Cinnamon Swirl & Toasted Walnut Bread

I have fond memories of toast. Warm, buttery toast…

As a kid, first thing I would do when I got home from school was head to the kitchen and make toast. It was my most cherished afternoon snack. It was what I dreamed about my entire walk home…

I would turn our oven onto broil, smear the bread with butter, stick it in the oven and toast it nice and dark golden brown. Some might call it “burnt toast” – call it what you will, but I like a nice dark toast.

Once it was toasted to perfection, I would pull it out, smear it with another nob of butter and sprinkle it with brown sugar and cinnamon before sitting down at the kitchen table to devour it whilst doing my homework.

It was my little daily ritual – one I still think about to this day and wonder why or how I ever stopped doing it.

So here’s to warm, buttery, cinnamon sugar toast. May your day be made beautiful by its presence.

Cinnamon Swirl & Toasted Walnut Bread

Things you need…

For the Bread Dough
=3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp dry active yeast
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 3/4 cups warm water
3/4 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

For the Cinnamon Swirl
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

How to make…

Bread Dough

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, yeast, sugar and salt until combined. Stir in toasted walnuts. Drizzle warm water over dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together into a rough, shaggy, slightly sticky dough. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the bottom of your bowl and place the dough ball back in.

It may seem wrong to leave it like this shaggy mess of a dough, but at this stage simply cover the dough bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 24 hours on your counter at room temperature.

Cinnamon Sugar Swirl

Whisk together brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside until the next day.

Assembly

The next day, you will find your dough at least doubled in size and very bubbly. Sprinkle the top of the bubbly dough with about 1/3 of your brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Next, lightly flour your working hand and gently begin pulling the edges of the dough away from the side of the bowl and folding the dough in on itself. Note – the dough is wet and a bit sticky, and yes, this is what you want, but it is a bit tricky to work with. Just power through the sticky messy vibes. I like to flour my hand every time I do a fold so as to help my hands from sticking to the dough.

At this stage you will only be folding your dough in on itself 5-6 times. Every second time you fold a layer in on itself, lightly sprinkle the top of the plain dough with more cinnamon sugar, and then continue folding. Repeat this process of folding & sugaring a total as you work your way around the bowl, pulling the edges to the center to form a rough ball of dough. This is what helps create a swirl effect in your dough.

Cover the bowl back up with plastic wrap and allow to sit for another 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, repeat the process above of folding the dough & sugaring about 4-5 times. Cover with a tea towel and let the dough sit for another 2 hours. If you find you have leftover cinnamon sugar, just set it aside for serving.

When your dough is almost done its second rise, pre heat your oven to 450F. Place a large dutch oven in the oven while it pre heats.

When your oven is preheated, remove the hot dutch oven and place your dough inside. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on and and additional 15-18 minutes with the lid off – or until the top is a glorious golden crusty brown.

Remove from the oven and turn the bread out of the dutch oven to rest on a cooling rack until it’s cooled to room temperature before slicing. (30-60 minutes)

**I let my bread rest for at least a good hour, otherwise it is very difficult to slice nicely, but if you want warm bread, then you can let it rest for a shorter amount of time.