Cinnamon Bread

This bread is awesome! Made 13 mini loaves today to give away for Christmas. They look so pretty my family had to have some, so now I am making another batch. 

I got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman and adapted it a little.

If you are going to make mini loaves, I got 6-7 from one batch.

This will make a great Christmas morning breakfast too!

Ingredients:

Dough

2 cups milk

1/2 cup canola oil or vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

2-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (additional) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 stick butter, melted

1 cup Sugar

3 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon

Icing

3 cups Powdered Sugar

2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted

1 Tablespoon Maple Extract

1/3 cup Whole Milk

Dash Of Salt

Directions:

To make the dough, combine milk, canola oil, and 1/2 cup sugar in a large saucepan. Heat it until very hot but not boiling. Turn off heat and allow to cool to warm (105 degrees F.)

Pour milk into a bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and add 4 cups of flour. Stir to combine, then cover bowl with a tea towel and allow to rise for 1 hour. After 1 hour, stir in additional 1/2 cup flour, along with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. If dough is overly sticky, stir in another 1/2 cup flour. Cover with tea towel.

Place dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour to make it easier to work with.

Roll out dough onto a floured surface. Drizzle on melted butter and smear so that it covers all the dough. Mix together the sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle it all over the surface of the dough. (Dough should look very covered.)

Cut the dough into 6 to 8 strips, then stack all the strips into one stack. Cut the stack of strips into 6 slices. Place the stacks sideways into a buttered bread pan. Do not cram the slices into the pan. (You may have a few leftover.)

Cover with a towel and allow to rise for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes (25 minutes if using mini loaf pans), checking at 20 minutes to make sure it's not getting too brown on top. It's important to bake the bread long enough to ensure that the middle won't be too doughy, because if it is it won't pull apart easily. If the top looks like it's getting too brown, cover it lightly with aluminum foil for the rest of the baking time. REPEAT: IT'S IMPORTANT TO BAKE THE BREAD LONG ENOUGH FOR THE CENTER TO NO LONGER BE DOUGHY.

Remove the pan from the oven when it's done. Run a knife along the edges and take the bread out of the pan. Mix together the icing ingredients and drizzle over the top, allowing it to sink into the crevices. Serve warm or room temperature!