Great Harvest Cinnamon Chip Copycat Bread

We’ve recently discovered Great Harvest Bread Company.   This is a good and a bad thing.  Good because they are awesome!  Bad because we could eat a loaf of their bread in about 3 days (and that’s with me rationing it out to my kids.)  They absolutely love it.  Their favorite is their Cinnamon Chip Bread.  It’s amazing!!!
After buying (and consuming) 7 loaves of Cinnamon Chip Bread in the past 6 weeks I decided I’d better try to make it.  Keep in mind I am not a bread maker.  Bread is hard to make.  I used to have a bread machine and it was a piece of cake.  But there is something about mixing everything together and kneading it, etc. that just is more than I am capable of.  But I thought I’d give it another try.  You know, for the children.  =o)
It’s still hard.  And mine didn’t turn out like the very cool picture on Pinterest.  But the taste was wonderful and my kids gobbled it up.
If you can’t find cinnamon chips in your area, I’m super sorry.  But you can make your own.

Homemade Cinnamon Chips

3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons shortening (I would use butter instead)
2 teaspoons corn syrup
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, shortening and corn syrup with a fork until crumbly and evenly blended. Spread onto a foil-lined baking sheet.
Bake at 250 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until melted and bubbly. Cool completely; break into small pieces.
Not too difficult and well worth it to make this amazing bread.  Oh, and here’s a couple more reasons to make these chips if you can’t buy them.  Cinnamon Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars and Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Cookies.

Great Harvest Cinnamon Chip Copycat Bread

* 1 cup warm water
* 1 cup warm milk
* 1 package yeast
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 1 egg
* 1/2 Tbsp. salt
* 4 1/2 – 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
* 1 cup cinnamon chips
In a mixer, add warm water, milk, sugar and yeast.  Let sit for about 5 minutes to get all bubbly.
Add oil and egg and mix well.  Slowly add 2 cups flour and mix well.  Add salt.  Add 1/2 cup flour at a time until it comes away from the side of the bowl.  Add the cinnamon chips when it gets close to the consistency you want.  The dough will be very sticky but Marissa says the softer the dough, the lighter the bread.  So use the least amount of dough you can handle.
Let rise in the mixing bowl for about 30 minutes.
Divide dough between 2 greased and floured loaf pans.
Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack for 5 or 10 minutes and then remove from pan and cool completely on rack.  (Or eat it warm.  That’s what we did.)
I’m not sure what I did wrong but it’s not as light and fluffy as I had hoped.
This was my first batch.
Kind of saggy in the middle.
So I tried it again and this is what we got.
Still a little saggy in the middle but better.  But the taste is amazing.  How can you go wrong with cinnamon chips?!?!  I’ll answer that.  You can’t!
Any tips on bread making (besides give it up?)  I’d love to hear them!
 
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Comments

  1. oh that looks really good, and we only have those chips at the bulk food store, so at least I have that going for me right?

    • I found that if you ask at Great Harvest Bread they will sell you their chips by the pound. They are smaller than what you buy in the store. We bought a few pounds and keep them in the freezer.

  2. This is the most delicious bread ever! I love all the ways cinnamon chips can be used in baking. Your loaves are beautiful, Erin.

  3. This looks so delicious.

  4. Sounds delicious! But a question – does this dough get kneaded at all?

  5. I’ve never heard of cinnamon chips before. I love cinnamon – I’ll need to get me some of those once baking season starts 🙂

  6. The only tip on bread making is practice! Your bread looks delicious–I’ve just discovered cinnamon chips. they are fun.
    Great Harvest is a dangerous store, all of their bread is yummy.

  7. I cannot wait to make my own cinnamon chips and then this bread.

  8. Yummy! This looks delish! Would love if you’d join our Countdown to Fall link party! Hope to see you there! Have a great week!
    http://dixie-n-dottie.blogspot.com/2012_08_13_archive.html

  9. This looks divine…a bread I know I’d love too! Thanks so much for sharing at Mix it up Monday 🙂

  10. Yummy! That looks so good. Thanks for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

  11. Erin you are putting me over the edge with all these fabulous recipes!!! I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for the cinnamon chips….now I will be on a serious mission for them to make this bread recipe!!! 🙂

  12. If you have a WinCo in your area, they carry cinnamon chips year round.

  13. Tonight is my third attempt at making this bread. I live in Alaska and have had a lot of problems getting the bread to rise at all. So the first two loafs weren’t very good. I let the bread rise this time for well over three hours and it is looking much better. It is now baking and I am ready to eat!

  14. My guess would be that you are using too little flour. The reason I say this is because your dough looks overly wet, similar to a sweet bread (like zucchini or pumpkin) batter. I’ve always been afraid of using too much flour, but I’ve recently realized that I’ve been using too little flour for a long time. It makes the dough saggy (if you set it out in a mound it won’t hold its shape and will spread out), and it is very hard to work with. Since adding a little more flour, my rolls, bread, and especially cinnamon rolls have been so much easier to work with and have turned out better. Generally you want to be able to handle your dough without first having to completely cover your bread or hands with flour. Try adding more flour and see what happens. In general, yeast doughs should look smooth, not wet. You could also try increasing each of your rising times to 1 or 1 1/2 hours and see what happens. Good luck!

    Thanks for the cinnamon chip recipe. I’m going to try it out!

  15. Ruby Karman says:

    I have a problem with the chips melting when adding to dough, third time I think I will freeze them beforehand and try that.