Pull apart bread is one of the most fun things to bake. It
is almost impossible to mess up and it looks amazing when it comes out of the
oven. Totally perfect for a hopeless baker like myself. I like to make a couple
of loaves when I make it, because usually I am making it as a gift or a
contribution to a brunch or tea but then once I make it I don’t want to give it
away. The same thing happens with my “Debaucherous Brownies”. Most of you who
have received them didn’t know until now that you got a half batch…
This pull-apart bread takes a bit of time, but it is totally
worth it. Especially for the feeling that you get when your contribution to the
brunch is the first thing to be devoured. Or the feeling that you get when
someone asks where you bought it. Yes, it’s that good.
Makes you hungry just looking at it, doesn’t it?
Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread
Bread:
3 cups all purpose flour plus a little extra
scant ¼ cup sugar
2 ¼ tsp dry active yeast – one envelope
heaped ½ tsp salt
3 ounces unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
¼ cup water (room temp to warm)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling:
1 ½ cup sugar
1 ¼ tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2 ounces unsalted butter (melted)
Whisk together 2 cups of flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In another
bowl whisk eggs. In a small saucepan on
the stove heat the milk and butter until the butter has melted. Remove from
heat and add vanilla and water. Let mixture stand and cool a little bit.
Add the dry ingredients into the milk mixture and stir well.
Then add the eggs. Make sure the mixture is cool enough that the eggs don’t
cook. Stir until the eggs become fully incorporated – this takes a while. Add
the remaining cup of flour and stir. The mixture will be sticky.
Place the dough in a greased bowl (don’t skip this part
because otherwise it’s a nightmare to get out) and cover with plastic wrap and
a clean tea towel. Allow to stand in a warm place until the dough has doubled
in size (about an hour although you can do this overnight in the fridge).
While dough rises combine the cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar for
the filling. In another bowl melt 2 ounces of butter. Set aside.
Grease your loaf pan
Sprinkle some flour over your kitchen counter, rub some on
your rolling pin, and roll out the dough until it’s about ¼ inch thick. Paint
on the melted butter onto the dough and sprinkle liberally with the filling.
Then cut the dough into small rectangles, about 3 ½ inches by 2 inches.
Stack the rectangles of dough in small piles and squish them
(standing on the long side) into the loaf pan. Sprinkle the top with any
cinnamon sugar you have left. When the pan is full set aside for ½ an hour in a
warm, dry place until the dough is about half again as big.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the top
is very, very golden brown. Serve warm. This bread does not keep well so it is
best eaten the day it is made or the day after.