I've gotten my cinnamon raisin loaf recipe down to where I like it, but I'm having the hardest time getting the swirl right, it won't stay together when it's baking! Anyone have any tips to offer? Thanks in advance!
You have a steam problem. As the dough bakes, the water turns to steam. At the same time, the gas from the yeast expands the dough. The steam then fills the areas that expand, so the dough won’t stick together where its swirled. So the bread bakes with gaping holes.
Use an egg base filling. For every cup of brown sugar and raisins, mix in 1 egg.
If you don’t want to add egg to your filling, then try a powdered sugar filling. America’s Test Kitchen came up with a cinnamon swirl bread filling to address this very problem.
ATK filling
1 cup (4 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
Or you can also try brushing the dough with an egg wash before spreading on the filling. I find using less butter and sprinkling the dough with powdered sugar before adding my brown sugar also helps. But I also don’t add a lot of filling to my cinnamon bread, so I think that keeps it from splitting apart.
20171210_222337.jpg