Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread is a rich and buttery treat loaded with cinnamon sugar and a hint of spice in every piece!

Have you guys ever made pull apart bread before?? I’ve seen countless recipes, both sweet and savory and I just didn’t get it, or what all the fuss was about. I know, two college degrees later and I was like huh? What’s this all about? Now I know!

Well thank goodness for YouTube. I’m addicted to it! My sister and I watch so many baking videos, and one day we ended up watching a tutorial on making pull apart bread. I was just fascinated! My jaw dropped, literally. I knew I had to try it out.

I decided to put my own spin on things by adding a little cocoa powder to the sugar mixture. Also, to intensify the spice flavor I added just a little ginger and cloves. I love spices, especially in the fall. Just wait until August I’ll be dying for a pumpkin spice latte. I’ll be complaining about how much I miss those spicy, sweet flavors in my coffee, and why can’t Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks release them early for all those pumpkin freaks like me. Just you wait!

When I tried this bread I was just WOW. I mean W.O.W. Why did I not try this out sooner? The dough itself is rich, buttery, and has a hint of sweetness. The cinnamon sugar topping has the spiciness of cinnamon, nutmeg, with a hint of cloves and ginger. Can you go wrong combing all those spices with butter? I think not!! The butter mixture gets toasty and brown, almost caramelized in the bottom of the pan. It adds an extra layer of sweetness.

I’m so glad I demystified pull apart bread, I’ll never go back! I am definitely going to make this again sometime soon, especially since everyone in the house gobbled it down in record time. Thank you YouTube 😉

Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread (makes 1 loaf)

Dough

2 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 and 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, at room temperature

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup milk (I used skim)

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling

4 tablespoons butter, melted

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Pinch of ginger

Pinch of cloves

1. Whisk together two cups of flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl beat the eggs and set those aside.

2. In a small saucepan add the butter and milk. Over medium heat, warm the mixture until the butter is just melted. Remove from heat and add the water and vanilla extract. Let cool slightly. Pour the cooled liquid into the dry ingredients, stirring with a rubber spatula. Pour in the beaten eggs and continue to mix, it may look like the dough won’t come together but it is okay at this stage! Add the remaining flour (3/4 cups) and stir just until the dough comes together (about two minutes), it will look sticky. Do not over-mix!! Wrap the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour. The dough will double in size.

3. While the dough rises, prepare the cinnamon sugar mixture by combining the cinnamon, cocoa powder, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Spray a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

4. Deflate the risen dough and knead in two tablespoon of flour. Allow to rest for five minutes covering with plastic wrap again. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a 12 x 20 rectangle. It’s okay if it’s not perfect, roll it as large as you can without making the dough too thin. Pour the butter on the rolled out dough spreading it evenly across the surface, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar across the top.

5. Slice the dough (I used a pizza cutter) vertically into six even slices. Then, take these slices and stack them on top of each other. Slice the dough into six slices again, you’ll have six stacks (they’ll look like cubes) of layered dough. Place the layered dough in the pan cut side up. Cover the pan with a kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a metal sheet pan under the loaf pan (to prevent any leaks, or mess in your oven) and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until very golden brown. Once removed from the oven let rest for about 20 minutes. Run a butter knife around the pan to loosen the bread and invert to remove. Enjoy!!

Adapted from Joy the Baker