Spelt Cinnamon Swirl Bread

This spelt cinnamon swirl bread tastes amazing straight from the oven, but ridiculous toasted and slathered with butter. Soft, fragrant bread filled with rich cinnamon butter, you can make this with regular or spelt flour.

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Before we go any further, I’d just like to say that a similar recipe to this spelt cinnamon swirl bread first appeared on my former blog, The Culinary Jumble. You might find yourself here after clicking on one of my old links, and a little confused as the recipe, instructions and images have been changed.

Okay, then. Let’s get to it. This spelt cinnamon swirl bread makes the best toast. Now, that’s not to say that it isn’t divine right from the oven, all squidgy and warm, but I prefer it toasted. And believe me, this loaf toasts like an absolute dream.

Get rid of your cinnamon swirl bread gaps

Have you ever made a cinnamon swirl bread and noticed that when you slice it, you have massive holes? The taste is there, absolutely; but if you’re out to impress, you may prefer not to have gaps that are a little unsightly. I’ve made cinnamon bread many times, using both bread flour and spelt, and they often had these unsightly gaps:

As you can see, there is virtually no bread around the cinnamon filling, and you always want as much bread as possible. Good news is, there is a way to reduce the gaps. I found great advice from King Arthur, with different ways to reduce the gaps in your cinnamon swirl bread.

One of the suggestions was to use egg instead of butter before spreading over your cinnamon and sugar, and it seemed to work. I also tried hard to keep the dough tight when rolling it, which also helped. That being said, I wasn’t able to eliminate all the gaps, and you can see where I was a little loose at the beginning of rolling. Plus, my swirl is not dead centre either, but who cares? None of the afore-mentioned things affect the taste at all.

I’ve mentioned in several posts about how spelt flour behaves in bread. I don’t notice anything different at all in cookies, cakes and pies, but bread can be a little trickier. I’ve never noticed it with bread that is pushed together, for example my super soft hotdog buns, but loaves most definitely need a little more attention. Spelt bread needs a long proofing to prevent it bursting when baking. I also like to bake it a little slower, too.

I didn’t cut into this spelt cinnamon swirl bread until the morning after baking, and although it was still soft, it had a denser crumb. For those of you who bake regularly, it’s not so strange to notice that freshly baked bread quickly loses its freshness. Also, spelt can have a denser feel in breads, too. I wanted to have firm slices for my images, but I am certain that this bread would be absolutely soft and delicious straight out of the oven.

Make sure to tag me @thespeltkitchen on Instagram if you make this cinnamon swirl bread (or any of my other recipes). I get such a kick out of seeing you make them!

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Spelt Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Ingredients

Dough (see note 1)

1 egg (small)
160ml (½ cup + 2 tbsp) milk
35g ( 2 tbsp + 2 tsp) butter (cold and chopped into small pieces)
350g (2 + ¾ cups) spelt flour (see note 2)
1 tsp salt
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
7g (2¼ tsp) yeast (see note 3)

Filling:

1 egg (small)
60g (¼ cup) brown sugar
1-2 tbs cinnamon (depending on how much you like it)
pearl sugar (see note 4)

Instructions

DOUGH

Bread Machine:

Add the egg, milk and butter to your bread machine pan. Then add the remaining ingredients. Take care to keep the yeast and salt separate as much as possible. Set your machine to make dough.
On a very well-floured surface (the dough will be very sticky) work in just as much flour as you need to make a soft, pliable, but still a little tacky, dough.

Stand Mixer:

Add the egg, milk and butter to your stand mixer bowl, and give it a quick mix. If the butter is straight out of the fridge, it won't combine with the other wet ingredients too much, but that's okay.
Then add the remaining ingredients and 200g (1¾ cups) of the flour. Add more flour as needed. Be careful: too much flour will result in dry bread.
Switch to a dough hook (if you have one) and allow the mixer to knead the dough for around 10 minutes, just until soft. The dough will still feel a little tacky to the touch, but will be able to slowly drop off the hook.
Cover the dough and leave to proof (until it has doubled in size - usually about an hour).
When the dough is ready, knock it back, and on a floured surface, form into a rough ball.

For both methods:

Pre-heat the oven to 175℃ (350℃).
Grease and line a fairly small loaf tin (mine was 23cm x 13cm / 9" x 5"). I don't line the whole pan, just the middle, which I leave with a little overhang, making it easier to remove the bread from the pan.
Roll out the dough to a rectangle of around 23cm x 30cm (9" x 12"), with a depth of around 1cm. Have the shorter edge facing you.
Whisk the egg well, and brush all over the dough (keep and leftover egg, and put to one side).
Mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the dough, using your fingers to spread it evenly.
Taking the shorter edge (facing you) tightly roll the dough. Finish with the seam facing down.
Tuck the sides underneath to fit the pan you are using, and place in the pan. You can either leave the roll as it is (to create a rounder loaf) or press it down to fit the whole pan as I did.
Cover with a tea-towel and leave to rest for a further 30 minutes.
When ready, brush over the remaining the egg, and sprinkle with pearl sugar (if using).
Bake for around 20-25 minutes, then remove from the oven, and allow the bread to cool for a while before removing from the pan. Enjoy warm, or the next morning as toast.

Notes

I have converted grams to cups/ounces/tablespoons using online converters. Although I have no reason to believe they are inaccurate, please be aware that I have not made this recipe with imperial measurements.

I have made the dough using both a stand mixer and bread machine with identical results. I have not made the dough by hand, but it wouldn't be too difficult to adapt the instructions to do so.
You can use spelt or regular flour for this recipe (just use the same amount).
In Sweden we have something called dried yeast. It is used both in warm liquid to proof and also added directly to flour. I am aware that the US has two options for dried yeast, and I believe instant yeast is the most similar to our dried yeast.
If you don't have access to pearl sugar, sprinkle a little icing sugar over the top just before eating.