Easy Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread
This cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread is so soft and buttery that it pulls apart into tender pieces at the slightest touch. Serve it alongside a steaming cup of tea, pumpkin spice latte, or hot chocolate (whichever is your favorite), and enjoy it on a crisp and cool weekend morning!
IN THIS POST
Cinnamon Roll Pull-Apart Bread
This easy cinnamon bread will fill your house with a heavenly smell as it bakes! It’s unbelievably good and full of warm, sweet flavors.
I found the recipe on Joy the Baker, and it’s everything I imagined it to be: soft and fluffy on the inside, golden-brown and crunchy on the outside. Just like a cinnamon roll but quicker to prepare!
It’s currently my favorite recipe when I need something sweet to bake up on a Saturday or Sunday morning as a treat.
INGREDIENTS & SUBSTITUTION SUGGESTIONS
You don’t need any fancy ingredient to make this recipe.
- Flour – All-purpose flour, I have not tested this recipe with other types of flour.
- Sugar – I used granulated sugar in both the dough and filling.
- Salt – Just a touch, to bring out the flavors.
- Yeast – I used instant yeast, it can be replaced with active dry yeast. Just remember: active dry yeast needs to be dissolved in water before using, while instant yeast can be mixed right into dry ingredients. If you decide to use active dry yeast, add an extra 10 to 15 minutes for the rise time.
- Milk – I typically use 2% cow’s milk but you could make this recipe with full-fat milk.
- Butter – melted for the dough and the filling.
- Eggs – at room temperature.
- Vanilla extract – It pairs beautifully with the cinnamon flavor.
- Ground cinnamon – Because…cinnamon bread!
HOW TO MAKE CINNAMON PULL-APART BREAD
The process is very simple, the only hard part is waiting for the dough to rise. The end result is certainly worth the effort! You can mix by hand, or you can use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook as I did.
Make a yeasted dough, roll it out into a large rectangle, brush it with melted butter, sprinkle with a cinnamon-sugar mixture, and slice it into little squares.
The squares are then stacked upright into a loaf pan. Don’t worry if they’re not all exactly the same size or if you don’t get them into the pan perfectly straight.
Watch the top of the bread while is baking. When it’s starting to get too brown, cover it loosely with aluminum foil for the rest of the baking time.
Variations
- You can easily make monkey bread with this dough. Take your risen bread dough, and instead of rolling it out as we did, roll pieces of dough into tiny balls. Dip each ball, one by one, in the melted butter and then generously roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat them. Arrange the dough balls in a Bundt pan or a round pan.
- If you don’t want an entire loaf, you can use muffin tins and make individual pull-apart bread.
- Instead of cinnamon-sugar, try other combinations like lemon zest+sugar+blueberries, mini chocolate chips, or apple+brown sugar+cinnamon.
MAKE-AHEAD AND STORAGE TIPS
To store – Cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread is best eaten the day is made, but it can also be wrapped and kept at room temperature for up to 2 days. The next day, rewarm it in the oven for about 10 minutes, or in the microwave for about 20 seconds.
To freeze – Once baked and cooled, you can freeze it in an air-tight bag for up to two months.
To make ahead – you have 2 options:
- Option 1 – After the first rise, refrigerate the dough overnight and prepare the sweet bread in the morning. Just let the dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes before rolling it out.
- Option 2 – Refrigerate the pull-apart bread before the second rise and pull it out to rise 30/45 minutes before you plan on baking it.
If you’re looking for something easy to make for breakfast this weekend, look no further! Wouldn’t you love to start your morning with a piping hot cup of coffee and one or two slices of cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread?
Try this recipe and let us know what you think! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #aseasyasapplepie on Instagram. We’d love to see what you come up with!
Easy Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3 cups + 1½ tablespoon (375 g) all-purpose flour divided
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2¼ teaspoons instant dry yeast
- ½ cup+1½ tablespoon (140 ml) milk
- 3 tablespoons (40 g) unsalted butter melted
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the filling:
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter melted
Instructions
Make the dough:
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together 2 cups+ 2 tablespoons (260 grams) of flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Set aside.
- Heat the milk and butter in the microwave until the butter has just melted. If the mixture got a bit too warm in the microwave, let it stand for a minute or two, or until it is at room temperature. Add the vanilla extract and stir.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix for about 2 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time.Add ¾ cup+1 tablespoon (100 grams) of flour and mix until the dough is smooth. It will be very sticky, don't add more flour.
- Place the dough in a large greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This process should take about 1 hour.
Filling:
- While the dough rises, prepare the filling by whisking together the sugar and cinnamon.
- Grease and flour a 9x5x3-inch (23x13x8 cm) loaf pan.
Knead:
- After your dough has doubled in size, sprinkle a work surface with the remaining flour and turn the dough onto the flour. Knead gently until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky, about 1 minute.
- Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for 5 minutes.
Shape:
- On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a large rectangle, roughly 12×20 inches (30×50 cm).
- Brush the rectangle with the melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
- Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough vertically into six equal strips. Stack the strips on top of one another and again cut into six equal squares.
- Stack the squares upright in the loaf pan, cover the pan with a kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise for 30-45 minutes, or until it's almost doubled in size.If you’re preparing the bread in advance, you can put it in the refrigerator at this point and pull it out to rise 30 minutes before you plan on baking it.
Bake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Bake the cinnamon sugar pull apart-bread for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown. If it browns too quickly, cover it loosely with aluminum foil.
- Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan for 20-30 minutes then run a knife along the edges and take the bread out of the pan.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
