While watching reruns of The Great British Bake Off recently, I was inspired to give a twist to one of my classic recipes: Cinnamon Roll Biscuits, which won the Hometown Dessert Challenge for my daughter and I on The Next Great Baker. You can find the recipe we used right here: http://bakingwithjulie.com/cinnamon-roll-biscuits-recipe/

But this time, instead of making a traditional roll, I divided the biscuit dough into thirds and rolled each portion out into a 10 inch circle. I placed the first circle on parchment paper (or silpat) on a baking sheet, brushed it with melted butter, and added a layer of brown sugar with cinnamon, plus a sprinkle of pecans. I added the next circle right on top, and repeated the butter, brown sugar mixture and nuts. I topped it off with the last circle, and pinched the edges together.

I found a plastic glass that was about 3 inches in diameter, and put it upside down in the very center of the round loaf, to use as a spacer. Then I cut from the glass to the outside edge in straight lines, until I had 16 equal sections.

(The easiest way for me to do this is to make the first cut, then do one opposite. Then I do the next 2 cuts halfway in between the first two. Then I make 3 more cuts in each of the 4 sections, so I create 16 equal sections.)

Now the fun part! Simply grab one section by the end, and twist it, 2 times at least, then set it down. Continue with the next section and so on. (You can twist them all the same direction, or you can alternate left and right, as I did in the Pesto Tear and Share below.) In the center, I sprinkled on some sugar and chopped pecans. Bake at 425 F for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Glaze and enjoy.

This idea will work for any filled bread. Below is my Pesto Tear and Share, using my simple yeast-based pizza dough recipe.

I followed the same procedure, using 3 equal circles of dough, but did one layer of sundried tomato pesto and one layer of basil pesto, sprinkling each pesto with some shredded parmesan cheese. I dabbed the top with some olive oil and sprinkled with herbs and a bit of kosher salt before cutting the sections. The aroma coming from the oven was just heavenly. Here’s the link to my pizza dough recipe: http://bakingwithjulie.com/homemade-pizza-made-easy/. Bake at 425 F for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. This would be delicious served warm with a marinara sauce for dipping.

So whether it’s a quick bread like a biscuit dough, a savory yeast bread like pizza dough, or your favorite yeast sweet dough, give this fun technique a try. It only takes a little extra time on your part to make a gorgeous loaf your friends and family will ooh and ahh over.