Apple and cinnamon swirl bread

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All of us eat bread, right? I mean, in one form or another, we do eat it. It happens to be one of the oldest man-made foods and comprises of one of the most staple food items globally.

But did you know that bread also happens to be one of the most versatile things to bake? I find it therapeutic to bake it.

This recipe is an ‘Apple and Cinnamon Swirl Bread’. I got the recipe from chef Anshu Wadhwa, from her site called ‘The Secret Ingredient’. If you would like to follow the original recipe then head over here – http://www.thesecretingredient.in/apple-cinnamon-swirl-bread-spiral-apple-bread-with-a-kiss-of-sugar/

But, if you would like to stick around and follow the recipe with my tweaks, then check the one appended.

Ah! It is decadence personified.

APPLE AND CINNAMON SWIRL BREAD

INGREDIENTS

For the filling-

1. 2 large sized crisp apples (use 3 apples if they are small sized)
2. 1 tbsp cinnamon powder
3. 2 ½ tbsp brown sugar
4. 1 tbsp honey
5. Juice of half a lemon
6. ½ tsp vanilla essence (optional)

For the bread

1. 2 cups all purpose flour
2. 2 ¼ tsp dry yeast (about 10 gm)
3. 2 tbsp sugar (white granulated)
4. ¼ tsp salt
5. 2 tbsp olive oil (you can also use unsalted butter but olive oil yields better result. If you don’t have any then use refined oil but the light variety)
6. ½ cup milk
7. 1 egg (if not using egg then increase the milk to ¾ cup)
8. Caramel syrup/maple syrup for drizzling on top
9. 1 tsp milk for glazing
10. 1 tbsp unsalted and melted butter (for glazing)
11. Caster sugar for sprinkling on top

 

METHOD

Preparing the Apples

1. Peel and core the apples and cut them into thin slices
2. Add the sugar, cinnamon, honey, lemon juice.
3. Cover and keep aside.
4. Let the apples marinate till the bread is ready.
5. Just before using, drizzle the vanilla essence and mix well (optional)

Preparing the bread

1. Activating the yeast – Dissolve the sugar in the milk. Add the yeast to it. The temperature should be lukewarm. Too hot or too cold and the yeast will not activate. Mix it well. Cover with a towel and keep aside in a warm place to activate. It should take about 10 minutes. When you see bubbles frothing and the yeast doubling up in size, you’ll know that it has activated.
2. Combine the flour and salt and make a dent in the center.
3. Add the egg, oil and add the yeast solution little by little. Continue to knead and bring the dough together.
4. If the dough is too hard, add a bit of warm water. Continue kneading for about 8-10 minutes or till the dough achieves an elastic, supple tendency.
5. 
6. Once done, transfer the dough to a greased dish. Cover it with a wet cloth and keep it in a warm place to rise. This should take about 40 minutes.
7. 
8. After an hour the dough will double in size. Knock it down and knead it till it again comes back to its original volume. It should be springy to the touch. This will take approx 5-7 minutes.
9. Sprinkle some dry flour on your kitchen counter top and roll out the dough. The width should be about 1 ½ mm. With the help of a pizza cutter, cut the dough in ½ inch strips.
10. 
11. Grease a pie dish with butter/oil. It is advisable to use a pie dish which has a removable bottom. This helps in removing the baked bread smoothly. However, I have used other dishes and they worked just as well. You just need to be a tad more careful.
12. Take the smallest piece of the dough strip and curl it in the center of the pan.
13. 
14. Curl the other strips around this strip, one by one and place a slice of apple in between each curl. The idea is to make a swirl, like a layered flower.
15. Continue this till the entire pan is covered.
16. 
17. Cover this with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm place to rise for another 30-40 minutes.

Baking the bread

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
2. Lightly brush the top side of the bread with milk and bake at 180 deg C for about half hour or till done. But,…
3. At the 25 minute mark (without switching off the oven), brush the top of the bread with some unsalted butter and sprinkle some caster sugar on top (granulated sugar works just as well)
4. 
5. Once done, drizzle some maple syrup/caramel on top.
6. 
7. Serve hot (tastes heavenly with whipped cream)

A version of this bread is also the Orange marmalade swirl bread. I make this more often than the apple version.