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    Home » Recipes » Breads

    Cinnamon Snowflake Bread

    By Chula King · November 29, 2021 · Updated December 19, 2022

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    Cinnamon Snowflake Bread

    Cinnamon Snowflake Bread is the perfect breakfast for Christmas Day. So while sugar plums are dancing in your family’s heads, make this fantastic bread for a memorable start to Christmas Day.

    Cinnamon Snowflake Bread

    While Susan and I were in Paris, we took a Bread-making class where we learned how to make a chocolate-filled Snowflake Bread. The bread was topped with pearl sugar.

    Susan and I thought it would be fun to do a variation using cinnamon and sugar filling instead of chocolate and topping it with cinnamon roll icing instead of pearl sugar. The result was fantastic!

    Jump to:
    • Here’s What You’ll Need for the Dough
    • Making the Dough – Use a Bread Machine 
    • Here’s How I Made the Cinnamon Filling
    • Building the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread
    • Here’s How I Made the Glaze
    • Here’s How I Finished Cinnamon Snowflake Bread
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Tips and Tricks
    • More Cinnamon-Flavored Bread Where the Bread Machine Does Most of the Work
    • Recipe

    Here’s What You’ll Need for the Dough

    The dough ingredients for the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread included water, egg, salt, butter, sour cream, sugar, bread flour, and yeast.

    Dough Ingredients for Cinnamon Snowflake Bead

    Making the Dough – Use a Bread Machine 

    As I generally do, I use the bread machine to do most of the work. I started by adding all the dough ingredients to the bread pan in the order listed and setting the bread machine to the dough cycle.

    When the dough cycle had finished, I removed the dough to a floured surface and divided it into four pieces. Each of the pieces weighed roughly 8 ounces.

    Dough Balls with rolling pin

    Here’s How I Made the Cinnamon Filling

    The cinnamon filling included three simple ingredients: Granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, and unsalted butter.

    Ingredients for the filling

    To make the filling, I mixed the sugar and cinnamon. Then, I added the melted butter and mixed everything together.

    Adding melted butter to sugar/cinnamon mixture

    Building the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread

    To build the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread, I started by rolling each of the pieces of dough into roughly a 12-inch circle.

    The dough tended to spring back when I rolled it, so I would roll it a little bit, let it rest and then roll it more.

    At this point, I didn’t worry about the dough being perfect circles. The reason was that I would trim the dough once everything was put together.

    Rolling Dough

    Then, I transferred one of the dough circles to an inverted baking sheet lined with a silicone mat (Photo 1). Finally, I spread the dough circle with ⅓ of the cinnamon/sugar filling (Photo 2).

    After that, I placed another one of the dough circles on top (Photo 3) and spread it with half of the remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture (Photo 4).

    I repeated this one more time, placing a dough circle on top (Photo 5) and spreading it with the remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture (Photo 6)

    Assembling the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread

    I put the final piece of dough on top of the three layers to finish things. Before moving on, I trimmed the dough into a perfect 10-inch circle.

    Adding the final dough circle

    I placed a small bowl in the center of the top dough layer and made four equal cuts starting at about ½-inch from the edge of the bowl (Photo 7). Then, I cut each of the four pieces in half, again starting about ½-inch from the edge of the bowl (Photo 8). Finally, I cut each of the eight wedges in half (Photo 9).

    I ended up with a total of sixteen cuts. At this point, I removed the bowl from the top of the dough (Photo 10).

    Cutting the dough into wedges

    To turn the dough into a snowflake, I carefully picked up two pieces of adjacent dough (Photo 11) and twisted them three times away from each other (Photo 12). Then, I pressed the outer edges of the two pieces together (Photo 13)Finally, . I made sure that the edges were well sealed (Photo 14).

    Twisting the dough

    I repeated this with the remaining seven pairs of dough wedges. Voila, Cinnamon Snowflake Bread!

    For the finishing touch, I brushed the Cinnamon Snowflake bread with an egg wash.

    Brushing bread with egg wash.

    I popped the cinnamon snowflake bread into a preheated 350°F oven for 23 minutes. After 23 minutes, the bread was golden brown and perfectly cooked.

    Here’s How I Made the Glaze

    While the bread was cooking, I made the icing, which consisted of confectioners’ sugar, unsalted butter, milk, and vanilla extract.

    Ingredients for icing.

    I added all of the glaze ingredients to a bowl. Then, I beat the mixture on high with my electric mixer until the glaze was smooth and had a perfect consistency.

    Making the icing

    Here’s How I Finished Cinnamon Snowflake Bread

    After I removed the bread from the oven, I carefully transferred it to a wire cooling rack. Then Susan drizzled the icing over the still-hot bread.

    Drizzling icing over still hot bread

    All I can say is, OMG, this Cinnamon Snowflake Bread is impressive. It will make the perfect start to Christmas Day for your family. Yum!

    For another fantastic star bread, check out my Lemon Curd Star Bread. It’s a winner.

    Cinnamon Snowflake Bread

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Can half-and-half or heavy cream be substituted for the milk in the glaze?

    Feel free to substitute half and half or heavy cream for the milk in the glaze.

    How springy is the dough for the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread?

    This dough does tend to be a bit springy when it’s being rolled out. Therefore, I’ll roll it into about a 6-inch circle and let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then, I’ll roll it again into about an 8-inch circle and let it rest again before the final rolling.

    How important is it that the dough circles be perfect?

    I assemble the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread first and then trim it. Therefore, the initial dough circles don’t need to be perfect.

    Can the Cinnamon Snowflake Bread be reheated?

    The Cinnamon Snowflake Bread is best served warm but is also good served cold. However, I like to warm my piece of Cinnamon Snowflake Bread in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds.

    What size bowl is used on the top of the bread before making the cuts?

    The best-size bowl has a 3 ½-inch diameter.

    Tips and Tricks

    • When making any type of bread, including this Cinnamon Snowflake Bread, you should weigh the ingredients. There is a lot of variability in the quantity of flour depending on how it is measured. Do yourself a favor and purchase a scale. They are inexpensive and are indispensable in achieving consistent results.
    • When I use my bread machine for making bread, I place it on my kitchen scale and add the ingredients by weight as I proceed through the recipe. First, I’ll add the egg and then enough liquid to achieve a total weight of the egg plus the liquid. The reason is that there is a lot of variability in eggs depending on their size.
    • Because the dough tends to be springy, I work on all four pieces sequentially. That is, I roll one piece as far as it will go, then another piece as far as it will go, etc. This makes the process much faster.
    • Once the dough is put together, it is not necessary to allow it to rise much. The reason is that it will rise slightly when put in the oven. Too much of a rise will somewhat destroy the appearance of the snowflake. Generally, once I’ve done the egg wash, I turn on my oven. When the oven reaches temperature, I put the bread in.
    • When I first started making snowflake bread, I cut the dough too close to the small bowl on top. As a result, the “star” would often be torn. Therefore, as you make the cuts, be sure to leave at least ½-inch between the edge of the bowl and the start of the cut.
    • You can do either two twists of the adjacent pieces of dough or three twists. The bread is prettier with three twists.
    • One time in making this spectacular bread, I used a bowl with a 4-inch diameter before making the cuts. While it sort of worked, the bread wasn’t nearly as pretty as it is with the 3 ½-inch bowl.
    • For a variation, try substituting Nutella or lemon curd for the cinnamon/sugar filling.

    More Cinnamon-Flavored Bread Where the Bread Machine Does Most of the Work

    If you liked this Cinnamon Snowflake bread, you should check out these other amazing recipes:

    • Braided Cinnamon Bread Wreath
    • Mardi Gras Cinnamon Roll King Cake (Bread Machine)
    • Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
    • Mardi Gras King Cake (Bread Machine)

    I hope you liked this recipe for Cinnamon Snowflake Bread as much as I do. If so, please consider rating it and leaving a comment. Also, if you’d like to receive notifications of new posts by email, enter your email address in the Subscribe box.

    Thank you so much for visiting Pudge Factor. I hope you’ll come back!

    Recipe

    Featured Cinnamon Snowflake bread

    Christmas Snowflake Bread

    Cinnamon Snowflake Bread is the perfect breakfast for Christmas Day. While sugar plums are dancing in the heads of your family, make this amazing bread for a memorable start of Christmas Day.
    5 from 3 votes
    Print Pin
    Course: Bread
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 25 minutes
    Dough Cycle: 1 hour 50 minutes
    Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
    Servings: 12 servings
    Calories: 375kcal
    Author: Chula King

    Ingredients

    Dough

    • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
    • ¼ cup water (the egg plus the water should weigh 4 ounces, 114 grams)
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 2 Tablespoons (1 ounce, 29 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
    • 1 cup (8 ounces, 227 grams) sour cream (See Tip 1)
    • 3 ½ Tablespoons (1.75 ounces, 50 grams) granulated sugar
    • 3 ½ cups (17.5 ounces, 496 grams) all-purpose flour
    • 2 ½ teaspoons (0.37 ounces, 11 grams) bread machine yeast
    • egg wash

    Cinnamon Filling

    • ½ cup (3.5 ounces, 100 grams) granulated sugar
    • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    • 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

    Glaze

    • 2 cups (8 ounces) confectioners' sugar
    • 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • 3 to 4 Tablespoons milk

    Instructions

    Dough

    • Add the dough ingredients to the bread machine in the order listed. Select the dough cycle and start the machine. After five minutes of mixing, check the dough and add 1 to 2 more Tablespoons of water or flour if the dough is too dry or wet. (See Tip 2)

    Cinnamon Filling

    • Mix sugar and cinnamon together. Add melted butter; stir to combine.

    Glaze

    • Beat confectioners' sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth. If necessary, add more milk or confectioners' sugar to achieve desired consistency.

    Cinnamon Snowflake Bread

    • Preheat oven to 350°F. Invert a large baking sheet; line it with a silicone mat. Set aside.
    • When the dough cycle is finished, remove the dough and form into 4 balls, roughly 8 ounces each. On a lightly floured surface, roll one of the balls into a circle roughly 12-inches in diameter.  Place on silicone lined baking sheet. Center 10-inch cake pan on dough and press down slightly to form an indentation of a 10-inch circle on the dough. (See Tips 3 and 4)
    • Spread ⅓ of the cinnamon filling inside the circle. Repeat with two more balls of dough and remaining cinnamon filling.
    • Roll the final ball of dough into a 12-inch circle and place it on top of the third cinnamon/sugar layer.
    • Place a small cup in the center of the dough. Starting about 1 inch from the edge of the cup, cut 4 equal slits in the dough. Then cut each of the wedges in half, resulting in 8 cuts. Starting about 1 inch from the cup or cookie cutter, cut each of the 8 wedges in half, resulting in 16 cuts.
    • Being very careful, pick two of the adjacent pieces, and twist them twice away from each other. Press to seal the edges. Repeat with the remaining 14 wedges.
    • Remove the cup from the center. Brush with egg wash.
    • Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. (See Tip 5)
    • Remove bread from oven; transfer to wire rack. Drizzle glaze over warm cinnamon snowflake star bread. Serve warm if possible.
    • Yield:  12 servings.

    Chula’s Expert Tips

    1. I always use low-fat sour cream when making the dough.
    2. If you make the dough the night before, coat a large bowl with oil. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. The next morning, remove the dough about an hour before you want to make the snowflake bread to give it a chance to come to room temperature.
    3. The dough tends to be a bit springy with it’s being rolled out. Therefore, I’ll roll it out into about a 6-inch circle and let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then, I’ll roll it again into about an 8-inch circle and let it rest again before the final rolling.
    4. Because the dough will be trimmed once the Lemon Curd Star Bread is assembled, the circles don’t need to be perfect.
    5. Once the bread is assembled, there is no need to let it rise. Just go ahead and pop it into the oven, the same way that you would a pizza.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 375kcal | Carbohydrates: 62g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 87mg | Sodium: 136mg | Potassium: 116mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 384IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 2mg
    Tried this recipe?Please leave a comment below and/or give this recipe a rating. On Instagram? Take a picture and tag @pudgefactor or #pudgefactor.

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    Filed Under: Breads, Breakfast, Christmas, Holiday Side Dishes

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