diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index d6d4f0897..1747dd9af 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 * 1.18.0 (2015-XX-XX)
 
+ * added Twig_Environment::createTemplate() to create a template from a string
  * added a profiler
  * fixed filesystem loader cache when different file paths are used for the same template
 
diff --git a/lib/Twig/Environment.php b/lib/Twig/Environment.php
index 88101f06a..db0e467f8 100644
--- a/lib/Twig/Environment.php
+++ b/lib/Twig/Environment.php
@@ -346,6 +346,41 @@ class Twig_Environment
         return $this->loadedTemplates[$cls] = new $cls($this);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Creates a template from source.
+     *
+     * This method should not be used as a generic way to load templates.
+     *
+     * @param string $name  The template name
+     * @param int    $index The index if it is an embedded template
+     *
+     * @return Twig_Template A template instance representing the given template name
+     *
+     * @throws Twig_Error_Loader When the template cannot be found
+     * @throws Twig_Error_Syntax When an error occurred during compilation
+     */
+    public function createTemplate($template)
+    {
+        $name = sprintf('__string_template__%s', hash('sha256', uniqid(mt_rand(), true), false));
+
+        $loader = new Twig_Loader_Chain(array(
+            new Twig_Loader_Array(array($name => $template)),
+            $current = $this->getLoader(),
+        ));
+
+        $this->setLoader($loader);
+        try {
+            $template = $this->loadTemplate($name);
+        } catch (Exception $e) {
+            $this->setLoader($current);
+
+            throw $e;
+        }
+        $this->setLoader($current);
+
+        return $template;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Returns true if the template is still fresh.
      *
diff --git a/lib/Twig/Extension/StringLoader.php b/lib/Twig/Extension/StringLoader.php
index 5e1a60d0a..4e1a546c2 100644
--- a/lib/Twig/Extension/StringLoader.php
+++ b/lib/Twig/Extension/StringLoader.php
@@ -43,22 +43,5 @@ class Twig_Extension_StringLoader extends Twig_Extension
  */
 function twig_template_from_string(Twig_Environment $env, $template)
 {
-    $name = sprintf('__string_template__%s', hash('sha256', uniqid(mt_rand(), true), false));
-
-    $loader = new Twig_Loader_Chain(array(
-        new Twig_Loader_Array(array($name => $template)),
-        $current = $env->getLoader(),
-    ));
-
-    $env->setLoader($loader);
-    try {
-        $template = $env->loadTemplate($name);
-    } catch (Exception $e) {
-        $env->setLoader($current);
-
-        throw $e;
-    }
-    $env->setLoader($current);
-
-    return $template;
+    return $env->createTemplate($template);
 }