Recipe: Valentine's Day Swirl Bread

I have had these canape bread pans for a very long time, but I have not used them often enough.  What better time than Valentine's Day to make heart (and flower, and star...) shaped bread?

And how about making it swirly for the holiday?  Sounds right up my alley!

The recipe I used was my standard whole wheat pain de mie recipe from King Arthur Flour.  The only changes I make in this recipe are to use whey from straining my homemade yogurt, and I also throw in a little ground flax seed (about 1/4 c).

I split the dough into two portions and knead in the colors.  I used pink and no-taste red.  To get vibrant colors, you have to use a good amount of the gel food colors.  I think it's worth it.

Once I had the two balls of dough colored, I rolled them each into very thin, large rectangles (probably about 24" x 12" at least).  Then, I layered the two rectangles on top of one another and gave them a nice final roll with the rolling pin, to make sure the two slabs of dough are melded together.  Then, I rolled them up, tightly, jelly roll style, and cut them into three equal sized lengths (about 8" long each).

From there, I took my canape bread tubes and sprayed them with Everbake spray from King Arthur Flour - it doesn't leave residue, and works great.  Then, I put the dough into each of the tubes and pressed it down with the end of my rolling pin, and let it rise for about 45 minutes to an hour (until the dough has risen nearly to the top of the tubes.  Preheat the oven to 375 F, and place the top lids on the tubes.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the bread sounds "hollow" when you knock on it.  Remove from the oven, and cool for 10 minutes in the pans.

Carefully remove the bread from the pans, then wrap in a kitchen towel and in a plastic grocery bag to cool completely.  Enjoy!