Swirly sweet bread for breakfast

Kyle took the kids to farmer’s market one time in December and I asked him to pick up a loaf of bread from the Upper Crust but then he got distracted and eyed a loaf of chocolate babka and has been dropping hints for me to make one ever since.

Message. Received.

I started with a sweet dough that I made up after reading a few different recipes. And then I added cookie butter and chocolate before rolling it up and baking it.

The whole slicing and braiding thing was an exercise in talking my perfectionist self off a ledge. Because sticky twisted dough is definitely not easy to manipulate into a loaf pan.

But I made it work.

As you can see from the before above and after below, the oven time does wonders for it’s appearance…what was once a mangled mess of dough suddenly looks like a swirly baker’s dream.

Yeasted dough is always fun to work with because of that. It’s like magic.

Swirly Sweet Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm milk
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp yeast
• filling: 1/4 cup nut butter and/or melted chocolate

Directions:

If using the dough cycle of a bread maker, follow your machine’s directions until the dough is done. [I did this overnight]

If not using a bread machine, combine the yeast with the warm milk letting it bloom. Meanwhile, combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and all the wet ingredients (minus the milk) in a small mixing bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add in the milk and knead the dough for ~10 minutes. Let it rise for an hour in a warm place, then punch it down and knead some more.

Once the dough is ready to use, spread it out onto a floured board or greased counter forming a rectangle shape.

Next spread the filling of your choice onto it.

Next roll it up like a log from at the short end, so that the filling is all wrapped up inside. Then, using a wet knife, cut “legs” down 3/4 of the roll.

Twist the legs around each other loosely twice (see photo above) and then place into a greased loaf pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees F.

And then you will have this gorgeous beauty making all your breakfast dreams come true.