How to Fill the Morning

I have the worst time sleeping.  Always.  This morning when I woke at 3:30 a.m., it was time to figure out what to do.  So the logical step was to check out pinterest.  Right?

Yeah I know that can only lead to hours on hours of hanging out online.  But this time I got up and actually did one of the pins.

Cinnamon Braid Roll

It starts off by making a basic bread recipe and letting it rise for an hour.  Here is the one that I have on my fridge.  It is written on 1/2 of a poster board and takes up most of the bottom of the fridge door.  But it works for me.

After it had rested an hour I rolled it out on my marble slab.

It is a great place to work dough.

And it is a grave stone.

Yes!  You heard me right.  It is a grave marker turned upside down on my counter.  It was for my father but it had been damaged in shipping.  So the company made a new one.  This one was left for us to deal with.  The only logical step was to make it my all purpose cutting board.

I melted 1/2 a stick of butter, added 1/2 cup of sugar and lots of cinnamon.  Brushed it on my rolled out dough and folded as I made my way down the board.

When I was done, I rolled it up, removing the folds.

Sliced it in half and pulled it apart. I love seeing the layers in the bread this way.

Then just did a simple twist braid while trying to keep the exposed folds on top.

Formed it into a circle and then placed it in an oiled baking dish.

Baked it at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.  I am not great at timing food.  More of a watch and see type person.

 Next I mixed up some pre-made icing with almond flavoring and the juice from a jar of cherries.  Poured it on the hot bread making it all pretty and pink.

Then let it sit and melt in.  This is how it looked after about 10 minutes.  A nice sweet smelling glaze.

Of course I had to slice into it and make me a plate to go with morning coffee.  I had the 'ladies' pop in for breakfast and coffee.  Don't you wish you was close by?