InstructionsReset

1. Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Using your hands, a mixer, or a bread machine, mix and knead all of the dough ingredients until you've got a smooth, fairly soft dough.
2. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and allow it to rise at room temperature for an hour; it'll be puffy, though not necessarily doubled in bulk.
3. Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a clean work surface.
4. Place the milk and the cinnamon filling or sugar in separate small bowls.
5. Lightly grease two 9" round cake pans. If desired, pour 1/4 cup maple syrup into the bottom of each pan.
6. Tear off 1"-or-so pieces of the dough. (If you bothered to round them into balls, they'd be about the size of chestnuts; but you're not bothering to do that.) Dip the irregular dough pieces into the milk, then into the cinnamon. Place them, close together, in the prepared pans. Each pan should be full enough that you can only see the bottom of the pan in scattered places.
7. Cover the pans, and allow the dough to rise for about 90 minutes, until it's puffy, though probably not doubled in bulk.
8. Drizzle the bites with melted butter. Bake them in a preheated 350°F oven for 20 to 22 minutes, or until they're beginning to brown around the edges, and they seem done.
9. Remove the pans from the oven, and carefully turn the bites out of the pan onto a rack to cool. If you've used syrup, let them rest upside-down on the rack until they're cool; otherwise, the syrup will stick to the rack. Serve the bites warm or at room temperature.

10. Tips

    • Remember, the more flour you add to cut down stickiness, the drier and tougher your final bread will be; so go easy on flouring your kneading surface, if you're doing this by hand. Try using oil on your hands and the surface instead.
    • These are hard to check for done-ness, as their cinnamon coating makes it hard to see how brown they are; take one of the pans out of the oven, use a fork to carefully lift out one of the bites, and break it open. If it looks wet and gummy, continue to bake; if it looks ready to eat, they're done.

11. To make this bread in a bundt pan

    Prepare the dough according to the recipe instructions. If desired, pour the 1/2 cup maple syrup into the bottom of a well-greased 10 to 12-cup bundt pan. Tear and dip the dough pieces as the recipe instructs and place them into the pan. Once the dough is puffy, drizzle the bites with the melted butter, and bake in a preheated 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes until they’re turning golden brown on top. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the bites should read at least 190°F. Remove the pan from the oven, and carefully turn the pan upside-down on a rack set over a piece of parchment paper (to catch any drips). Let the bread cool with the pan on top for 10 to 15 minutes, then remove the pan and serve the bites warm or at room temperature.