Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Pull-apart bread was all the rave a month or so ago so I'm actually a little slow to jump on this particular bandwagon, but hey better late than never right?

I was hemming and hawing about making this and putting it off because I really didn't have an occasion to make it and I didn't want to make it just for me and the hubby because...well we'd probably eat it all and our bootcamp classes would all be for nothing.

Then sauce day came, the day where my in-laws all get together and we spend the day cleaning, cutting and cooking tomatoes. Making huge vats of sauce and then jarring them so we have sauce to last the year. I thought perfect, I'll make this bread for breakfast that morning.


We didn't end up eating it for breakfast but for a snack during the day instead. I wish I had at least tried it hot from the oven because it was so delicious warm I could only imagine what it would have tasted like fresh. But I did the polite thing and didn't go and snag a piece for myself and waited for everyone else. Next time, I'm going in once it's out of the oven.

I thought it was going to be difficult to make, but it was actually quite easy. There was tons of recipes available but I ultimately decided to go with Michelle from Brown Eyed Baker's recipe. I only tweaked it slightly and I added a little glaze on top which really took it from amazing to out of this world. As a side note on the recipe, when making dough I like to use my stand mixer, I was tempted to on this one but opted not to and take the chance doing it by hand. It was easy and I would recommend doing it this way.

This is a perfect bread for breakfast or brunch with company or just because. Make it. You will love it.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread
Yield: 1 loaf
Active Prep Time: 45 minutes     I     Inactive Prep Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes     I     Bake Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 plus 2 teaspoons flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons melted butter

In a large mixing bowl all of the dry ingredients and set aside. Then in a separate bowl whisk the eggs and set aside as well.

Next heat the milk and butter in a saucepan over medium heat until the butter is melted, stir in the water and vanilla extract and then remove from heat. Let the milk mixture sit for a few minutes until the mixtures comes up somewhere between 115-125 degrees.

Pour the milk into the dry ingredient mixture and use a rubber spatula to incorporate the ingredients. Next add in the eggs and keep mixing until all the ingredients are fully incorporated. The end result will be a very stick dough, this is what you're looking for.

Put the dough in a large well-greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Let the dough rise for an hour until it has doubled in size. At this point you can also refrigerate the dough overnight if you don't plan to bake it right away. If you choose to do this when you take it out the next day let the dough sit for a half hour before proceeding to the next step.

Once the dough has risen mix together the cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl. Melt the butter in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl and set aside.

Then deflate the risen dough and knead in the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour and let the dough sit for another five minutes.

Next, on a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a rectangle shape approximately 12x20 inches. Use a pastry brush to spread the butter across the surface of the dough and then sprinkle all of the cinnamon sugar mixture

Cut the dough into six strips lengthwise and stack them on top of each other, then cut this stack into 6 more pieces so you have six even stacks of six layers.

Place the stacks in a well greased loaf pan and cover with a dish towel. Let the dough rise again for another 45 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place the dough inside and bake for 30-35 minutes. If you find that the top is getting too browned place a piece of aluminum foil on top and continue to let cooking. Remove from the oven and let sit for approximately 20 minutes. The best way to remove the bread from the pan is by inverting it onto a plate and then flipping it back over.

I topped mine off with a little glaze by mixing together some confectioners sugar and a little bit of milk. The bread is definitely delicious without the glaze but everyone loved the addition of it. It really gave the bread a little something extra.