woman once said to me that we are all on this Earth to learn something from someone and to teach something to someone. If you are having trouble feeling purpose or hope, then instead think of the things you have inside of you to teach to others. For example, empathy.
STEP EIGHT
Bake the bread at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. It will be perfectly brown on top and will not stick to the loaf pan. If you think it needs 2 more minutes, then give it 2 more minutes in the oven.
If you search for where the proverb “There is no rose without thorns” originates, Google will suggest translating it into Swahili, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian (in that order), and will also find references to it in the Christian Bible, in yoga traditions, in Armenian traditions, and in the young adult novel Esperanza Rising. Perhaps what matters is the universality that all roses have thorns; that to get to the sweet and the beauty, we must overcome obstacles. And yeah, that really sucks. But we are in the midst of the obstacles, and since we have no choice but to overcome the obstacles, we should take comfort in the fact that there is a sweet and beautiful rose at the end of this thorny path.
STEP NINE
Cool for 10 minutes in the loaf pan, then put on a cooling rack or cutting board to finish cooling. The longer you can resist temptation to cut into it right away, the more evenly-baked it will be (carry over cooking is real, y’all!) and the easier to cut it will become.
I believe in you.
Enjoy as fresh bread, as toast with butter, or even as French toast. Buon appetito!
Love from your friend Alison
The following recipe is adapted from the bread making class at East Hill Farm, with my detailed instructions for how you can create the perfect loaf based on several years of attempts at variations on this bread recipe. Special thanks to the bread class instructor at East Hill Farm for making bread with me three times until I could get it perfect, then letting me come back to the class in the years that followed, just for the sheer joy of it!
You got this.
You will need…
1 ¾ cups warm water
2 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp good quality olive oil (or canola oil will do)
3 ½ and then ½ cups flour
Cinnamon-sugar mixture containing 3 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon
A candy thermometer that includes the 100 to 120 degree range
Take a deep breath, and take comfort in the words of the Whos: WE ARE HERE.
STEP ONE
First, run the water so it gets quite hot. I like to make this recipe with water that’s about 110 to 115 degrees. I fill a large liquid measuring cup and then take its temperature with my candy thermometer. Once I have achieved the perfect blend of hot plus lukewarm water to hit that 110 degree goal, I then pour into smaller measuring cups to actually measure the correct amount. I’ve found that using water over 115 degrees is too hot and may kill the yeast. I’ve found that using colder water will work most of the time too, but the most consistent results I’ve had have been around the 110 degree mark.
We have come so far. We have so far still to go, but stop and take stock and remember that we have come so far. And find in these accomplishments, the strength to go on.
STEP TWO
When your water is perfect, combine water with yeast, sugar, salt, and oil. Whisk to dissolve the yeast, then stop whisking so the yeast can activate. Let the mixture sit for ten minutes without touching it so that the yeast will activate accurately. It will be obvious that there is a change taking place in your bowl.
If nothing interesting happens, throw this out and start over with new yeast. You will KNOW if the yeast is activating or not.
I am not a half-dead package of yeast, and I am not giving up on being myself. I am not giving up on you either. Activate your sense of purpose and feelings of hope, and I will activate mine. We are here together.
STEP THREE
In the mean time, mix 3 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon in a tiny bowl with a tiny whisk (or a fork). I would start with 3 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon, and then if it doesn’t look like it’s going to be strong enough for your taste in cinnamon, add an additional 1 tbsp sugar plus 1 tsp cinnamon.
Find comfort in the familiar, like old song lyrics and dialog from the movies and musicals of your childhood. One of my favorite lines from High School Musical is, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Like most of High School Musical, it doesn’t make much sense, but I interpret it to mean that when what you’re doing becomes harder, your determination gets stronger, and you become strong enough to complete the task.
STEP FOUR
After ten minutes have passed: Add 3 ½ cups flour and mix well. I like to use a large wooden spoon for this step.
Find the humor anywhere you can. Humor is the enemy of despair. Humor helps keep hope alive. Think of the lamest inside jokes you possibly can, and remember that what makes them funny is the friends who you share them with. Keep in your mind the image of your best friend’s face when, for example, he discovered that you each have a camper in your group who is allergic to peaches. In a world of life-threatening allergies to eggs and nuts, it’s a relief that there are also minor peach allergies, and if you don’t find that funny, then it’s clearly because you weren’t there that one time Jonathan and I compared allergy lists!
STEP FIVE
Sprinkle remaining ½ cup flour onto the counter or table. Place the dough on the floured surface and knead until elastic and not sticky. The texture you’re going for is similar to the feeling of a Cabbage Patch Doll’s head. Tacky, smooth-ish, and not sticky.
Don’t add any extra flour above the ½ cup mark until you’ve really given the dough a lot of kneading love. If you’ve been kneading forever and it’s used up all the flour and it’s still overly sticky, then try adding maybe a tablespoon of extra flour, but really, that ½ cup is probably the right amount, and sometimes the dough will be perfect and there will be a bit of that ½ cup of flour still left on the counter.
Remember, dough is not an exact science. Trust your instincts.
Trust in your awesome. You may not have all the answers, but you do have mad skillz. Spell it with a z because that will make you laugh, or at least smile.
STEP SIX
When you’re satisfied with your dough, stretch it out to about a 6 by 8 inch or so rectangle, spread with cinnamon-sugar, and then roll up to create a swirled loaf of bread. The seam goes on the bottom, and tuck the two edges in and under a bit. Place the dough in a well-greased 4 by 8 loaf pan and let rise for 30 minutes. I like to grease with butter, but you can also use oil or non-stick spray. Add more cinnamon-sugar mixture to the top of the bread once it’s in the pan. Remember that some of it will fall off the top and stick to the sides of the loaf, and that’s ok; it just gives your bread character!
Let the dough rise in a warm-ish part of the kitchen underneath a clean kitchen towel. The rise is 30 minutes in total.
It’s ok to be exhausted. So that’s the time when you take a bubble bath, or a figurative mental bubble bath, and then you pick yourself up and keep on being yourself.
STEP SEVEN
At the 20 minute mark, remember to preheat the oven!
A wise woman once said to me that we are all on this Earth to learn something from someone and to teach something to someone. If you are having trouble feeling purpose or hope, then instead think of the things you have inside of you to teach to others. For example, empathy.
STEP EIGHT
Bake the bread at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. It will be perfectly brown on top and will not stick to the loaf pan. If you think it needs 2 more minutes, then give it 2 more minutes in the oven.
If you search for where the proverb “There is no rose without thorns” originates, Google will suggest translating it into Swahili, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian (in that order), and will also find references to it in the Christian Bible, in yoga traditions, in Armenian traditions, and in the young adult novel Esperanza Rising. Perhaps what matters is the universality that all roses have thorns; that to get to the sweet and the beauty, we must overcome obstacles. And yeah, that really sucks. But we are in the midst of the obstacles, and since we have no choice but to overcome the obstacles, we should take comfort in the fact that there is a sweet and beautiful rose at the end of this thorny path.
STEP NINE
Cool for 10 minutes in the loaf pan, then put on a cooling rack or cutting board to finish cooling. The longer you can resist temptation to cut into it right away, the more evenly-baked it will be (carry over cooking is real, y’all!) and the easier to cut it will become.
I believe in you.
Enjoy as fresh bread, as toast with butter, or even as French toast. Buon appetito!
Love from your friend Alison