Buttery Apple Cinnamon Bread adapted from Rae Gun Ramblings

This recipe is adapted from: Rae Gun Ramblings Cinnaburst Bread, click on the link and check her website out!

I originally found this recipe on Eat Cake For Dinner's website: click on the link and check her website out! She adapted her version from Rae's original recipe. Just giving credit where it's due. :)

What I changed: changed 1 cup milk to 1 cup water, added a specific amount of flour. See the note below about bread flour or all purpose flour, added my recipe for cinnamon butter flavoring, and added 2 Granny Smith apples.

Special Flour Note*
You can use all purpose flour instead of bread flour - if you do, make it 6 cups of all purpose flour instead of 5. I've made this recipe both ways and they are both fantastic.
When mixing the ingredients, you'll notice that the dough is still wet, don't add too much flour or the bread will be very dense, we want a light airy fluffy consistency, so don't worry about the batter being wet!

I use 2 bread loaf pans and 1 square 8x8 glass pyrex bakeware to bake this recipe in. If you just use 2 bread loaf pans, you may find that the amount of dough is so plentiful that it overflows out of the pan when you bake it and you'll get butter cinnamon and apples all over the bottom of your oven burning. 

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Apple Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 cups bread flour


2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cubed
 
Cinnamon Butter Mixture:
8 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar

Step 1: Bread dough

A. Measure water. Pour into microwave safe container. Microwave water for 40 seconds until warm. Water should be warm, not hot. Add water to large bowl.
B. Add yeast and sugar into large bowl and stir until dissolved, let sit 10 minutes. Yeast should look frothy and bubbly. It should smell like bread.
C. Add canola oil, 1 egg, and salt to bowl. Stir well.
D. Add flour 2 cups at a time stirring with a fork until batter becomes a wet, sticky dough.

E. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for 1 hour.

F. I use a bird bath to keep the dough warm.
           i.      Add hot water to a large tupperware container or bowl.
           ii.      Nest the mixing bowl into the tupperware bowl and let the heat of the water warm the bottom of the mixing bowl from the outside.

G. Let sit for 1 hour. Dough will rise.

Step 2: Cinnamon butter spread and apples Prep

A. Peel and cube apples. Set aside.
B. Melt butter in microwave for 10 to 15 seconds until liquid.    
C. Add cinnamon and sugar to butter and stir.
 

Step 3: Putting it together:

A. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
B. Butter inside of bread loaf pans and glass pyrex bakeware.
C. Divide batter into three equal parts and put them in your bread loaf pans/pyrex bakeware.
D. Add cinnamon butter mixture to bread dough.
E. Add cubed apples to dough.
F. Knead and fold dough inside pan to distribute apples and cinnamon butter mixture evenly.
   a. Dough will be very wet now.

G. Bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour. Bread should be slightly golden brown.
H.  Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
I. When eating after bread has cooled and was refrigerated. Slice bread, then microwave it for 10-20 seconds to soften and warm bread. It will taste 100 times better!

 

S'sK Plain Bagel Recipe

This recipe makes a lot of bagels. I make about 15 large bagels with this recipe. These bagels last only a few days, but I freeze half of the batch, that way I can eat one batch fresh and then take the second batch out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator to thaw.

S'sK Plain Bagel Recipe

Ingredients:
3 cups water

3 tablespoons white sugar

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 teaspoons salt

8 1/2 - 9 cups bread flour

Bonus items:

Parchment paper

 

Instructions:

1.       Add cold water to microwave safe bowl. Microwave water for about 45 seconds until warm. Add water to a large bowl. (Water should be warmer than lukewarm, but not hot enough to burn you.)

2.       Add sugar and yeast to water and stir with a fork to dissolve.

3.       Cover yeast bowl with plastic wrap and let yeast bowl sit in a nested bowl or Tupperware container with hot water.

a.       To make a nested bowl with hot water:

                                                   i.      I use a large Tupperware container and fill it about half way up with hot water.

                                                 ii.      Nest the yeast bowl in the Tupperware container.

                                                iii.      Water should be hot, but not hot enough to burn you.

                                               iv.      (Remove yeast bowl from nested bath when kneading)

b.      Let yeast sit in nested bath for 10 minutes. You will notice that your yeast water has become very thick, bubbly, and frothy. This is perfect. Remove bowl from nested bath and remove plastic wrap top.

c.       If your bowl is not frothy, try again. There are many factors that could affect this. Most likely your yeast died. Either your initial water was too hot and it killed your yeast, or your environment was too cold so the yeast did not wake up and begin feeding. Another possibility is that your yeast was dead to begin with. Make sure you use fresh yeast that has been stored properly - as yeast does go bad.

4.       Add salt to the yeast water. Whisk with fork until well mixed.
5.       Add bread flour slowly. Mix with fork until difficult to mix. Knead dough with hands for a couple minutes until dough has absorbed all flour.

a.       Don’t add too much flour that the dough cannot absorb it all and leaves dusty traces. If this happens, add a little water until the dough absorbs the flour.

b.      The dough should be slightly sticky to the touch, not dried out, or too wet.

      6.    Knead dough vigorously for 2 minutes.
7.       Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
8.       Let sit on counter in a nested bowl with hot water (just like before) for 1 hour.
9.       Remove dough bowl from nested bowl.
10.    Remove plastic wrap from bowl.

11.   Separate dough into 12-15 medium or large balls.
12. Grab 1 dough ball and stick your index finger through the middle of the dough ball. Flatten dough around your finger to make a bagel ring.
13. Shape all the other dough balls the same way.
14. Once all bagel rings are made, add water to a large pot and bring water to a rolling boil.

15. Once water is boiling, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
16. Add 3-4 raw bagel rings to boiling water.

17. Let bagel rings boil for 1- 2 minutes depending on how chewy you want your bagels. Flip bagels over half way through boiling (I use a straining spoon to flip them over). I like leaving mine in for about 2 minutes since I like my bagels very chewy. Your bagel dough should double/triple in size while boiling.

18. Use a straining spoon to remove the bagels from the boiling water.
19. Place boiled bagels on parchment paper lined baking sheet (or Silpat baking mat).

20. Bake bagels for 20-40 minutes flipping bagels over at the 10-15 minute mark. Depending on how thick you make your bagels.
21. Bagels will start to turn slightly golden brown on each side, this is perfect. If you are unsure if they are done, remove one bagel from the baking sheet and open it carefully with a knife (it will be hot!). Check if it is raw inside.