Sunday Morning Cinnamon Bread

I am making a concerted effort to bake more. I don’t exactly like eating baked goods so much, but I really,  really enjoy the process of baking.

There’s just something about mixing the ingredients together slowly, at a relaxed pace, and watching science do it’s work.

I just love kneading bread dough. It’s so smooth, and still warm from activating the yeast in warm water. I don’t know why people skip this part in favour of a bread machine. This is the best step, in my opinion. Plus, there’s no pussyfooting around bread dough. It is not a delicate and fragile flower. You need to smack that doughball up, show it who’s boss.

Not to mention the glorious aromas that fill the apartment. Plus, now that I’ve cleaned the burnt stuff out of the bottom of the oven, the smoke alarm doesn’t go off every time I use it, leading to an even more relaxed baking experience.

Relaxation has been my general state of being this weekend. I spent Friday evening at the spa, getting scrubbed, soaked and massaged, followed by a lovely dinner with the girls. Early to bed then, and a deep 10 hour sleep left me feeling refreshed and serene on Saturday morning, so I decided to do some morning yoga. After that it was nothing but baking, trying to figure out how to build a social platform for this blog and checking in on Charlie Sheen’s tweets now and then.

I decided to make cinnamon bread because earlier that week at work, someone had brought in a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread and had been toasting it in the kitchen. My desk is quite close to the kitchen, so every day around 3ish the intoxicating aroma of cinnamon toast filled the air. I was determined that I too, would have cinnamon toast soon. On Saturday, I realized there was no bread to be found in my apartment, so the rest is just kismet.

It took a really long time to make this bread. After the dough was formed it took about two hours to rise to double its original size, as I find is often the case with egg-based breads.

Tip: let your dough rise on the stovetop with the oven on the lowest setting

Then it had to be rolled out and the cinnamon had to be injected into the dough. This recipe is almost like cinnamon buns except with much less sugar. In case you’re wondering, I didn’t use raisins because I didn’t have any – and my lazy state would not allow a trip to the grosho.

See that rolling pin in the background? Family heirloom from my mother’s side, who mostly live in Newfoundland. It was given to me when my poppie passed away a few years ago. There’s a weird thing in my family where the baking gene skips a generation. Luckily I ended up with it. Every time I use this rolling pin I think about my newfie family and feel proud that I am carrying on the tradition. Someday it will be passed on to one of my nieces or nephews.

Because the bread wasn’t finished until about 9:00 at night I decided to save it for the morning and enjoy it with some tea for breakfast.

But I did have to have a small sample right away…

Mmmm. There’s nothing like fresh toasted cinnamon bread. So warming and tasty and cheerful.

And with a good book to read and a steaming cup of tea, it made for a lovely Sunday morning.

Now I can bring it in to work all week and drive everyone else crazy with the delicious aroma!

Here’s the recipe! Cinnamon Bread