This homemade cinnamon swirl bread is the perfect tender white bread, swirled with a gooey cinnamon sugar swirl in the middle. It’s amazing, on it’s own, or especially when used for french toast!
Cinnamon swirl bread is the best. This bread is like a cinnamon roll meets a loaf of fresh fluffy bread. IT’s got the perfect gooey cinnamon sugar center, and it’s a must make.
It’s so delicious warm out of the oven, and I especially like enjoying it toasted with butter on top, or cooked up as french toast with my caramel syrup on top.
And as this cinnamon swirl bread is baking, the delicious smell of fresh bread mixed with cinnamon fills the air. It’s heavenly, and maybe one of the best smells ever.
This cinnamon swirl bread is made with the same base as my white bread. The recipe makes two loafs of bread, so sometimes I like to make one loaf of regular white bread, and one loaf of this cinnamon swirl bread. But you won’t regret having two loaves of cinnamon swirl bread either.
You could also cut the recipe in half if you only want to make one loaf of bread.
How to store cinnamon swirl bread for later?
The baked bread stays good stored at room temperature for about 4 to 5 days. Cover with plastic wrap when fully cooled to store.
You can freeze one of the loaves. Wrap the loaf in plastic wrap, then in foil or a freezer safe bag. Freeze the bread for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to enjoy the bread, thaw it at room temperature, then slice it up and enjoy – especially toasted.
How to make cinnamon swirl bread?
In a large bowl, dissolve your yeast and sugar in warm water. It’s best if done in a stand mixer, but you can also use a hand mixer, or mix by hand if you don’t have one. Add in the butter and stir it in. Add in the salt and two cups of the flour, and stir it till it’s combined. Then add in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, while stirring the whole time, until you have a nice soft dough. Continue to knead the dough for about 8 minutes.
Roll the dough into a ball, and place the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap or a towel. Let it sit in a warm spot. Let the dough rise for about 1 hour until the ball has doubled in size.
Punch the dough down to release the air and separate into two equal sized sections. Roll the loaves of bread out flat as a rectangle, spread it with a little melted butter, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the top. Roll the bread up like you would for cinnamon rolls, and tuck the end in at the bottom to seal. Place the loaf into a greased 9x5x3 bread pan and cover the pan with a towel. Allow the loaf to rise till it doubles in size and rises to the top of the pan, about 30-40 minutes.
Bake bread in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until the loaf is golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. It’s best to let the bread cool completely before cutting into it if you want nice even slices.
How much yeast is in a packet?
In each packet of yeast is 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast. So if you don’t want to buy yeast in the packets, or can’t find them then you can measure the yeast out. For this recipe you will need two packets of yeast, or 4 1/2 teaspoons of yeast, which is also equal to 1 1/2 Tablespoons.
Can I use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast?
Instant yeast and active dry yeast both can be used for this recipe. If you use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast as called for in the recipe, you can use the same amount of yeast, unless you are preparing the bread dough in a bread maker then you will use 1 1/8 TBS instant yeast. Watch the dough as it doubles in size, it may only take 40-45 minutes instead of 1 hour.
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Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Ingredients
White Bread
- 2 - .25 oz packages active dry yeast (or 1.5 TBS)
- 3 TBS white sugar
- 2 1/2 cups warm water
- 3 TBS butter (melted)
- 1 TBS salt
- 6 1/2 cups all purpose white flour
For the cinnamon sugar filling:
- 4 TBS butter (melted)
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 TBS ground cinnamon
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
Instructions
White Bread
- In a large mixing bowl (a stand mixer is best if you have it) dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water.
- Add the melted butter into the mixture and stir it in.
- Add in salt and 2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Stir till combined.
- Add 1/2 cup of the flour at a time, while stirring slowly, combining thoroughly after each addition. Until you've added 6 cups of flour total.
- Add more flour 1 TBS at a time as needed till the dough is pulls away from the sides of the bowl. (Mine needed 6 1/4 cups total)
- After the dough pulls from the sides, knead it for 8 minutes.
- Grease a bowl with oil.
- Roll the dough into a ball and place it into the bowl. Brush top of the dough ball with oil too.
- Cover with a towel or greased plastic wrap and set the bowl in a warm place, to let it rise.
- Let the dough rise till doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Punch the dough down to remove the air.
- Divide the dough into two equal halves.
- Roll each loaf into a flat rectangle, about 9inches (as wide as the bread pan) and about 1/2 inch thick.
- Rub the tops of each rectangle with melted butter.
For the cinnamon sugar filling:
- Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top of the butter.
- Roll loaves up (like you would with cinnamon rolls).
- Tuck the loose end of the bread into itself.
- Place each loaf into a greased bread pan, with the end of the roll at the bottom.
- Cover again and allow to rise for another 30 minutes till doubled, and dough reaches top of bread pan.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Lower temperature to 375 degrees. Bake bread for about 25 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven, coat the tops of the loaves with melted butter. Return to oven to bake for another 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes.
- Carefully remove from pan and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
Nutrition
Cinnamon Swirl Bread first posted on March 28, 2012. Photos updated on May 1, 2020.
Jess says
Never mind I figured it out. The wording and amounts go wonky when you change the amount of loaves. I read the top section again which explained it better.
Aimee says
It makes 2 loaves, it’s 1.5 TBS total, I haven’t tried cutting the recipe in half.
Ellen says
I made this bread last night and it was so easy. Of course fresh yeast is a big help. We couldn’t wait to eat a slice or two! It is delicious! I want to bake this every week.
ann says
Any reason one couldn’t use butter instead of margarine??
Annette says
YUMMY! I can’t wait to try it!
Lauren Allen says
This looks amazing! Pinned!
Becky @ lovetobeinthekitchen says
Yum! I used to make cinnamon bread fairly often but I haven’t made it for a while. This looks so good!
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
I love cinnamon swirl bread. This looks so fluffy and fabulous my mouth is watering!
six sisters says
ooo, this looks great! Thanks for linking up with Strut Your Stuff Saturday. We’re hoping you will join us again next week with more great ideas! – The Sisters
Ellen Garrett says
Ignore my previous comment, it is messed up.
Ellen Garrett says
*Bake at 425 for 30 minutes and then lower the temperature to 375 and bake another 25 minutes.
aimeeberrett says
Sorry if the recipe is confusing. You actually preheat to 425, lower the temperature to 375 and then bake. I’m not sure if there is actually a benefit to doing that, but I’m just following the original recipe I got the white bread from. The total bake time is about 30 minutes.
Savannah says
Yum, yum, yum, yum! I want that NOW! 🙂
Karina Powell says
This looks so good!!! I want to make this!!! Thank you!!
Jess says
So there’s 1.5 tablespoons of yeast per loaf?