What I really like about this Orange and Cinnamon Swirl Bread is the captivating flavor of the orange juice and zest in the dough combined with tangy apricot preserves, brown sugar and cinnamon filling . Plus, it's a very easy yeast bread to make, too. However, careful attention to rolling out the dough is essential so that during the baking process, the dough won't burst out of its seams and make a bubbly mess in your baking pan. Toasting the leftover bread in a buttered cast iron pan is delicious!

Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen chose this bread from 500 Breads by Carol Beckerman, a book she was given to review. If all the recipes in the book are this good, then it's needs to be on my bookshelf.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon sugar

2/3 cup warm water

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

The juice and finely grated zest of 1 orange

5 tablespoons apricot preserves

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

Oil for greasing the baking pan

Method

Using the oil, grease 2 8"x 4" loaf tins. Dissolve the 1 teaspoon sugar in the warm water and sprinkle the yeast on top. Leave for 10-15 minutes until frothy.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt and 3 tablespoons sugar. Add the liquid yeast, the eggs and the juice and zest of the orange. Work into a somewhat firm dough. Turn out on a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turn so it is coated all over and put in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 1-1/2 hours.

When dough has risen, turn out on a lightly floured surface and punch down. Knead briefly, then divide dough into two equal pieces. Roll into a 6x13-inch rectangle. Spread each rectangle with the apricot preserves and sprinkle with the cinnamon and brown sugar. Roll each rectangle jelly roll style and place in the prepared loaf tins. Put in a warm place for about 30 minutes until doubled.

In a pre-heated 400 °F (200C) oven, bake the loaves for about 30-35 minutes until golden brown and dough makes a hollow sound when tapped. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

*For a less sweet bread, omit the 3 tablespoons of sugar and decrease the brown sugar to 1/8 cup. The eggs can be omitted and regular sugar substituted for the brown sugar.

Submitted to Yeastspotting.

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