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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
I’m totally feeling your breakfast love through the screen! This is one steller way to start the day! Love it!
Thanks so much!! 🙂
This looks amazing! Must try it. What kind of camera/lens do you use for these gorgeous pictures??
Thanks Emma! I use a Cannon 5D Mark iii with either a 35mm 1.4 lens or 50 mm 1.2 lens. I also highly recommend the Canon 7D or 60D.
I’ve been drooling over the idea of a bagel loaf ever since Izy shared it. It’s just such a genius idea! And cinnamon crunch are definitely my favorite kind of bagels, so this would be perfect.
It is such a genius idea! 🙂
Thanks Jessica!
This looks incredible Tieghan!! Love that it’s a loaf too which means I can toast it easily and smear it with cream cheese!
Right?! Cream cheese is made for this! THANKS!
Congrats to your brother. Such a great opportunity to travel the world. I’m loving this bagel loaf especially since I ‘m feeling I am too lazy to make bagels. Now I feel bad. . .so maybe I’ll make this bagel loaf. . .then some bagels. . .then another bagel loaf. Oh drats! What to do.
LOL! Thank you so much, Lynn!!
I live for breakfast so I must try this!
Thank you!! Hoping your week is going great!
I can not think of anything more that I want right now than this bread! That cinnamon crunch goodness would be all gone before I even touched the bread itself! Pure perfection.
Thank you so much! Hopping you are having a great week!
as soon as i am done with this darn juice cleanse…. that loaf is mine !
Haha! Ugh..juice cleanses!
Thanks Abigail! 🙂
Holy crap – bagel LOAF?!?! This is total genius. I want to try this in every bagel flavour imaginable!
Thanks Katrina!
I used to be obsessed with Cinnamon Toast Crunch! (the cereal) I know I’ll love this! 🙂
Me too! Thanks! 🙂
uhh this sounds amazing. Really want a whole to myself right about now!
Thanks Rochelle!!
Haha you’re definitely having a breakfast kick 😉 I think I’ll be making a loaf next weekend again, this one looks just too good not to try. Sunday breakfast with fresh cinnamon loaf and butter, yummy! Great combination of flavours.
Thanks so much!! Hope you are having a great weekend!! 🙂
I would really be afraid to make this recipe because I would not be able to stop eating once I started. (Made a half recipe of corn bread and ate half when it came out of the oven before the chili was done–ugh. It was so good when it was warm).
Haha! I hear yeah!! Thanks Nancy!!
Anything with cinnamon-sugar works (really well) for me. If you’re ever in southern California, Sidecar Doughnuts has an amazing cinnamon crumb doughnut that is basically cinnamon crumble packed onto one of the fluffiest doughnuts I’ve ever had.
Oh no way! That sounds delicious!! 🙂
Thanks Heather!!
This is so wonderful! I’m not a fan of white chocolate, do you think it will your as well with dark chocolate?
•The Health Blog for the Lazy Girl•
I think that would be great!! THANKS!