Cherry Swirl Bread

By Hklbrries

"Late last year a reader wrote looking for Cherry Swirl Bread with a glaze on top. I never was able to locate a recipe but recently was inspired to create my own using basic white bread dough and cherry preserves. The simple approach yielded tasty results."

Ingredients

• Bread Dough:
• 5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 packages active-dry yeast
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup oil, shortening or margarine
• Swirl:
• 1 cup cherry preserves
• 2 tsp all-purpose flour
• Glaze:
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp margarine or butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 to 2 tbsp milk

Details

Servings 2

Preparation

Step 1

Grease two 8-by-4-inch or 9-by-5-inch loaf pans. In large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast; blend well. In small saucepan, heat water and oil (or shortening or margarine) until very warm (120 to 130 degrees). Add warm liquid to flour mixture. Blend until moistened. Stir in an additional 2 1/2 to 3 cups until dough pulls cleanly away from sides of bowl.

Knead on flored surface, adding more flour as needed, until dough is smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl; cover loosely with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes.

Punch down dough several times. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a 14-by-7-inch rectangle.

Combine cherry preserves and flour. Spread onto rolled out dough, leaving about an inch space on all sides. Starting with the short side, roll dough up, pinching and folding edges in as you go to seal preserves. Place seam side down in prepared loaf pans. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until dough fills pans and is about 1 inch above pan edges, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 F. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Cover crust with foil if it browns too quickly. Remove bread from pans immediately; cool on wire racks.

To make glaze, stir together powdered sugar, margarine, and extract. Add milk a little at a time, stirring until it reaches desired consistency. Drizzle over warm (but not hot) bread, or slice bread and drizzle over individual slices.