PULL APART CINNAMON BREAD
This sweet bread is the perfect comfort food ever, mostly if you are enjoying a cup of coffe or tea in a chilly day! The dough is a sweet brioche with an irresistible crispy crust and a very soft cinnamon buttery core.The dough is stacked in layers, so the filling is spread evenly and it makes possible the pull apart effect. This is a cute variant to the Monkey Bread shape, but I honestly prefer this bread loaf shape than the monkey bread pull apart shape. The smell while baking is absolutely unforgettable! I suggest you to serve it warm, you won’t regret it!
Ingredients
Dough
- 450 g (3 cups) all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 50 g (3+1/2 tbsp) sugar
- 5 g (2+1/2 tsp) active dry yeast activate it if your yeast requires it
- 140-160 ml (2/3 cup) milk lukewarm
- 60 g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter melted
- 2 eggs beaten
Filling
- 70 g (1/3 cup) unsalted butter softened at room temperature
- 100 g (2/3 cup) dark brown Muscovado sugar
- 8 g 1 tbsp ground cinnamon according to your taste
Extra
- flour for dusting the work surface
- 1 beaten egg for brushing the top
- melted butter for brushing the top (optional)
Instructions
Dough
- In a large bowl whisk together flour and salt. Add sugar, active dry yeast and combine.
- In a medium size bowl combine the wet ingredients: lukewarm milk, melted butter and beaten eggs.
- Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients in two times and mix with a spatula until almost combined.
- Start kneading with your hands until it pulls away from the edges of the bowl (about 1 minute): if the dough is too wet, you can add some extra flour; if it’s too dry you can add some extra lukewarm milk. You’ll get a soft and little bit sticky dough ball.
- Cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel; let it rise in a warm place until it double in size (about 1 ½ hour).
Filling
- In a medium size bowl combine the softened butter with sugar and cinnamon until creamy.
Assemble the Bread
- On a floured surface, roll the dough to a rectangle about 50x35 cm - 20x14 inch.
- Spread evenly the butter and cinnamon mixture, then cut into 6 long strips.
- Stack three strips on top of each other to get 2 stacks of three strips.
- Cut each stack into 4 squares.
- Transfer every square stack to a loaf pan 11,5 x 22,5 cm - 4,5 x 9 inch lined with parchment paper and greased.
- Spread apart every layer with your hands.
- Cover with a tea towel and let it rise at room temperature for about 30 minutes (you can also place it in the refrigerator and bake it the day after).
- Brush the top of the bread with beaten egg and bake in preheated oven at 180° C - 350° F for about 30-35 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). After 20 minutes baking, you can cover the top with aluminium foil to prevent burnt.
- While it’s still hot, you can brush it with melted butter (optional).
- Serve it warm.
Video
Notes
Store at room temperature for 2 day wrapped in plastic wrap in a plastic bag.
You can warm few seconds in microwave or preheated oven before serve it.