Leah's Amazing Cinnamon Bread

This may actually be the best cinnamon bread on the planet. Make it and you decide. It's my favorite, and my family's as well.

Ok this is based on a recipe we got from allrecipes.com, but I've changed a couple or ten things in there. This is my version.

1 1/2 C milk
1C warm water
1 1/2T yeast (I guessed on this . . . I use a regular spoon to measure mine. Just experiment till you get what you like with the bread.)
3 eggs
1/2C white sugar (I haven't tried it with brown sugar but I'm sure you could use it)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 C butter, softened
1C raisins (optional. I never use raisins)
8ish C bread flour (you can use regular flour but the bread isn't as good)
2-3T butter for the tops of the loaves

Filling:
2-3T butter, melted (you can also use milk for this)
3/4C white sugar
2T ground cinnamon



Warm milk on the stove till it bubbles. Cool to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in warm water (I do it in the mixer bowl) and sprinkle a little sugar in for the yeast to eat:) Yes I'm serious. Let it sit for about 5 min. or until the yeast is frothy. Mix in eggs, butter, sugar, salt, and raisins if you want them. It helps if you break up the butter before you mix it in - otherwise it tries to slosh out of the bowl everywhere. Next, stir in the cooled milk. Add flour gradually to make a stiff dough. Now mine's not really "stiff," it's just springy and not sticky, so just eyeball it. I usually get about 6 cups of flour in while it's in the mixer, and then I turn it out onto the floured counter and knead it until it's springy and not sticky anymore. So it might not take all 8 cups. Put the dough in a large, greased bowl, turn to grease the surface of the dough, and cover with a damp towel. Set in a warm place to rise until doubled - mine usually takes at least an hour, sometimes more. Punch down the dough and roll it out in a big rectangle on a floured counter. You can grease the counter instead of flour if you want. Roll out until it's about 1/2" thick and brush melted butter all over it. Combine the 3/4C sugar and 2T cinnamon. Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered dough, and then roll it up tightly so it makes on long roll (roll it toward you on the counter). Cut it in three equal parts, and tuck under the ends. Put the loaves in three greased 9x5 bread pans, and lightly grease the tops of the loaves. Let rise another hour. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the loaves sound hollow when you tap on the tops. Remove from the pans and brush the tops with melted butter (I usually just cut 2-3T off a stick, take off the wrapper, and rub it over the tops. Works just as well). The original recipe said to let them cool before slicing, but let's be real, who's going to do THAT? Enjoy:)


Leah