Cinnamon and maple twist

I've made this many, many times and never get tired of it. It looks much fancier and more complicated to make than it actually is, so it's a great one to impress friends or family with and lovely if you want something to have with your tea that's not quite as sweet as a cake. It's also a great brunch treat. 

Ingredients:

For the bread:

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1.5 tsp fast-action yeast

75g caster sugar

500g strong white bread flour (or regular plain flour will do)

75g butter, softened

1 egg

150-175ml milk, luke warm, plus a little extra to glaze the loaf

Pinch of salt

For the filling:

1.5 tsp ground cinnamon

150g pecans (optional)

110g light muscovado or demerara sugar

50g butter, melted

For the icing:

1 tbsp maple syrup
40g icing sugar

In a large bowl, mix the yeast, sugar and a pinch of salt into the flour. Make a well in the centre then add the maple syrup, softened butter, egg and 120ml of the warm milk. Mix together, and add more milk as needed to form a soft dough. Knead for 3-4 minutes (I usually do this in the bowl, rather than on the worktop), until it feels smooth and elastic. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise for 2 - 2.5 hours. It should double in size, but don't be alarmed if it doesn't get quite that big.

If you're using the pecans, toast them in a dry frying pan. Reserve a few whole pecans for decoration, and then finely chop the rest. Mix with the cinnamon and sugar. If you'd prefer to cut down on the sugar, you can halve the quantities of sugar and butter for the filling.

When the dough has risen, knock it back with a few good whacks, then turn it out on to a floured surface. Roll it out using a rolling pin until you get a rectangle which is roughly 35 x 50 cm. Cut this in half lengthways so you end up with two long, thin rectangles.

Brush with some of the melted butter. Then sprinkle the cinnamon mixture over the dough, leaving a small border around the edge of each piece. Drizzle the cinnamon mixture with the rest of the melted butter. Then roll each piece up, swiss roll style, from the long side. Pinch the seams and ends closed.

You should now have 2 long ropes of dough. Twist these together, then lift on to a greased baking tray and form them in to a ring shape. Pinch the ends together. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise for 30-45 minutes, until the dough feels soft and pillowy.

Preheat the oven to 190c or gas mark 5. Brush the twist with milk to glaze, then bake for 25-30 minutes, until risen and richly coloured (whatever you do, don't use butter to glaze it, or your loaf will burn on top like mine has in the photo!). When tapped, the loaf should sound hollow.

Once the loaf has cooled down, you can ice it. Mix the maple syrup with the icing sugar and half a tablespoon of water from a recently boiled kettle. Use a teaspoon to drizzle the icing back and forth over the loaf. If you're using pecans, use some icing to fix these on to the loaf.

Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee!