give it a whirl

Over the Holidays, I spent a bit of time at my parents' house. There is always something to do there; one thing being- looking at magazines. My Mom is the person who keeps all home and cooking magazines in business. She has probably over ten subscriptions! One of my favorites is Country Living magazine. I love old, rustic homes and all the quirky, cute touches. As I was perusing through one issue, I noticed a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread on the counter of one of the kitchens. I was intrigued by this particular loaf however because it was different; it was double swirl bread.

This picture is from the magazine's website, so it's a little hard to see the swirls.

I've made cinnamon swirl bread, but not like this! I couldn't help myself. I had to give it a whirl. Let me take you through the process...

Dissolving the yeast.

Adding the flour.

Let the kneading begin.

(Action shot)

After the first rising.

Starting to form the loaves. I made two: one with a double swirl and  other with one swirl.

Rolling in the first side.

Rolling up the second side.
(In order for the middle to not break open at the top,  pinch the two rolls together to seal.)

In mid roll of the second loaf.

I put our oven on warm and let these guys do their second rise inside.

Afer the second rise- time to bake!

All done!

Cooling rack time.
(Single swirl on the left, double on the right.)

I broke the rule- I couldn't wait to have a piece!
You can't see the swirl yet...

SUCCESS!! The double swirl completed.

I made french toast with this loaf yesterday. It was a-mazing! The trick to using homemade bread for french toast is, you can't soak the bread very long or it will fall apart. The crumb is usually bigger than that of store bought bread, so it doesn't take long for the egg mixture to absorb. 

I hope that this inspires you to give cinnamon swirl bread a whirl and maybe gets you a little hungry for a snack. Plus, who doesn't love the smell of bread filling  the whole house?

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