Sweet Cinnamon Walnut Bread recipe

We love, love, love, LOVE sweet bread at our house!  Particularly when they are fresh out of the oven on a cold snowy day.  MM-mmm...  Did I mention how much we love it?  I have been putting up pictures on our Facebook page, and people have asked for the recipe, so here I am to deliver the good news!  I'm giving you the recipe.



3/4 cup warmish water (105- 110 degrees)
1 TBS dry active yeast (or one packet)

Mix that together and let it sit.  You will know it's good yeast when it starts to foam or bubble on the top a bit.

Next, into the mixing bowl add- try and have all your ingredients at room temperature before you add them.

1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
3/4 cup yogurt (try and use whole milk if you can find it)
1/2 stick of butter at room temp

Mix all this until creamy and smooth.

Then add your flour.  Do this two cups at a time, then mix until even.  Then add more.

There will be about 4 1/2 cups of flour total.  Use an all purpose flour, the bread flour makes this get too big too fast in my opinion.  You will know you have added enough flour when the dough just starts pulling away from the bowl and is one big ball.  Leaving it a little sticky will keep the bread moist even after it's baked.  I ALWAYS err on the side of caution with flour.  Do not over do the flour. Biggest mistake you can make with bread next to using bad yeast. 

Turn the ball onto a floured surface.  You won't really need to do too much more kneading if you mixed this is a mixer, it pretty much does the kneading for you.  You can if you would like though.  After you are done, cut into two equal halves, then take each half and separate it into three sections.  Roll out each section and make a braid with it.

Cinnamon Walnut Filling-

1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 1/2 TBS ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups of finely chopped walnuts

In the mixer, add all the ingredients together until even.  Stuff this in between the braids immediately after you've braided it. 

Once rising it to your liking, stick it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes.  You will know it's done when the bread starts to take on a golden kind of color. 

Try it together with some Hot Cocoa! Recipe here.