Orange Cinnamon Bread

WEEKENDS ARE MADE for kitchen play. We have more time and energy to create comfort food for family and friends. If we plan well, we can enjoy the rewards into the work week.

Here in Portland, it is still winter in June . Stepping outside this morning to let the dog out, I gaze at my soggy garden. I am amazed by the cold, wet ground yet again. This can’t be right. It’s time for summer. What happened to spring? Needless to say, I haven’t been inspired to plant any tomatoes, beans or chiles for summer feasting. I imagine they might rot in these conditions. Maybe tomorrow?

So I head back to the kitchen, looking for some warmth and rich comforting dishes to make for the weekend. I’ve got that pot of tea waiting and a couple of slices of my orange cinnamon bread in the toaster. I’ll sit down and pour through my recipe books and come up with something.

I’m sharing the recipe, adapted from baker Bernard Clayton Jr. It is truly outrageous. And addicting.

Orange Cinnamon Bread
Makes 2 loaves

In a large heavy mixing bowl, put in 2 cups of the flour and the rest of the dry ingredients. Use a whisk to blend them. Add the warm water (about 120 degrees) and mix to make a smooth batter. Drop in the butter and smash into the batter until it is well blended. Zest the oranges with a planer right over the bowl, then cut and juice them. You should have about 1 cup of juice. Add ¾ c., reserving some of the rest for the roll up process later. Whisk in the oil and egg, and blend thoroughly.

Using a large rubber spatula, add the remaining 4 cups of flour to the batter, and blend well. The goal is to mix the flour in the bowl until it comes together nicely, then sprinkle a board or marble with flour, turn the dough out onto it, and knead in just enough more flour to make a smooth, soft dough that has no tackiness left. You will probably need to add another ½ – 1 cup more flour to achieve this. This process should take about 8 minutes. (Don’t bother to clean up the board perfectly yet, you’ll be using it again shortly.)

Wipe out your bowl, and smear a bit of butter on the bottom and up the sides a bit, then add the dough back into it. Cover the bowl with a heavy cloth kitchen towel and set to rise in a draft free spot. At this point you can put it in the refrigerator for a slower rise (overnight as well) if your schedule doesn’t allow you to be landlocked in your kitchen half the day. If this is your choice, you will need to cover the dough with plastic first, then the towel. When ready, remove the dough from the cold bowl, and place it covered in a warmer environment until it comes to room temp (at least an hour.) For those of you willing to hang out, let the dough rise for 1 ½-2 hours. When it has risen nicely (doubled in bulk) punch it down and get ready to roll.

Prepare 2 bread pans with butter.

Sprinkle the board with flour and turn out the dough onto it. Push down on the dough to spread it out into a 1 foot square. Cut the dough down the middle (using a benchknife if you have one) and separate into two equal pieces. Roll out each piece, making sure there is a little flour under the dough to prevent sticking. Start rolling out from the center of the dough- away from you, then towards you, until the piece measures about 8” wide by 18” long. Drizzle some of the leftover orange juice onto the dough and spread over to moisten. Sprinkle each piece with the cinnamon sugar. Starting at the end closest to you, roll up the dough gently, away from you, keeping it’s shape intact. Fit into the pans and cover to rise, about 45 min. Preheat your oven to 375 about half an hour into the second rise. You may want to line the bottom of the oven with foil as the cinnamon sugar tends to drip out of the pan as it bakes. Bake the loaves for 10 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 325 and bake for another 30 min. The loaves should be nicely browned. Let sit in the pans about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

In my house, this bread defines breakfast. Toasted and slathered with butter, and with a good pot of tea, it is the essence of my morning. If you need something more substantial and outrageously yummy on a weekend morning, use it for French toast.

Enjoy!

photo by Jeff Freeman

www.jeffreyfreeman.com

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 7th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Orange Cinnamon Bread. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.