Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

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5 from 1 vote

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

This Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread is made from layers of soft, sweet dough with a buttery cinnamon filling!

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine Christmas, Comfort Food, Holiday, Holidays

Keyword Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 23

Rising Time 1

Total Time 1 48

Servings slices

Calories 347kcal

Author Chrissie Baker

Equipment

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 egg
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt

For the filling:

1/2 cup butter softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Also Needed:

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water for brushing on before baking
baking spray
pearl sugar or crushed nuts for topping

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Into the bowl of your stand mixer, measure out the 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour and the salt. Mix these two together for a few seconds, just until they're combined.
Next, melt 1/3 cup butter in a saucepan on the stove over medium heat. If you're thinking to cut a corner here and melt your butter in the microwave instead, don't do it! If the liquid is too hot, it will kill the yeast. Once it's melted and starts to bubble, remove it from the heat and stir in the 1/3 cup sugar until you can see and feel the grains beginning to dissolve in the hot butter. Add the milk slowly, stirring constantly. You're looking for the milk and butter mixture to be about 105 degrees Fahrenheit, but if it feels only slightly warm to the touch (slightly above room temperature) you're good to go.
When your wet ingredients have reached the ideal temperature, add the yeast, stir gently, and let sit for 5 minutes.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, along with the egg. Make sure your stand mixer is fitted with the dough hook attachment.
Turn your mixer on low and watch the ingredients combine. After about a minute you should see a sticky dough starting to come together. If you need to turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, now's your chance.
Turn up the mixer speed slightly and allow the mixture to knead the dough for about 2 minutes. The dough should be tacky to the touch, but not so sticky that it's very messy. It should pull away from the sides of the bowl easily and the bowl should appear fairly clean. If the dough appears too sticky, continue kneading and add flour, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough reaches that tacky texture.
If you don't have a stand mixer, you can knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured work surface for 5 minutes after the wet and dry ingredients are combined.
Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and move it to a warm place in your kitchen to rise for about 1 hour. It should have doubled in size after about 1 hour.
Once you notice your dough has risen fully, and before you do anything with it, grease a large loaf pan with some butter and line it with some parchment paper to prevent sticking (optional).
In a bowl, combine the softened butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon until it forms a paste. Set aside.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface that's been very lightly greased with vegetable oil. Divide the dough into 12 equally-sized pieces.
Roll each piece of dough into a rectangle (you'll end up with 12 rectangles). The exact size of each rectangle will depend on the exact size of your loaf pan - the rectangles should be as wide as the loaf pan you're using and exactly twice as tall (so when you fold the rectangle in half and place it in the loaf pan it's the exact width and height of the pan).
Spread the butter and sugar mixture onto one side of each rectangle, making sure the filling is spread right to the edges.
Fold each rectangle in half with the filling side on the inside.
Place each piece of folded dough into the prepared loaf pan vertically, with the folded side down. This will prevent the filling from leaking out into the bottom of the loaf pan and burning (a GREAT tip I learned from Sally's Baking Recipes!).
Cover the pan with a clean kitchen towel and set the loaf aside to rise for about 15-20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once the loaf has risen for 20 minutes (no longer), very lightly brush the top with some egg wash (beat one egg with 1 tablespoon of water) and sprinkle with some pearl sugar or crushed nuts. Place it in the oven to bake for about 18-23 minutes, or until the top is a nice even golden brown.
Remove the pan from the oven and let the loaf cool in the pan for about 25 minutes before serving.

Notes

**Because I live in Europe I used an extra-long loaf pan for this recipe, similar to the one found here. Rest assured, this recipe also works well in a standard or large loaf pan that an be found in North America, like the one found here or others. Just be sure to adjust the dimensions of your dough rectangles according to the width and height of the loaf pan you're using (affiliate links).

Nutrition