Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Recipe: Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread is a sweetish, airy, soft, fragrant yeast bread with orange juice, orange zest, milk, butter, cinnamon and sugar. Enjoy it slathered with some orange marmalade or toast it , butter it. Makes an excellent bread to enjoy on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas for breakfast. Like me if you have a dough kneader machine, the process of making bread from scratch becomes an easy task. With oranges in season right now, use them and allow the sweet fragrance to waft through your kitchen.
Sharing Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread Recipe With Sunday Funday
This weekend theme has been suggested by Camilla. She wrote “November 17th is National Homemade Bread Day. Share a favorite recipe for the bread. It can be a yeasted bread, a quick bread, or anything that you would slather on bread such as homemade jam. Be creative!.” I decided to share a yeast bread to celebrate the day, though it is a US based Day. The World Bread Day is celebrated on 16th October. Any excuse to bake a bread.
I had baked an Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread way back in May 2015 and shared the post on 24/05/2015. I must admit, when I baked the bread for the Group We Knead To Bake, the swirl didn’t come out right. But, I still shared the photos. Last week when I going through the post, I couldn’t believe I had shared such horrible photos and the swirl was hardly visible. Therefore, decided to redo this post.
Memories
In the past week or so we have had heavy snowfall, pretty unusual for this time of the year. Yes, by mid Nov we do get the occasional flurries and pathways become icy. But this time it was as though we skipped November and went straight into mid December. And icy rain is expected. I nearly didn’t participate as the days are so dull and grey. This makes photoing food pretty difficult as I try and avoid artificial light. But yesterday, the sun tried to come out, changing the natural light in my kitchen to slight brightness. Got baking the bread. Yesterday, woke up early to photo the end product as nowadays it gets dark by 4 p.m. Back in Kenya I never had to worry about natural light — had too much of it! So here is a better version of the Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread.
Some Bread Recipes From My Blog You May Like
Bread Recipes By Members Of Sunday Funday
- Air Fryer Small Sourdough Sandwich Bread from Sneha’s Recipe
- A Magical Small Sourdough Loaf from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Herb Flatbread from Culinary Cam
- Homemade Pitas from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
- No Knead Ciabatta from Sid’s Sea Palm Cooking
- Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread from Mayuri’s Jikoni
- Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Two Ingredient Cottage Cheese Rolls from Our Good Life
- Vanilla Mirabelle Plum Jam – Small Batch from Food Lust People Love
Ingredients Required For Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Flour
I use all purpose flour for this recipe as you want a soft brioche like bread. We need some for the bread and a bit for dusting the worktop.
Yeast
Use any yeast of your choice. I like to use instant active dry yeast. That way you do not need to allow the yeast to ferment in a warm liquid before adding to the flour. If you use normal active dry yeast then you must allow it to active or ferment in some warm liquid which for this recipe would be warm milk. Usually, it is allowed to active for 10-15 minutes. But best to read the instructions on the packet.
Salt
To balance all the flavours.
Butter
I have used salted butter. The butter should be room temperature soft. We will be adding some to the dough. We will need a bit to spread on the rolled dough before rolling up the dough to make a log. The butter helps the cinnamon powder and brown sugar to stick to the dough. Also we will need a small amount for greasing the loaf tin and the bowl.
White Sugar
To add to the dough. For a much sweeter bread add ¼ cup. I added only 2 tbsp as then the bread will have some brown sugar in the swirl and also powdered sugar for the glaze on top.
Brown Sugar
For the swirl. I have used dark brown sugar.
Cinnamon Powder
For the swirl.
Oranges
We need some fresh orange juice and zest for this recipe. I required two oranges for the juice and zest from one. I usually keep the extra zest in the freezer to add some to muffins, pancakes, cakes, drinks, etc. We will be using some orange juice and zest for the orange glaze.
Milk
We need normal dairy milk, a bit warm.
Confectioners’ Sugar
Powdered sugar or icing sugar. For the orange glaze. Topping the bread with a glaze is optional.
Watch How To Make Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread
ORANGE CINNAMON SWIRL BREAD
Ingredients
FOR THE ORANGE BREAD
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 2 tsp instant active dry yeast
- 2 tbsp orange zest
- ¾ cup fresh orange juice
- ½ cup warm milk
- 4 tbsp butter soft
FOR THE SWIRL
- 1 tbsp cinnamon powder
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 1½ tbsp butter soft
FOR THE ORANGE GLAZE
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 2-3 tbsp fresh orange juice
- ¼ tsp orange zest
- extra butter for greasing
- extra flour for dusting
- 1 tsp milk for brushing
Instructions
PREPARE THE ORANGE BREAD DOUGH
- Add flour to the mixing bowl of the dough kneader.
- Add salt, 2 tbsp of sugar, orange zest and yeast. Mix well.
- Add orange juice and warm milk. Mix using a spatula.
- Attach the bowl to the kneading machine.
- Using a dough hook, knead the dough on the slow setting initially.
- Then increase the speed. Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes.
- Add 1 tbsp of butter. Keeping kneading the dough.
- Add 1 more tbsp of butter and allow it get mixed into the dough.
- Keep doing this till the 4th tbsp of butter is used up.
- Remember the dough kneader is running when you add the butter in batches.
- By now the dough should appear smooth and silky. Total knead time is around 7-10 minutes.
FERMENT THE DOUGH
- Dust a worktop or board with flour and turn out the dough onto it.
- Shape it into a tight round ball. Use the sides of your palms to tuck in the dough to a nice round ball.
- Grease the mixing bowl with little butter.
- Place the dough ball into the bowl.
- Cover the bowl with cling film or a lid.
- Allow the dough to ferment to double its size in a warm place.
- This may take about 1-1½ hours depending on how warm the kitchen is.
SHAPING THE DOUGH WITH THE SWIRL
- Dust the worktop lightly with some flour.
- Remove the risen dough and gently knead it to deflate.
- Roll the dough out into a rectangle approximately 15"X 7".
- Spread the 1½ tbsp soft butter evenly over the rolled out dough.
- Mix the cinnamon powder and brown sugar.
- Spread out this mixture on the buttered dough evenly. Leave a margin of ¼ inch.
- Roll the dough tightly into a log or Swiss roll.
- Pinch the seam to the dough to seal.
- Tuck the two end under the log to give it nice rounded ends.
- Grease a 9"X 5" loaf tin with some butter.
- Place the shaped dough in the loaf tin.
FERMENT THE SHAPED DOUGH AGAIN
- Cover with a damp tea towel or a dome.
- Allow the shaped dough to double in size.
- This will take about 1-1¼ hours.
BAKE THE ORANGE CINNAMON SWIRL BREAD
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Brush the top of the risen dough with some milk.
- Bake the bread in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until the top of the bread is golden brown.
- Remove the bread from the oven.
- Remove it from the tin and allow it to cool down completely.
PREPARE THE ORANGE GLAZE
- Add 1 cup confectioners's sugar in a small mixing bowl.
- Initially add only 2 tbsp of fresh orange juice.
- Mix it well. Should be a thick glaze.
- Add more orange juice, a tsp at a time if required.
- Pout the glaze over the cold bread.
- Slice and enjoy with some butter and marmalade.
- Toast it lightly, butter it and enjoy.
Notes
- If you have a smaller loaf tins, then divide the dough into 2.
- You can add more sugar to the dough if you like a sweeter bread.
- You can add 1 egg to the dough. The amount of milk required will reduce.
- If the top begins to brown too quickly then cover the loaf tin with a sheet of aluminium foil.
- Can omit the glaze on top.
- For best flavour use fresh orange juice and not from the carton or bottle.
- Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes if doing by hand.
Pin For Later
A Small Request
If you do try this recipe then please either
- add a comment below,
- send a picture to my email mayuri.ajay.patel62@gmail.com
- tag me as #mayuri_jikoni on Instagram
- or comment on Pinterest @mayuri62
14 Comments
PIYALI SEKHAR MUTHA /My Tryst With Food And Travel
May 25, 2015 at 2:42 am
That's a truly aromatic infusion. I am sure the fragrance engulfing your kitchen must be heavenly. The fresh tangy notes of orange followed by the heady spicy aroma of cinnamon, oh must be too good. The swirl bread looks delicious. I
Shobha
May 25, 2015 at 6:33 am
This bread was the most easiest one and tasted so delicious too.. My post is not yet ready as I was busy in the week end …,,will do it today 🙂
Amrita Roy
May 25, 2015 at 10:15 am
Cinnamon alone can give an exotic aroma and addition to it orange will give a very nice taste to the bread
Mina Joshi
May 25, 2015 at 12:30 pm
I have never baked bread. I will book mark this recipe to try soon.
Wendy Klik
November 16, 2025 at 7:05 am
Well, the swirl definitely turned out nicely this time. Excellent photos.
mayurisjikoni
November 16, 2025 at 8:43 pm
Thanks you so much Wendy.
Stacy
November 16, 2025 at 8:21 am
It’s such a challenge to get the perfect swirl but you have done just that, Mayuri! What a fabulous loaf!
mayurisjikoni
November 16, 2025 at 8:43 pm
Thank you so much Stacy. You should have seen the old photos, could hardly make out the swirl. I guess am getting wiser and more patient.
Karen’s Kitchen Stories
November 16, 2025 at 11:56 am
It’s so hard sometimes looking back at old photos, lol! This bread looks perfect. I’ve never thought of orange and cinnamon but what a lovely combination!
mayurisjikoni
November 16, 2025 at 8:42 pm
Thanks Karen, your photos have always been so good. As for the orange cinnamon swirl bread, I hear it is a traditional bread. Traditional or not, it is so flavourful.
Sneha Datar
November 19, 2025 at 5:59 am
This bread looks so good!
mayurisjikoni
November 19, 2025 at 11:40 pm
Thanks Sneha.
Amy’s Cooking Adventures
January 13, 2026 at 10:55 pm
This bread is beautiful!
mayurisjikoni
January 15, 2026 at 12:01 am
Thanks Amy