My son and I love to enjoy a piece of toasted Pepperidge Farm Swirl Cinnamon Breakfast Bread in the morning. The problem is that at $3.50 a loaf, we can’t buy it nearly as often as we would like. So naturally, I had to find a way to make a delicious cinnamon swirl bread at home. I was disappointed on several attempts until I finally tried honey! With honey to sweeten the dough, the bread has a fabulous flavor while still keeping the amount of added sugar similar to the store-bought version. Best of all, a loaf of homemade cinnamon bread only costs about $1.30 so we can enjoy it as often as we want!
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Why Make Homemade Cinnamon Bread?
The Flavor
While I started out looking for a reasonably good-tasting replacement, I actually think I like this homemade version better. It certainly is not exactly the same as the Pepperidge Farms bread we were used to, but there is something special about homemade bread.
First, there’s the warm, inviting scent of cinnamon and freshly baked bread. In my opinion, there’s nothing better than a slice of homemade bread, still warm from the oven. And with homemade bread, there’s the slight crisp of the crust and inside the bread is so soft, and always fresh. I’ve been disappointed lately at the grocery store as the store-bought bread doesn’t seem to be a fresh. It seems like it is already day-old bread! Anyone else having that trouble? That has only pushed me further towards baking more of our bread at home.
Control the Ingredients
Customizable sweetness
When you are baking the bread, you can control how much sugar or honey you use. I tried to keep the amount of added sweetener similar to the store-bought version. But you could make it less sweet if you are working to reduce added sugar in your diet. Of course, you could also increase it if you are looking for a sweet dessert, perhaps drizzled with a glaze or topped with icing. Yum!
Add nuts or raisins
If you have a favorite ingredient, sometimes it seems it can be hard to find. In our house, we sadly don’t like raisins. But for some reason, it’s often hard to find the cinnamon swirl bread without raisins! When you make it yourself, you get it exactly the way you like it.
No preservatives
Store-bought breads contain preservatives. That does help them to last longer on your counter, but I prefer to avoid processed food an preservatives when I can.
Can be adapted for gluten free or dairy free diets
While I have not tried making this particular recipe gluten-free, I do think it would be easy to adapt. My go-to when making a gluten-free yeast bread is Steve’s Gluten-free Bread Flour Blend. Since I only make gluten-free baked goods occasionally, I’m not comfortable making my own blends. Steve’s Gluten-free Bread Flour Blend is already made for me. Just be sure to follow the directions and only use 3/4 cups of the Gluten-free blend to replace 1 cup of regular bread flour. Admittedly, this flour is not cheap. But, if you or a family member need a gluten-free diet, then you know that a store-bought loaf of gluten-free cinnamon bread is difficult to find and very expensive.
For dairy-free, you can use butter-flavored shortening in the bread dough and a dairy-free butter in the cinnamon-swirl filling. Using the butter-flavored shortening can change the texture of the bread a bit, but it still tastes good. And, the top store-bought cinnamon swirl breads contain nonfat milk, butter, or whey. So while dairy-free butter is more expensive, there doesn’t seem to be a good store-bought alternative for those who are very sensitive to dairy in their diets or for vegans.
How to Save Time when Making Homemade Cinnamon Bread
I will admit, as a busy mom, sometimes just picking up that store-bought loaf of bread does sound pretty appealing. But to stay within my grocery budget, I can’t do that very often. If you’ve had any experience baking yeast breads, you know that it can be quite a time commitment between kneading, rise time, and baking. I’ve taken some short cuts with this cinnamon bread recipe to make it faster. First, no kneading at all. Second, it needs much less rise time than most breads. The combined rise time for this recipe is only 65 minutes total. That means you can still make time to bake even on a busy day; you don’t need to have hours to spend at home.
The biggest time saver is that this homemade cinnamon bread recipe makes 3 loaves at a time! One loaf we eat fresh, and the other two are sliced, wrapped up and frozen. Then I can pull them out when we need them. That way, no bread is getting moldy; homemade bread is too good (and too much work) to waste!
Directions
Mixing the Ingredients
First, mix the egg, milk and warm water. Then add in yeast, melted butter, salt, and sugar. Add the flour a little at a time. Once everything is mixed together, cover in greased plastic wrap and let rise 20 minutes. I like to turn on my oven light while I’m mixing the ingredients, so it warms my oven just a bit. Then, I place my dough in the turned-off oven with the oven light on. This helps me get consistent results with my rising dough.
Making the Cinnamon Swirl Loaves
When dough is done rising, split it into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 10 inch by 12 inch rectangle. I like to use a pastry mat to make it easy to get the right sizes for making cinnamon bread or pies. If you can roll it longer than 12 inches, that will give you a tighter cinnamon swirl in your loaf. Just keep the width to 10 inches so that your dough will fit in a loaf pan when you are done shaping it. While I have the Sunbeam pastry mat, I am looking to purchase this extra thick pastry mat because it is also oven-safe and dishwasher-safe.
I like to use an 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ pan, preferably a traditional, uncoated loaf pan. I’ve found that uncoated bakeware seems to last longer. Unfortunately it doesn’t take too long for a nonstick coating to chip or be scratched. Simply grease your loaf pan and you should have no problem with sticking. I like to use a bit of the melted butter and brush it onto the pan.
When the dough is rolled to size, brush each rectangle of dough with melted butter. Next, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Starting on a 10 inch side, roll the rectangle of dough up. Tuck the open ends of the rolled dough underneath and place seam-side down in greased loaf pan. Let the unbaked loaves rise for 45 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Bread is done when it is golden on top, and sounds hollow when tapped.
My son and I enjoyed some of this loaf for breakfast, and it was delicious! I hope your family enjoys it as much as we do!
If you are looking for more ideas, check out my other Money-Saving Recipes!
Homemade Cinnamon Bread
Equipment
- 3 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pans
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 1/4 cup warm water
- 3/4 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup honey
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 2 1/2 Tbsp yeast
- 10 1/2 cup bread flour
Cinnamon Swirl Filling
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Mix eggs, milk, and water. Add in yeast, melted butter, salt, and sugar.
- Mix in flour a little at a time until all is added
- Cover bowl with greased plastic wrap. Let rise 20 minutes
- Split dough into 3 equal pieces and roll out into three 10"x12" rectangles
- Brush rectangles of dough with melted butter
- Combine cinnamon and sugar, and sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over rectangles
- Grease loaf pans, and preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Roll up dough, starting on 10 inch side. Fold the ends under and place loaf seam-down in the loaf pan.
- Let loaves rise for 45 minutes
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Loaves are ready when they are golden on top, and sound hollow when tapped.
