In the colder months I bake bread once a week. Since I work from home most of the time, it’s pretty easy to incorporate the mixing, kneading, rising, and baking into my schedule. (The whole process takes about 3 hours.) Plus, when it’s really cold I get to turn on the oven for bonus heat in the kitchen! For those of you with a 9-5:00 schedule, winter weekend mornings are a great time to let the bread dough lead the way.

Each December I bake something delicious to give to friends and family for holiday presents. Some years it’s cookies (See last week’s Chocolate Ginger Snap post); some years it’s traditional Christmas stollen, while others I get into the whole rhythmic process of making a bunch of yeasted breads.

When this urge hits me, I turn to the recipe for “Sesame-Oat Cinnamon Swirl Bread” from Beatrice Ojakangas Great Whole Grain Breads Cookbook (p. 127). The bread itself has a fantastic texture—the oats combined with the toasted sesame seeds and wheat flour. Sprinkling the cinnamon and rolling it up adds a festive, fun touch to the process.

If that’s not enough: it smells DELICIOUS as it’s baking. I advise my giftees to toast slices to recreate the great smell. Instant nostalgia. Nice.

I like this cinnamon loaf compared to other recipes because it isn’t sweet—and this quality only serves to highlight the excellent cinnamony nature of the bread.

Give it a try.

Recipe:

(I’ve adapted this slightly from Ojakangas’ original)

• 1 ½ c. Boiling water
• 1 c. Oats (quick or old-fashioned)
• ½ c. Sesame seeds
• ¼ c. Unsalted butter, cold
• 1 Tbls (one package) Active dry yeast
• ½ c. Warm water
• ½ c. Brown sugar, packed
• 2 tsp. Sea salt
• 1 c. Whole wheat flour
• 3 c. Unbleached white flour
• 1 Tbls. Ground cinnamon

Combine the boiling water and the oats in a big mixing bowl. Set aside. In the meantime, toast the sesame seeds in a small frying pan, about 3-5 minutes (until the seeds begin to pop). Stir the seeds into the warm oat mixture. Add the cold butter to the mixture. It will melt and cool the mixture at the same time.

In a separate small bowl dissolve the yeast in the warm tap water. Add the brown sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes until the yeast turns frothy on top. Add the salt and the cooled oat mixture.

Add the whole wheat flour and (by hand) beat in the white flour until you have a stiff dough. (You may need to add up to an additional 1/2 c. of white flour if your dough seems wet.) Let rest for 15 minutes.

Turn the rested dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, until smooth and satiny. Kneading is fun, and it’s great exercise for your forearms!

Wash your big bowl, add a drop or two of oil (I use olive oil), add dough to bowl, turn over to grease top. Cover and let rise for about an hour—until it’s doubled in size.

Punch the dough down and divide in half. Roll each half out to make a rectangle (about 8×12 in.). Sprinkle each half with half of the cinnamon.

Roll up tightly. Seal the seams and ends.

Grease two loaf pans. (I use canola oil). Place the loaves into the pans. Let rise until doubled, about another hour.

Heat oven to 375. Bake until the loaves are golden and sound hollow when tapped on their bottoms. About 30-35 minutes. You don’t want to under-bake these loaves or they will deflate and crinkle on top.

Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. Yum. This recipe makes two standard loaves, but it’s easily doubled.