Colorful Swirl Bread

Hello! I’ve been thinking a lot about my mom lately. We are quickly approaching the 2 year anniversary of her passing.

Mom was my best friend. I stayed in Illinois because I didn’t want her to be alone. When she passed, I moved back to Oklahoma. Her and my dad are buried in a national cemetery here. I miss her so much that it hurts.

When she was still able to do her grocery shopping, she always bought me these colorful loaves of fresh baked Italian bread when they were available. They usually had them at Mardi Gras and Easter. I loved them! So, since I’m doing Mardi Gras themed recipes this week, I decided to make some colorful swirled sandwich bread in Mardi Gras colors.

It’s a fun way to celebrate just about anything. You can make any colors you want. Red and green for Christmas, rainbow colors, school colors… you get the idea. It’s great for sandwiches or just by itself with some butter. You could even make some funky French toast with it!

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 packet)

1 2/3 cups warm water

1 tsp sugar

1 TBSP honey

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 TBSP butter (softened)

4 1/2 cups flour

Gel food coloring

1 egg

4 TBSP butter (melted)

Ok. Let’s do this!

In a large bowl, combine half of the warm water, yeast and sugar. Let this sit for 5 minutes, or until foamy.

Add the rest of the warm water, honey, salt, butter and flour to the yeast mixture. Use a large spatula to incorporate all of the flour and mix well.

Knead the dough until the dough comes together and is soft, but not sticky. (Add a few more tablespoons of flour if necessary.)

Continue to knead for 5-10 minutes until dough is able to be formed into a soft, smooth ball.

Place dough into a lightly greased bowl. Make sure dough is completely coated in oil.

Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft free place. Allow dough to rise for approximately 45 minutes, until doubled in size.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface or parchment paper. I use parchment paper when coloring dough because of the food coloring.

Divide dough into equal halves and set one half aside.

Divide dough into sections equal to the number of colors you are making.

Now we get to play with our food! Add gel food coloring to each section and knead it in until it is thoroughly incorporated into dough. You can wear plastic gloves for this part if you want to. Just be sure to change your gloves after each color. I just use my hands and wash them with Dawn dishwashing liquid between colors.

Pat each colored dough section down flat.

Use a rolling pin to roll dough into a thin sheet. Repeat for each color.

Stack each colored dough sheet on top of each other. Place them in whatever order you want your swirl to be. For rainbow bread I place them in this order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. For the Mardi Gras bread I did yellow, green, purple, yellow, green and purple. If you want bigger swirl lines just divide the dough into 3 sections, 1 yellow, 1 green and 1 purple. Roll dough out again to approximately 8×12 inches.

Starting at the short end, roll dough into a tight tube shape.

Make an egg wash and brush along end of dough. Press it down against roll.

Tuck sides of roll slightly under the roll to create some surface tension. Brush with egg wash to hold in place.

Repeat process with second half of dough. If you don’t want to color the second loaf, simply roll dough out and prepare as described above.

Place dough seam side down in a greased loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise for approximately 45 minutes in a warm, draft free place, until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 390°.

Bake loaves for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and the loaf reaches an internal temperature of 206-210 degrees.

Turn loaves out onto a cooling rack. Brush the tops and sides with melted butter. I poke holes in the top to let some of the butter get to the inside of the bread.

Let cool completely before slicing.

Store in a breadbox, a gallon sized ziplock bag or wrap in foil to prevent it from drying out. You can also slice it and freeze it for later.

Have fun with this recipe! Let your imagination run wild!

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Thanks for stopping by!