Homemade Cinnamon Bread

Oh, the delight of making homemade yeast bread!  With cinnamon and sugar!  I love it worm straight out of the oven.  I love it toasted.  I love this bread.  And amazingly, I GOT IT TO RISE!!  The truth is, this is the FOURTH time I've made this, and the FIRST time I got it to rise.  So when I first made it, it was like a quick bread, because I did not have patients.  I have a big problem with that sort of thing, but this time, I am SO glad I got it to rise!!  It tastes as good a peace of miss Careens (Sorry if I spelled that wrong!)  homemade bread, spread with nutela.  Yum!  This is SO  my favorite bread, by FAR.

To a small sauce pan, melt 6 tablespoons butter,

With 1 cup milk.  heat until warm to the touch , but not hot.

Mix that all together well. 

Sprinkle on 1 package of yeast onto the warm butter and milk.

Mix gently, and allow to sit for 10 minutes.  While we are waiting  on that, let's go do some other stuff!

To a bowl, whist together 3 1/2 cups flour 

 and 1 teaspoon salt.

To an electric mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, pour in 1/3 cup sugar.

Then take 2 eggs, 

 and crack them with the sugar.

 mix them together well.

 pour in the milk/butter/yeast mixture in with the sugar and eggs.  Now mix that together.

Add half the flour mixture, and mix that together, then add the other half. 

Like this! 

Then switch to a paddle attachment and beet on medium speed for 10 minutes.  If the dough is too sticky, add 1/4 cup flour and beet for another5 minutes.

 This is too sticky.  

To a warm bowl, drizzle a little canola oil in it (I used vegetable oil),

and put the dough in it.  Toss it with the oil to coat it. 

 Let it rise in a warm place for 2 hours (at least).  There are some fancy yeast warmers you can install but, I just used the old fashioned way......  I heated up the MICROWAVE.

role the dough onto a work surface, role it out no bigger than the loaf pan your going to use.  (no need to flour!)  (excuse my lighting in this picture, it's 9:00 right now!)

 drizzle a 2 tablespoons of butter on top.

To a little bowl, mix together 1/3 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon. 

 sprinkle that evenly on top.  You can sprinkle on some raisins at this point, but my little brother would moan and groan if I did that!

Role that up tightly, pinch the seam, and put seam-side down in a loaf pan.  Do what ever tricks you do to make it warm again, and let it rise for at least 2 hours.  Remember to GREASE the loaf pan.  I forgot one time....  Oh never mind!

Oh my gosh!!  It ROSE!!  I actually had this rise over night, And if you dough dose not look like this, let it rise for another 30 minutes.  (Excuse the blurieness in this picture, I was so excited to see the dough look like this!)

Preheat oven to 350.

Splash a little bit of milk in  a small bowl, 

with 1 egg. 

 mix that together until combined.

Brush the dough with the egg mixture.  You will probably have allot of the mixture left over, but it will be OK.  Stick that in the oven for 40 minutes.

 Oh my!

 I love mine toasted.  Mmmmm.

 yes toasted with a bit' o' butter.  Or in my case SMART BALANCE.  

We're health freaks.  What can I say?

Enjoy!

THIS RECIPE IS FROM PIONEER WOMAN.