Last year we visited Dollywood, a theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We had a wonderful time exploring the attractions and watching the shows and truly loved the southern hospitality. We were recently chatting about our experience and found that one thing really stuck with us all: the taste of the Dollywood cinnamon bread.
Cinnamon Bread at Dollywood
We found cinnamon bread at Dollywood’s grist mill. It’s located in the Craftsman’s Valley section of the park, a short walk from the entrance. It was particularly easy to find because the smell of sweet cinnamon wafts out throughout the day.
If you’re in the area and don’t plan to visit the park, you can still get some of this famous bread! The DM Pantry, a quick service restaurant at the DreamMore Resort, now sells it, too.
If you aren’t anywhere nearby, you’ll have to make your own! Luckily the recipe has been recreated many times and even released by Dolly herself. This recipe comes from Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s: Love, Laughter, and Lots of Good Food, a cookbook that is full of southern cooking magic! It includes over 100 other recipes, including my personal favorite, chicken and dumplings.
Dollywood Cinnamon Bread
Ingredients
- 1 one-pound loaf of frozen bread dough, thawed
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 1 1/2 T. cinnamon
- 4 T. butter, melted
- 1 c. powdered sugar (for glaze)
- 1 T. lemon juice (for glaze)
Directions
- Grease two loaf pans with oil or butter.
- Combine cinnamon and sugar in a wide, shallow dish. Set aside.
- Cut the bread dough lengthwise into two pieces. In each piece, make four deep slits crosswise, taking care not to cut the bread through.
- Brush the loaves with butter, then roll each one in the cinnamon sugar. Using your hands, pack the leftover cinnamon sugar into the creases of the bread.
- Place the loaves in the pans and set aside in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 300° F.
- Bake for 35 minutes, rotating the pan once.
- While bread is baking, make the glaze by stirring the powdered sugar and lemon juice together until smooth.
- Turn bread onto a cooling rack. While they’re still warm, drizzle with the glaze.
Tips
I used Bridgford Ready-Dough when making this recipe and it worked beautifully. You can find it in the freezer section of many grocery stores. It’s sold in packs of 3 loaves (3 pounds) for around $4.00. Another great choice is Rhodes, which is around the same price, but easier to find.
Extra lemon juice in the glaze makes the bread taste much lighter. I like it with 2-3 tablespoons!
