Cinnamon Wreath

I’ve seen many of these types of braided breads and always thought they looked beautiful and impressive. But, they also looked pretty intimidating to me so it took a while before I even wanted to attempt making one. In the end it wasn’t even that difficult.

The original recipe is by Esmee from Es-Factory(in Dutch). I made a minor adjustment in the amount of cinnamon and braided my bread in slightly different way.

For the dough:

400 g flour

200 g milk, lukewarm (weight not volume)

5 g instant yeast

35 g sugar

1 small egg

7 g salt

50 g butter, softened

For the filling:

100 g butter, softened

8 Tbs brown sugar

1½ ts cinnamon powder

Method

I use a stand mixer for kneading my dough.

Combine the flour, milk, yeast and sugar. Mix and leave for 10 minutes.

Add the egg and salt. Knead into a pliable dough. It has been kneaded well enough when it bounces back slightly when pressing a finger into the dough.

Add the butter, bit by bit. First incorporate the butter into the dough before adding more.

Shape the dough into a ball and leave to proof in a greased and covered bowl. Proof until doubled in size. Depending on the temperature this can take an hour or up.

Mix the sugar with the cinnamon. Roll the dough into a large rectangle about 18 by 14 inches.

Spread the butter over the dough leaving a 1¼ inch gap at the top. Sprinkle the butter with the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Lightly wet the bare edge and roll the dough towards it. Roll the dough seam side down and cut it lengthways. Braid the 2 strands together.

You can now bring the ends together to form a circle or you can roll it into itself to create a spiral.

Place the dough on a baking sheet (with edges) covered with parchment paper. Cover and leave to proof for 30-45 minutes.

Preheat the oven at 375°F/190°C. Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

These step by step photo’s shows you how to roll and cut the dough. In the first photo I have a gap all the way around, but you only need to leave a gap at the top.

While baking some of the butter will leak out so you really need a baking sheet or pan with an edge. Transfer the bread to a wire rack as soon as possible so you don’t leave it sitting in the melted butter.

The butter and folds create lovely crispy edges. You can eat this cinnamon wreath plain or with some butter.

 

A photo posted by PJ – Nombelina.com (@nombelina) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:27am PST

This Instagram photo shows you how the sugar and cinnamon is swirled inside the bread.

Thank you Es for this beautiful recipe!