Baking By the Book: Cinnamon Bookbinder Bread from Stray

Hi y'all! I am so excited to be posting my very first Baking By the Book feature! It's been in the back of my mind for so long, and so many people expressed interest in it when I mentioned doing it, so here we are! :D

For my very first feature, I baked the Cinnamon Bookbinder Bread from Elissa Sussman's Stray, which I read and enjoyed late last year. Aislynn bakes the bread several times in the course of the book and it plays a big part in how she deals with her problems. And because I love to bake, of course I wanted to know the recipe. Imagine my delight when I turned to the back of the book and there it was! I'd never baked bread from scratch before, so I was a little scared going in, but I think my recipe turned out pretty good--though my pan for the bread definitely needed to be bigger.

Surprisingly, this wasn't difficult at all for someone who can follow directions. (I like good directions.) It's intimidating because it has to rise and there are some relatively strict guidelines, but I managed. :)

I'm someone who gathers ingredients first, since I hate to scramble for things if I need them quickly.

Wet and dry ingredients for the dough, just before I mixed them. Also, I copied the recipe into a notebook so I didn't have to keep my copy of Stray with me in the kitchen, both so it wouldn't flop around and be hard to read and so I didn't get any food on it. (I'm a messy cook.)

The finished product! I needed a larger pan, but it certainly didn't affect the taste. This bread is seriously delicious. Between the three of us in my house, it was gone in two or three hours. The top is nice and crispy, but the insides are so soft. It's very sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, and it gets to a gorgeous golden color. I know this is something I'll be baking a lot more--because it will be demanded.

It was also so fun seeing a recipe from a book come to life by my own hands. Of course I've seen other people bake things from books all the time, but I really liked going through all the motions I'd read Aislynn going through and knowing just how good this bread is. It's gotten me even more excited to try out more recipes from books! I'll also be checking out Elissa's other recipes featured on the Epic Reads blog, since this one was so good.

And, in case you want to try Cinnamon Bookbinder Bread as well--which you absolutely should--here's the recipe, taken from the Epic Reads blog:

Happy baking, y'all! And, since this my first post, I'd love some feedback! More pictures? Fewer pictures? A little more step-by-step? Mostly, what do y'all want to see here? I aim to please! After all, all you're getting are the pictures. I get to eat it! :D