Dollywood Cinnamon Bread

The Bread Baking Babes are baking again. We used to bake a bread every month but in the past year or so, we’ve been finding life increasingly taking priority over baking bread. So we’ve decided to bake one bread every two months. And this month, Karen picked Dollywood Cinnamon Bread for us to make.

I had never heard of a Dollywood Cinnamon Bread before! So it turns out that Dollywood is a theme park in Tennessee in the US, and owned by Dolly Parton. Their famous cinnamon bread is known as Dollywood Cinnamon Bread. I spent a large part of my college years listening to her songs, many of which are still my favourites. I didn’t know of Dollywood though it’s been around for 40 years or so, I understand.

The original version of this bread is baked daily in century old The Grist Mill (which is over 100 years old/plus they mill their own flour) in Dollywood. It’s served with either vanilla icing or apple butter, and they apparently sell over 350 loaves an hour! You can find Dolly Parton’s Dollywood Cinnamon Bread recipe all over the net.

The recipe below is adapted from Baking in the American South by Anne Byrne This buttery cinnamon loaf is shaped, sliced, and drenched in a cinnamon, sugar, and butter mixture before baking. What’s not to like about this combination? Naturally, the resulting loaf is so good! Do watch the top to see it doesn’t get burned. My loaf came pretty close to it, as you can see from the images.

A version of the famous Dollywood Cinnamon Bread that’s a soft loaf drenched in a butter-sugar-cinnamon mixture and crust.

Prep Time 40 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Resting Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Total Time 3 hours 35 minutes

Ingredients

For the Dough:

1 cup milk
50 gm unsalted butter
1 tsp instant yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

For the Topping:

50 gm unsalted butter
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

Make the Dough:

Scald the milk over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes (bubbles on the edges but not boiling). Take it off the heat, add the butter and stir to melt. Let it cool to slightly warmer than room temperature. Stir in the yeast.
Knead using a stand mixer or by hand. Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the milk mixture and knead into a soft, smooth and elastic dough. If the dough seems dry, add milk, one tablespoon at a time till dough is of desired consistency.
Place the dough into a bowl, cover loosely and let it rise for about 1 1/2 hours or so till doubled in volume. You can also let it rise in the refrigerator overnight. The rise will not be as much as regular dough because of the butter in the dough which will harden the dough. If refrigerating the dough, take it out next morning, lightly knead it, and then let it rise till double in volume.
Line a 9 x 5 -inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Remove the parchment and set aside on a baking sheet.

Make the topping:

Melt the butter in a mall pan or bowl. Stir in the sugars and cinnamon.
Deflate the risen dough and press it out or roll out into an 8 x 7 -inch rectangle. Roll the dough into a loaf, starting from the 8-inch edge side. Place it, seam side down, onto the parchment.
Slit the loaf 6 to 8 times with a serrated knife, cutting about 2/3rds into the dough. Stuff the slits generously with the cinnamon-sugar-butter.
Using the parchment, lift the loaf into the pan. Spread the remaining mixture over the top of the dough uniformly. Let it rise till almost double, for about 45 minutes.
Bake at 180C (350F) for about 30 minutes or so until the bread is done. Do watch the top to see it doesn’t get burned. My loaf came pretty close to it, as you can see from the images. Cool on a wire rack.