Cinnamon Sugar Croissant Loaf

I'll try to keep this short, but here's the story: This past Saturday, I spent 4 hours making a Cinnamon Sugar Croissant Loaf. Seriously, 4 hours. It was beautiful. I put it in the oven to bake and about 15 minutes before it was done, I checked on it. I could see that there was smoke in the oven and when I opened the oven, smoke was billowing out of the oven. I immediately got Murphy (our pup) out of the smoke and into a room with an open window so he was out of harm's way. I opened all of the windows and got a fan to blow the smoke out of our back doorwall that was in the kitchen. I'm not sure if I was crying at this point, but chances are, I was. But I was still in panic mode. I called my husband. The loaf was ruined, but Murphy was my main concern, then our home, me lastly. I called my super amazing Father-in-Law, who was a firefighter.

Mistakes happen. People & pets should be our first priority. Fire safety is a priority.

After 3 hours of cleaning the oven and testing it over and over, our oven is clean and safe.

I decided I needed to remake that stinking' Cinnamon Sugar Croissant Loaf. When I woke up and first started cleaning the oven, long before my husband and dog woke up this morning, I knew I was doing the right thing.

My dad used to tell me: "Press On."

When Nick woke up and I told him that I would be spending the day cleaning and remaking what I tried to make the day before, he said, "I'm proud of you."

I'M PROUD OF YOU.

So here's something to take away from that:

1. Press on. Even if you break an egg or totally mess up, keep doing it. No matter what it is.

2. Find and keep a partner who will always encourage you. I'm so glad and blessed to have found someone who, when our house smells like smoke, will tell me that he's proud of me. You deserve that, too.

INGREDIENTS

1 3/4 cups warm whole milk
1 Tbsp instant yeast
2 Tbsp honey
4 1/2 - 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
2 tsp kosher salt
6 Tbsp (1/2 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
2 sticks (1 1/4 cup) cold salted butter, sliced into thin pieces
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 egg, beaten, for brushing

DIRECTIONS

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the milk, honey, 4 1/2 cups flour, yeast, and salt. Using the dough hook, mix until the flour is completely incorporated, about 4-5 minutes. Add 4 tablespoons room temp butter and mix until combined, about 2-3 minutes more, adding the additional 1/2 cup flour as needed, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until doubled in size.

• Punch the dough down and roll out onto a lightly floured surface, creating a large rectangle that’s about 12x18 inches. Layer the thin slices of cold butter down the middle 1/3 the dough, pressing gently to adhere and layering the slices together to create a rectangle of butter. Gently push the butter together with your hands.

• First fold: Fold 1/3 of the dough over the butter, then fold the other 1/3 over top of the first layer so you have 3 dough layers (like an envelope, see above photo). Roll the dough out again into a large rectangle, fold into thirds. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and transfer to the freezer for 20 minutes..

• Second Fold: Remove the dough from the freezer. Roll the dough into a rectangle (about 12x18 inches) and fold into envelope. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and transfer to the freezer for 20 minutes.

• Meanwhile, butter two (9x5 inch) bread pans. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.

• Remove the dough from the freezer. Roll the dough into a rectangle. Spread the dough with 2 tablespoons softened butter and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the butter. Starting with the edge of dough closest to you, roll the dough into a log, keeping it tight as you go. When you reach the edge, pinch along the edges to seal.

• Cut the dough log in half. Cut each half into 10-11 rolls. Arrange each roll into the prepared bread pans. You can place them seam side down, or alternate each roll to show more of the filling (see above photo). Cover and let rise 35-45 minutes.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the bread pans on 35-40 minutes or until dark brown on top. Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a cooling rack. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.