If you want bake something impressive, but not too difficult this fall, I highly recommend making this Brown Butter Cinnamon Swirl Bread adapted from NYT Cooking's Cinnamon Roll Bread Recipe. This tastes and is basically a cinnamon roll, except instead of baking the rolls as individual portions, you bake it as a whole loaf. I'm absolutely obsessed with this recipe. The bread comes out so fluffy and delicious. When you slice into it, you see these gorgeous swirls from the brown butter cinnamon filling. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water.
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes (plus proofing)
SERVINGS: 9 inch loaf
INGREDIENTS:
Bread:
3 cups all purpose flour (360 grams)
1 packet instant yeast
⅓ cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoons vinegar
Pinch of salt
Filling and Glaze:
1 stick (8 tablespoons butter) plus more for brushing
⅔ cup dark brown sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
3-4 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of cinnamon
RECIPE:
Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt with a dough hook or by hand until everything is well combined. Heat the milk on the stove just until it is lukewarm. Make sure it isn't too hot. Once you heat the milk, add your softened butter to the milk and set it aside. Combine the baking soda and vinegar together and add it to your dry ingredients. Then add in your butter and milk mixture and mix with a dough hook or by hand for about 5 minutes.
Transfer the dough into a greased bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Set it in a warm room for about an hour. The dough dough will be ready when it doubles in size.
After about an hour, start making the brown butter filling. On a low flame, melt the 8 tablespoons of butter. Keep stirring it for about 4-5 minutes until the butter turns a shade of amber. Immediately transfer the butter to another bowl. Mix in the brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and cinnamon. Set aside and prepare a 9 inch loaf pan with parchment and cooking spray.
Flour your work surface and rolling pin well. Roll out the dough in a 12" x 20" rectangle. Using a rubber spatula, evenly spread the brown butter filling all across the dough. Once you spread the mixture, start rolling the dough from a longer side, into a tight roll. Cut the roll into thirds using a serrated knife. Take two of the logs and place them on the bottom of your loaf pan. Place the third log over the two bottom two. Loosely cover again with a kitchen towel and move the loaf to a warm room for another hour.
After about 45 minutes, preheat your oven to 350° F. Once the oven reaches 350° F, brush some melted butter on top of the loaf and bake for 50-55 minutes. Cover with foil after 20 minutes.
To make the glaze, whisk together the sugar, heavy cream/milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. After the loaf is out of the oven, wait 20 minutes before removing it from the pan and glazing it.