Cinnamon Squirrel Bread!

Cinnamon squirrel(swirl) bread:

I’ve been making this lately for various occasions and everyone seems to like it.

First you need to make a sponge. You do this by mixing approximately(Not exact, you may need more or less of some things.):

• 2 c. hot/warm water (Too cold and it’ll take forever and a day to rise, too hot and it kills the yeast.)
• 2 c. flour, again maybe a little more or less.
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbs. oil
• 2 Tbs. sugar
• 2 Tbs. yeast

Then you let that rise for about 10-15 minutes. It will be bubbling and will be much larger than you started out with.

If you have a stand-up mixer, then mix on 2 for 4-5 minutes adding about 3 cups of flour as you do so. (When it’s finished it should be the texture of your earlobe.)
If you don’t have one the you’ll need to knead it (hehe, that’s fun to say).

Start by mixing in 1-2 cups of flour, then, when it gets too hard to stir, move the dough to a clean surface with flour on it (so it doesn’t stick.). You knead it by pulling one side of the lump of dough over the top, turning it 90 degrees and doing that again and again. Add about 2 more cups of flour while you do this, until it’s smooth and elastic, usually about 6 or 7 minutes.

Then let it rise for about, I don’t know, 45 minutes to an hour, until it’s doubled in size. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a square, then put layer of cinnamon sugar, or cinnamon and sugar. Roll it up and fold the ends underneath it. Let it rise until doubled in size again.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. If you have a quick-read thermometer, it should be about 180-190 degrees in the center. Cool on a rack until, well, cool.

It’s really not that hard and it’s very tasty!