Here are some weirdo facts for ya. 1. I’m terrible at the dishes. You’d think living my life as a grown-up lady without a dishwasher for over 10 years that I’d have it together, but I don’t. I have to rewash stuff all the time. 2. When there’s a fly in the house I hold Elliot up and he catches it. Every time. He can catch flies, you guys. It’s like the dog skill equivalent to being able to fold a fitted sheet. 3. Lately I’ve had no breakfast food in the house so I’ve been eating tasty egg and potato hand pies and pear cake of my dreams from the coffee shop. And then I’ve been spilling 16 whole ounces of coffee in my car before walking into work.
BUT! I kinda think I need to get some breakfast biz happening in my house for weekdays especially. AND! I’ve been having total toast cravings. You see, I like to make a couple loaves of swirly sweet bread and then slice it all up, freeze it up packaged up by the pair for toasting on the casual. And I had a day off so I baked this stuff up, and now theres at least a week+ of toast breakfasts and coffee mornings in my future. And if I’m lucky, maybe even French toast! So just bake this stuff up! It tastes like a cinnamon roll dream.
Vanilla Bean, Brown Sugar, & Cinnamon Swirl Whole Wheat Bread (makes 2 loaves)
Ingredients:
whole wheat bread –
- 3 1/2 – 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 (1/4 oz) packages active dry yeast
- 1 T salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup water
- 3 T butter
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
cinnamon swirl –
- 2 T butter, melted
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- seeds from 1 vanilla bean, scraped
- 1 T ground cinnamon
Directions:
- In a large bowl whisk together 1 cup all-purpose flour, all 2 1/2 cups of the wheat flour, yeast and salt. Mix well.
- Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, heat the milk, water, maple syrup/brown sugar and butter until warm, not hot. (about 130 degrees). Add to flour mixture. Add egg and stir until moist.
- Add the rest (or most) of the all purpose flour (2 1/2 – 3 cups). When mostly mixed, pour contents onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is compact and all bits are incorporated.
- Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and put the dough in, flipping it over so it’s greased on top. Cover with a light towel and allow to rise 1+ hours, or until double in size.
- Stir together brown sugar, vanilla bean, and cinnamon. Spray the bottoms and sides of two bread pans (9 x 5 inch), line the bottom with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Deflate dough and divide into two equal halves. Pat each half into a 9×15 inch rectangle. Brush each dough rectangle with melted butter and then divide the sugar-y filling between them, rubbing it into the surface. Roll up the short side and pinch the dough seam at the end. Place in prepared bread pans seam-side down. Allow dough to rise in bread pans in a warm place for an hour or until double in size/peaking over the top of the bread pans. About half way through pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35-45 minutes, until the top is nice and dark and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from the oven and brush the top lightly with butter and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Yay! Click HERE for a printable pdf of the recipe above.
Looooove this! Anything that has swirls in it causes me to swoon. Also, dishes suck for me too. I HATE THEM! And so does my cat who meows like crazy every time she hears them clanking.
I’m laughing so hard at the image of Elliot chomping down on flies. Cinnamon bread is one of my faves. Toasted and slathered in buddah? Perfect.
This looks so GOOD!
Mmm that looks incredible! All of your bread recipes are fabulous, keep ’em coming 🙂
I want to sit alone, drinking a pot of coffee, eating this whole loaf.
Major carb love for this swirly loaf!
Sold! I want to make these this weekend! I love baking bread in the fall and the swirls look irresistible.