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I have been on this humongous breakfast kick lately.
Maybe you have noticed, maybe not, but whatever the reason, I am loving any and all breakfast foods. I think it may be due to this bitter cold weather and the thought of getting out of bed to a warm (and in today’s case, sweet) breakfast. I don’t know, but there is just something about breakfast in winter, it’s cozy and perfect.
And well, lets be totally honest, there is normally carbs, some form of sweetness and most definitely some kind of fruit involved. Hello my coconut honey blood orange and whipped mascarpone crepes and banana chocolate chip chia pancakes AND roasted cashew-almond bowls with match granola….all posted within the last couple of weeks. The last two where back to back. See… breakfast kick.
And I do not intend to fall off this kick anytime soon. The good news is we gotta eat breakfast every single day, or at least I do. Please tell me you do too, you know, it’s the most important meal of the day. <–FACT
So, I am going to keep things rather short today because my mom, dad, youngest brother and little sister (the one and only) are headed off to Sweden today for some Big Air snowboard competition or something. I don’t really know what it is because I don’t tend to pay attention to all the snowboard details, but I am excited for my little bro Red! He he has been a little world traveler this season, I have barely seen the kid since Christmas. After Sweden he goes to China, which is kind of a pain in the butt to do apparently, but he is going.
Anyway, I need to find out some info from the Rents before they leave, say high to my other brother Kai, that I have not seen in almost a month (and make him his favorite meal because for some reason Kai really know how to sweet talk me). So lets talk about this cinnamon crunch bagel loaf.
I got the amazing idea to make bagels into a loaf from Izy over at Top with Cinnamon. It’s kind of a genius idea. I mean, bagels are not that hard to make or anything, but rolling, shaping and boiling all of them is just kind of tedious. With this recipe, there is zero shaping and the boiling part is EASY. Can you say, yes please?!?
Obviously, I had the thought to turn one of my all time favorite bagels (the Cinnamon Crunch bagel from Panera Bread) into a bagel loaf. It’s so good and easy that it is almost dangerous to have up my sleeve. And I made them a little healthier than my original recipe for cinnamon crunch bagel, so ya, I have a feeling that this will be a once weekly kind of thing from now until I find a new obsession.
And I may be jumping a bit ahead of myself here, but I just have to say that I think this loaf would be so perfect on the Easter brunch table. I HOPE to spend Easter in Florida, in eighty (heck I would love one hundred degrees) weather and hanging with the fam. Either way, I will still probably be baking this loaf. Even on vacation, and in the heat, I still somehow find my way into the kitchen.
People gotta eat…and they look to me, and I’m ok with that.
Oh, and I find this bread particularly delicious slathered with a little fresh mascarpone. You can totally use cream cheese, but mascarpone just feels all big girl and fancy. Bonus points if you add a little zest of lemon. I totally should have done that.
Well, I guess that’s what tomorrow is for.
Cinnamon Crunch Bagel Loaf.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups warm water
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 cups bread flour*
- 1 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-4 ounces white chocolate, shredded
- 1 teaspoon baking soda, for boiling
- 1 teaspoon malt syrup or brown sugar, for boiling
Cinnamon Crunch Topping
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- In the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine water, yeast and honey, stir to combine, then let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Once foamy, gradually add the bread flour, white whole wheat flour, cinnamon and salt with the mixer on low speed. After 5 minutes or so, if the dough is still sticky, add 1/4 cup more bread flour at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for 3 minutes longer and then knead in the white chocolate until evenly distributed. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead a few times with your hands, forming it into a ball.
- Brush a large bowl with oil. Place the dough inside, turning to coat. Cover the bowl with a wet towel or plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in size – about 1 hour. Once doubled, punch down the dough and place on your counter, using a little more flour if needed to prevent from sticking. Divide dough into 5 balls. Cover and the balls and let sit 30 minutes. Grease a large bread tin (mine was 9x5 inches) and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the baking soda and malt syrup.
- Carefully drop one dough ball at time into the boiling water. Boil 1 minute, flip and boil another minute and then remove from the water with a slotted spoon. Place the dough in the prepared bread pan. Repeat with the remaining dough balls, lining them up against each other in the bread tin as you go.
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla for the topping. Once all the dough balls have been boiled and are in the bread tin, brush the tops, and all down the cracks and sides of the loaf, with a beaten egg. Sprinkle the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture over top. You may not need to use all the mix. Try to leave clumps of sugar, to create nice big crunchy chunks. Drizzle the loaf with the melted butter, mounding some of the sugar mixture together to help create better cinnamon sugar clusters. Bake 35-40 minutes or until the top of the loaf is dark golden brown. If the top starts burning before the loaf is finished cooking, cover the top with foil. Remove the loaf from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before slicing...or try to anyway...right.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
UMMM…That crunchy, sweet, cinnamony topping? IT. IS. THE. BEST.<–Truth
Where do you add the white chocolate?
Hi Hanna,
You are going to add the white chocolate in step 1, right after you knead for 3 minutes. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Are you able to refrigerate this dough like with cinnamon rolls then let it rise before you cook it?
Hey Breanna,
Sure, that would work well for you! I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Hi! I notice 1 tsp of vanilla is listed twice in the dough and the topping. If a tsp of vanilla is supposed to be in the dough, I am not seeing it in the recipe steps. Thought I would let you know!
My dough is proving now. It smells amazing already.
Thanks for letting me know Emily! You can add the vanilla with the honey:) I hope you love the recipe! xx