Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread

Brown breads, soda breads, enriched breads, brioche, pain au raisin – I love them all. Not for everyday eating but on occasion. Baking bread evokes memories of being at home in the kitchen with my mum where bread was made very regularly. Probably the first thing I ever learnt to make … I starting with being allowed mark the cross on the soda bread, moving on to pouring in the butter milk, eventually being allowed make it all myself. Now as a mother myself, I often return to bread making with my daughter , hoping I am creating the same memories for her that I have. I love working with yeast too, preparing the ingredients, knead.. sometimes lots of kneading, then wait , wait some more, look in amazement at the puffed up ball of air, more kneading or preparation. Not for everyone but the results soo delicious. I love all breads – there I said it!.. nowadays often a very unacceptable thing to say you eat, but I love it, simple as.

This is a pretty quick recipe for a cinnamon enriched bread – great for toasting and perfect with a cup of coffee on a cold Irish Spring afternoon.

For the dough
400gr strong white flour
30gr sugar
22gr fresh yeast or 2 1/4 tsp dried
60gr unsalted butter
150ml milk
2 large eggs beaten

For the filling
120gr dark muscovado sugar or coconut palm sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
55gr unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
60gr walnuts – pulsed to big crumbs

Oven at 180C
Mix flour sugar and salt
Warm 30ml milk and dissolve the yeast
Melt butter and add remaining milk
Pour both milks into a well in the dry ingredients
Add beaten eggs
Mix untill all wet is incorporated – dough will be sticky
Grease a bowl with some tasteless oil and place dough in the bowl, cover with cling and leave to double in size about 1 to 1.5 hours
For filling – mix sugar, nuts, cinnamon and vanilla.
Melt butter and allow to cool.
Roll dough out to a rectangle 12 by 20 inches
Spread with the melted butter and sprikle on the topping

Cut into 4 equal strips
Stack all on top of each other and cut into 6
Layer the stacks inthe load tin like a deck of cards standing up
Leave to rest for 30 minutes
Bake for about 25 – 30 minutes until lovely golden brown