Cinnamon Swirl Bread. Never buy Pepperidge Farms again. (Updated)

I love this bread. A little sweet, it can be breakfast, dessert, a snack, whatever. It's especially good with hot tea or a nice tall glass of milk. It should almost always be toasted if having with butter, or better yet, cut big slices and make the best french toast you've ever had.

This recipe comes out of Breaking Bread with Father Dominic, a wonderful book from a great PBS show. There aren't too many recipes in it, but the ones that are there are spot on. The book's less about making "authentic" or "rustic" bread and more about just making bread that disappears as soon as you make it.

The recipe calls for 1 cup of sour cream. In the past I have used sour cream, yogurt, or some mixture of the two. This time, I had about 1/4 cup of yogurt and 0 cups of sour cream. So I filled in the rest with milk. I actually think this hurt the taste and crumb slightly, so I would suggest using the yogurt or sour cream. I think the main problem is that without the sour cream, there is no fat. I also would consider doubling the filling amount. You really can't have too much cinnamon in a cinnamon bread.

This bread is great, because as an enriched dough (one that has eggs), the bread keeps fairly well.
Dough:
5-6 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
3 Tbs shortening or butter (I don't use shortening in my cooking, but I'm sure it's good with it)
1/4 cup sugar
2 packs active dry yeast (if you use fresh yeast, you are going to have to modify the recipe)
2 tsp salt
1 Tbs vanilla
3 eggs beaten (at room temperature, please!)

Filling:
2 Tbs butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

1. Combine milk, sour cream, and butter in a saucepan over low heat until everything is melted. Remove from heat and cool until it is 120ºF-130ºF.

2. Combine 2 cups of the flour, the sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and mix. Blend milk mixture, vanilla, and eggs in to flour mixer and beat for ~3 minutes. Add enough of the flour to make a soft dough.

3. Turn out dough an dknead for 5 minutes, adding flour as needed to make a smooth, elastic, SOFT dough. (Don't add too much flour.) Grease a bowl, put the dough in, turn it once on the bowl to grease the dough, and let sit for 1-1 1/2 hours until doubled.

4. Punch down and knead for a couple minutes to work out the air. Divide into 2 pieces. Roll out each into a 14" by 7" square. Spread softened butter on the dough leaving 1/2 inch edge. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and sprinke over the butter. Start with the short edge and roll the dough up tightly. NOTE: The tighter you roll the dough the more swirls you get. Pinch the edges tight and place in a greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Do the same thing with the other piece of dough. Cover and let rise for 45-60 minutes, until nearly doubled.

5. 15 minutes before the dough is done rising, preheat the oven to 375ºF. Bake bread for 40-45 minutes or until top is golden brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove and let cool on wire rack. If you like, brush on some butter and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.

This bread is wonderful. Don't wait, just go make it.

Update: I've added the approximate amount of flour needed. This is just the amount that the recipe called for, I don't even measure my flour any more, I just look at the consistency. If you're beginning, just make sure you are close the amount of flour called for, and remember, you'll be adding more flour when you knead the bread, so don't add it all during mixing. Add enough to make a workable dough, and then add flour while kneading until you reach the desired consitency.