White Chocolate Swirl Bread: Swoon-Worthy

Swoon.

The verb evokes a spirit of fanaticism, of eagerness, of weak-in-the-knees adoration.

To be honest, I don’t usually think of myself as a swooner because the word sounds like a noise that a bird or other winged creature would make.  I don’t like thinking of myself as a bird.

But on second thought, what’s so bad about the bird?  The English language has incorporated birds into our everyday lives with a number of analogies, idioms, and sayings. 

The early bird gets the worm.  Free as a bird.  Wise as an owl.  Cardinal directions.  A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.  Light as a feather.  Jaywalking.  Watch like a hawk.  A bird’s eye view.  Something worth crowing about.  Have you head in the sand.  Get your ducks in a row.  Birds of a feather flock together.  Empty nest syndrome.  Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.  Chick flick.  Walking on eggshells.  Feeling cooped up.  Why’d the chicken cross the road (possibly the most stupid joke ever)?  Chicken out.  Pecking order.  Chicken scratch.  Lame duck president.  Ruffle some feathers.  Stick in your craw.  Bird brain.  Score a goose egg.  Last one is a rotten egg.

Clearly we reference birds a lot in comparing them to ourselves.

Perhaps, then, swooning isn’t such a bad thing.  I’ll admit to swooning over the white chocolate swirl bread I made today, though without a fanfare of high-pitched screeches, pecks, caws, clucks, cuckoos, cheeps, chirps, or other bird-like sounds.  Rather, I made such sounds as: Sniff.  Mmmmm.  Slice.  Bite.  Chomp.  Bite again.  Chomp again.  Mmmmm!  

The texture of the bread is literally soft as a feather.  Half of the loaf has already been gobbled up.  It’s made with part whole wheat and yet the texture hasn’t the least resemblance to bird seed.

I guarantee that even white chocolate haters will enjoy this.  It’s hard to discern white chocolate from the sweet ooey gooey filling.   

Dare to swooooooon.

White Chocolate Swirl Bread

Dough:

• 2-1/2 cups bread flour
• 1-1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 packages (0.25 ounces each) instant yeast
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1-1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 4.5 ounces Nestlé white chocolate chips

Filling:

• 4 ounces Wilton vanilla-flavored white candy melts
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Whisk together flours, instant yeast, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl.  Using an electric mixer with dough hooks, combine flour mixture with warm water.  Add vegetable oil, vanilla, and white chocolate chips immediately, mixing until well incorporated.  Dough will be rather sticky.
2. Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface.  Knead in additional flour until a smooth, elastic dough forms and the white chocolate chips have been entirely kneaded in.  Note that as the white chocolate chips meld into the dough, the dough may remain sticky, so add additional flour as needed.
3. Let dough rise in a lightly oiled bowl, covered, for one hour in a warm place (such as a microwave).
4. Punch down dough.  On a lightly-floured surface, roll dough out into a 9″ x 21″ rectangle.
5. Place candy melts and butter in a microwave-safe dish.  Microwave at 50% power in 20 second intervals, stirring between intervals, until completely melted.  Let cool slightly.
6. Evenly spread candy melt mixture over dough rectangle.  Evenly sprinkle granulated sugar on top.  Starting at the 9″ side, roll up dough and place in a lightly greased loaf pan.  Let rise, covered, for an hour in a warm place.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Be sure to line bottom of oven with square of aluminum foil in case some filling bubbles out during baking process.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until done.  Let bread cool before removing from pan. 

Tagged as: Bread, Breakfast, chocolate, chocolate chip, white chocolate, whole wheat, yeast, yeast bread