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This bread.
Hands down this is the best sweet bread I have ever made.
You guys, I really just do not even have words. This bread is incredible.
I know I plan on making it every Sunday from now until Christmas.
I have many reasons for this.
One is that it is addicting.
Seriously, you will want slice after slice.
Two is the smell.
Oh the smell. It is pure happiness in the air. I would make this bread just for the smell it throws off while baking. Think about how it would smell to be in Mrs. Clause’s kitchen and that is this smell. I would make it even if I could not eat it, just to smell the smell.
The more I think about it, this is a great bread to give to others during the holidays. You get to experience the joy of giving (and filling your house with that awesome aroma!), and your receiver will thank you to no end. Perfect for an elderly neighbor, your friend who just had a baby, the UPS man (or woman). Yeah, the UPS man… speaking of which, mine is seriously overworked! You see up here in the mountains, we don’t have a whole lot of buying choices, so Amazon and online shopping, they are my savior! No really, I can’t imagine what I would do if I wasn’t able to shop online. So Jose (my UPS guy), this bread’s for you!
The ropes of soft delicate brioche dough are taken through a bath of butter and vanilla and then generously sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Yes, yes, yes!
It’s like a cinnamon roll brioche bread!
I left this bread free of icing because it really does not need any.
There is a whole layer of crunchy streusel on top that really just needs to be left to shine. And it does. Trust me, it is so good. Just a little crunchy on the top, but super soft and doughy, cinnamony and buttery in the middle.
Oh my gooooshhh.
Just make it guys.
The dough is really easy to work with and the hands-on time is very minimal. Just mix and let the dough sit overnight, then roll some ropes, dip in butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, braid and let rise for another hour or so. Then bake and smell the amazingness.
And I am serious. It really is amazing.
Cinnamon Crunch Braided Brioche Bread
Servings: 12 Servings
Calories Per Serving: 396 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Streusel Topping
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter cold
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons chopped pecans optional
Instructions
- Combine warm water, yeast, salt and sugar in a large mixer bowl and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add eggs and melted butter and mix until combined. Gradually mix in the flour until the dough comes together. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Grease a large bowl and add the dough to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 1-2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Once the dough has doubled in size place the bowl in the fridge overnight or up to 5 days. When ready to bake the bread remove the dough and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime gather the ingredients for the Cinnamon Sugar Coating. Add the 1/2 cup melted butter to a large shallow bowl, stir in the vanilla.
- In another medium size bowl combine the 1 cup brown sugar with 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix well.
- Grease a loaf pan and sprinkle the inside of the loaf pan with the Cinnamon Sugar Coating.
- Sprinkle the dough with flour and cut into three equal pieces. Carefully roll each piece into a 12-inch rope.
- Now take each rope and dip it through the butter, then generously sprinkle each rope with the Cinnamon Sugar Coating. Now gently roll each rope in the remaining coating that has gathered around the rope on your work surface. I used most of my cinnamon sugar for this.
- To make the braid, start at one end and pinch the ends of the rope together. Bring the right outside rope over the center rope; that rope now becomes the center. Bring the left outside rope over the new center rope; that rope now becomes the center. Continue braiding until you reach the end. Pinch the ropes together to seal.
- Carefully lift the braid and place it in the greased and sugared loaf pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm draft free area another 1-2 hours, or until double in size. About 20 minutes before you are ready to bake the bread preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Make the streusel. In a bowl add the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and pecans. Using your hands work the butter into the sugar until the mixture resembles small peas.
- Place the loaf on a baking sheet and and sprinkle the streusel overtop. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 45 to 55 minutes, tenting with foil after 15 to 20. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then carefully turn the bread out of pan to cool completely before slicing. If some of the streusel falls off, just place it back on the loaf.
Notes
*Brioche dough adapted from [here | http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/brioche-recipe].
Finally!
This post was originally published on November 3, 2013
Hiya,just wondering if the braid could be baked on a tray? Or does the dough need the support of the loaf tin? Thanks 🙂
Hi! I really think is need the tray, otherwise the fillings will melt out.
Hope you love this!
I made this loaf this morning and my family couldn’t wait for it to cool so we all burnt our tongues trying to shove it into our mouths! I have made this a few times and I always find that I have a bit of melted butter leftover. So, instead of making the streusel I mix some cinnamon sugar coating into the butter, add in the pecans and pour it over the loaf. Thank you for sharing your recipes!
So happy you love this!! Thank you! 🙂
So happy you love this!! Thank you! 🙂
Soooooo good! I started the dough yesterday and was so excited to try it I got up in the middle of the night to finish! This was my first time making brioche and will make it again soon! I did add a little orange extract to my butter for dipping the dough braids. Gives just a hint of flavor that was amazing! Thank you so much for sharing
Haha! No way! You are crazy, but that is awesome. So happy you love this bread!! love the orange extract, that is genius!
I randomly came across this recipe when looking for a cinnimon bread recipe, I made the dough 2 days ago and baked it today. WOW this really is awesome and I like it that you can just whip up the dough and bake it whenever you want. Next time I may add some apples to the middle. You were right, the smell alone is worth it!! Thanks for a keeper!
So happy you loved this! Thanks Sonja!
*mix it in the mixer 🙂 thank goodness for dough hooks!
I made this last weekend, and it was seriously one of the most delicious things I have ever made. I’m glad you posted a link to the website you based the brioche recipe on, otherwise I would not have known to mix it in the blender for 20 minutes. The buttery cinnamon sugar coating on the braids made the insides sweet, gooey tastiness. Thanks so much, this recipe is definitely going to be repeated!
Thanks so much, corinne! SO happy you loved this! 🙂
G’day Tieghan! Your Brioche Bread sounds and looks stunning, true!
I have pinned this and is now on my list for next year to do!
Cheers! Joanne
Thank you so much, Joanne!
Do you NEED to let it sit in the fridge overnight or can you just go ahead and bake it?
Hey Jenny, letting the dough sit overnight helps to develop flavor. Well, the dough will work without letting sit overnight in the fridge, it will not taste as good.
Hope that helps and I hope you love the bread!
Thank you for sharing this most ingenious recipe! However, I have tried to make this recipe 3 times now with no success. What comes out of the oven looks horrendous but tasted amazing which is why I kept trying but maybe you could help me. I really want to love this! So first off I actually use active dry yeast which I proof for 10 min before adding it to the rest of the ingredients as directed. It takes about 15-20 min in my stand mixer for my dough to come together. I follow the recipe exactly but when it comes to shaping and moving the braided brioche to the pan it’s like a beast. I’ve seen your pictures of the brioche logs and they look pretty solid. After an overnight fridge ferment my dough is no where near as firm as yours looks. There’s no way I could dip each log in butter so I brush the butter mix on each log. After I braid the brioche and place it in the pan it comes just to the brim of my 9×5 Pyrex bread pan. Then when I let it rise for the second time it’s pretty much trying to escape from the bread pan it’s so big! Over my 3 attempts of making this I’ve tried putting it straight into the oven at this point since it’s already so big but all three times the dough will ooze out of the pan while it’s baking in the oven leaving me with a crunch-topless brioche (the entire top of the brioche spills off the pan and onto the baking sheet below). What size is your bread pan? Yours doesn’t seem overly large but I’m thinking my 9×5 is way too small. Your advice and expertise is much appreciated!
Hey Vicky!!
Ok, so I do use a 9×5 inch pan, but for whatever reason your bread sounds like it is rising much more than mine does. So, I would just simply divide the dough in half and make two loafs and hopefully that will solve your problem! And if your bread still does not come out looking gorgeous, I would not fret. I made this 3 times just to get a loaf that the braid actually looked braided. The only thing that matters is that is taste good, right?!? Ok, hope that helps and let know if you have any more questions! I want you to love this bread! 🙂
Thanks for the advice and quick response! I’ll definitely try to half the dough. It’s encouraging to know it took you three tries to get your perfect looking brioche 🙂 Thanks again for sharing this amazingly delicious recipe!
Made this last night…. SOOO GOOOD!!!! My husband and in-laws loved it! Loaf is almost gone. Will make them into muffins next time!
YAY!! So happy you loved the bread Sarah! And you got to impress your in-laws!! Double yay!!
I just made this bread…and holy sweet jesus batman is it GOOD. WOW. Your recipes blow me away. I followed your recipe to a “T” and the bread came out perfect. The texture is a mix between a fresh gourmet dinner roll and angel food cake.. seriously..it’s pure heaven. I made the dough and left it in my fridge for 2 days (got busy with other things). I used Active Dry Yeast and it worked wonderfully. I think that having the bread in a warm area during the rising periods is what helped so much (I kept it on my stove and the heat from the oven underneath was just perfect – note: the oven was on, as I cook/bake a lot). This is just amazing.. your recipes are all to die for. I can tell that you truly test your recipes out beforehand and post the best possible recipe you can, for the most optimal results. You need your own cooking show…seriously. Thank you!! I always look forward to your posts.
YES!!! SO happy you made this and loved it!! Thanks so much, Becca!
Holy smokes, I want this bread!! It sounds and looks just perfect!! 🙂
Thanks Jocelyn!!
Tieghan this posting makes me want to get up right now and make that brioche. It’ll have to wait until tomorrow, but I want that aroma and that taste as soon as possible. Please don’t take this as criticism, but there were just a couple typos in your recipe. I love blogging because if I type something in wrong, I can go back and change it whenever I want. So I write this now with only the best intentions in mind. First, in your instructions for the dough the ingredient list asks for room temp butter, but the instructions ask for melted. Then with the cinnamon sugar you write that we should put it in a “sallow” bowl rather than a “shallow” one.
I can’t wait to make this bread, and you better believe I’m making a double batch so I can try those muffins you jposted also. 🙂
THANK YOU!! I am always making typos, so I love that you are helping me out! I will head and fix the recipe now!
Hope you love the bread!
You are KILLING ME! This is like a slice of heaven! I really wanna try to make this one for sure!
Thanks! I hope you give it a try!
So lovely. I love the photo of the bread in the pan with the cinnamon & sugar, before it’s baked. Yum!!
Thank you so much, Brenda!