Braided Cinnamon Bread

This Braided Cinnamon Bread is basically a giant braided cinnamon roll filled with juicy summer berries. The bread is super soft and slightly sweet, filled with cinnamon sugar, blueberries and strawberries, then topped with a delicious maple glaze.

If you’re looking for something that’s part cinnamon roll, part berry cake, stop right here because this Braided Cinnamon Bread with berries is exactly it. It is made with a milk bread like dough, filled with a cinnamon brown sugar mixture, and a generous helping of fresh berries. Serve it with powdered sugar or drizzle with maple glaze.

Why you’ll love it

• This bread is soft and fluffy.
• It’s sweet but not too sweet since you can control how much glaze to add on.
• It’s great as breakfast with your morning coffee, or as an afternoon snack with tea, and even as a sweet treat after dinner.
• It’s perfect for Easter brunch or Mother’s day brunch.
• The braided roll looks complicated but is actually easy to make.

This braided cinnamon roll is best served warm with a sprinkle of powdered sugar or a drizzle of maple glaze for extra sweetness. Some readers have mentioned that it’s sweet enough even without the glaze, so that is definitely an option for you to consider. 

Ingredients and Substitutions

As always, you can find the full list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:

1. Milk – I typically use whole milk when baking. You could also use 2% milk here. 

2. Butter – Unsalted butter is used in the bread dough as well as the cinnamon bread filling. You can get away with using salted butter in the bread dough but I wouldn’t recommend using salted butter in the filling, it would make the filling too salty. 

3. Sugar – Three types of sugar are used in this recipe. Granulated sugar in the dough, to give the yeast food and make the bread a little sweeter. Brown sugar in the cinnamon bread filling. And powdered sugar for the maple glaze.

4. Yeast – You can use either active dry yeast or rapid rise instant yeast, the same amount of either type will work. Even with instant yeast, I still like to bloom it in warm liquid first to ensure the yeast is working.

5. Flour – Typically, you want to make bread using bread flour for the higher protein content, which will make your bread chewier. However, I like to keep things simple and use all-purpose flour here.

6. Salt – I use kosher salt, if you’re using table salt, only use about two thirds as much. 

7. Cinnamon – gotta have cinnamon in the cinnamon bread filling.

8. Berries – I used fresh berries, a mixture of blueberries and strawberries. You can use just blueberries or strawberries by themselves. I didn’t use raspberries because I thought they might add too much liquid, making the bread soggy. I would also try to stay away from frozen berries, they will release too much liquid when baked.

9. Maple syrup – I use pure maple syrup for the glaze. I haven’t tried using pancake syrup instead so I can’t recommend it, also I much prefer the taste of pure maple syrup. 

10. Egg – I only use egg for the egg wash to brush on top of the bread before baking to get a golden brown top crust. You could use heavy cream or milk wash instead, though it may not result in a deep golden color.

How to make braided cinnamon bread

First, bloom the yeast

Start by warming the milk and butter in the microwave or in a saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts. Stir in a little bit of sugar to dissolve. 

Make sure the mixture cools down to below 110°F before adding the yeast. Note: if the liquid is too hot, it could kill the yeast! Stir and let it bloom for 10-15 minutes, the mixture should puff up.

Prepare the dough

Add the flour and salt to a stand mixer bowl and stir to distribute. Add the bloomed yeast mixture to the flour mixture and knead with the dough hook attachment on low speed for about 5 minutes until the dough comes together. 

Tip: if the dough seems too slack and difficult to handle, you could knead it another 5 minutes to develop more gluten to give it more structure.

First rise

Scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl and shape into a ball on a lightly floured surface. The dough should be soft but not wet and sticky. You shouldn’t need too much extra flour for shaping and rolling.

Place the dough ball into an oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1-1.5 hours until at least double in size.

Tip: you could use oil on your hands and the countertop instead of flour while shaping the dough to help with sticking and also prevent you from adding too much flour which can dry out the bread.

Make cinnamon bread filling

While waiting for the dough to rise, you can make the filling by mixing together brown sugar, cinnamon and softened butter into a spreadable paste.

Tip: If you forgot to leave the butter out at room temperature, you can always microwave it for about 15 – 30 seconds. 

Shape the braided cinnamon roll

When the dough is ready, roll it out into a rectangle about 12”x18”. Spread the cinnamon sugar filling over the dough with a soft silicone spatula, sprinkle berries on top and roll it up into a long log. 

Use a serrated knife to cut open the log lengthwise leaving 1” intact at one end. Carefully twist the two strands together.

Second rise

Butter a 10” cast iron skillet or similar size round baking pan. Place the roll into the prepared pan in a circle and strategically place the open end on top of the uncut end to cover the doughy part. Allow the bread to rise again in a warm spot for about 30 minutes to an hour. 

Bake the bread

Before you bake, brush a little egg wash or milk wash over any exposed part of the dough. Bake at 375°F until the bread is golden brown, this will take about 30-35 minutes.

Make maple glaze

Simply whisk together maple syrup and powdered sugar to make a maple glaze to drizzle over the warm bread for serving. 

If you don’t want to add too much sugar, you can simply serve this braided cinnamon bread with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Variations

If you don’t want to use fresh berries or if berries are out of season, you can use other fruits such as:

• Apples or pears in the Fall
• Stone fruits like peaches, nectarines, and plums in the Summer
• You could also use raisins, dried figs, dried blueberries, etc.

Baker’s Tips

• Always check that your yeast is working properly before continuing with the recipe to ensure success. If the yeast mixture doesn’t puff up when bloomed, it is best to start over. Otherwise, your dough will not rise. 
• Make sure you’re blooming the yeast in temperature 110°F or cooler. If the liquid is hotter than this, you will kill the yeast.
• Rising time can vary, depending on the environment: temperature, humidity, barometric pressure. The dough will rise faster in warmer weather compared to colder weather, in higher altitude compared to lower altitude, etc. 
• If at first, the dough seems too slack after 5 minutes of kneading, instead of adding more flour, try to knead the dough another 5 or 10 minutes to develop more gluten. This will give the dough more structure and should make it easier to handle. But remember that more gluten will make the bread chewier, if you want softer bread, knead only as much as necessary.
• Using oil on your hands and the countertop when shaping and rolling the dough can prevent you from adding too much flour and risk drying out the bread, making it too hard.

FAQs

Can I use frozen berries?

I have not tested this recipe with frozen berries. However, I don’t recommend it because frozen fruits tend to release a lot of water once thawed, this could make the bread too soggy.

Can I make this recipe without a cast iron pan?

I used a 10” cast iron skillet to bake this. If you have any round baking vessel around 9”-10”, it should work for this recipe.

Can I make the dough the night before?

Yes, you can and here are some tips:

• Allow the dough to complete the first rise at room temperature. Shape the dough and prepare it for the second rise in a round baking pan. 
• At this point, allow it to rise for 20-30 minutes, only half way through. Then refrigerate overnight.
• In the morning, take the dough out to let it come to room temperature and finish the second rise before baking.
• To speed up the last step, you can make a proofing oven by placing the bread in your oven middle rack and adding boiling water to a tray placed underneath. The steam will create a warm environment for your bread to rise.
• I recommend using a cake pan or pie pan here instead of a cast iron pan because refrigeration will create moisture which you don’t want to expose the cast iron pan to over a long period of time.

Whenever making bread ahead, you have to be mindful not to let the dough over-rise, especially during the second rise, because over-risen dough will actually deflate and you’ll end up with very dense hard bread. That said, I never had trouble with cinnamon rolls over-proofing in the refrigerator since the colder temperature will slow down the fermentation. 

But if you are following these tips for making ahead, make sure this is the last thing you do the night before, so you can put the bread in the fridge at bed time and limit the amount of time it is fermenting in the fridge, and then baking the bread is the first thing you do the next morning.

How do I serve this bread?

Cut into wedge slices as you would a cake or a pie and serve warm with a dusting of powdered sugar or a drizzle of maple glaze. Serve it with coffee, tea or ice cream!

Storage

• Room temperature: because this braided cinnamon bread contains fresh berries, I recommend only storing it at room temperature, covered, for 1 day. 
• Refrigerator: you can keep this bread in the fridge for up to a week. Warm a slice up in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute before serving.
• Freezer: you can freeze this bread for up to 3 months, but note that the berries may become soggy when defrosted. It is best to freeze individual pieces so you can thaw just as much as you want to serve. Again, warm the bread in the microwave before serving.

More delicious sweet rolls

• Pani Popo (Samoan Coconut Buns)
• AnPan (Japanese Red Bean Buns)
• Orange Cranberry Hot Cross Buns
• Macadamia Coconut Rolls
• Coconut Brioche Buns

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