Apple Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread

Soft sweet-scented pull apart bread with apples and lots of cinnamon.

The best thing you can smell in a kitchen is the smell of baking bread, if you ask me. Regular bread is already amazing, but the smell of sweet bread is better than anything else. It is warm and comforting, inviting and tempting. And so is this pull apart bread. So soft and tender yet quite crunchy on top, decently sweet and very cinnamonic, soooo delicious!

I really have a soft spot for sweet, yesty breads, this delicious plum pull-apart bread being one of my favorite ones, so I try not to miss any occasion of baking another one of these fluffy cushions. I have made quite a few during the past year, using whatever fruit happens to be in season, and being very generous with the cinnamon most of the times.

This time, I chose apples, apples that I picked from a small apple tree on the playground here in the village. It has small yellow apples with just a hint of red on the side, and I think they must be some of the most aromatic apples you can find. They grow totally wild, they are never taken care of, not sprayed in any way, some have holes with worms in it, but still you cannot beat the taste. Anybody can pick them, although not many do, but I find it so nice to see the kids picking one or two when playing there and enjoying their sweet and sour juiciness. I am eating one right now… 🙂

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Apple Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread

Prep time:  30 mins

Cook time:  30 mins

Total time:  1 hour

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 375 g/ 13.2 oz/ 3 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ½ sachet dry yeast
• 50 g/ 1.7 oz granulated sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 150 ml/ ⅔ cup milk
• 50 g/ 1.7 oz + 75 g/ 2.6 oz + 50 g/ 1.7 oz butter
• 2 eggs (medium Germany, large US)
• 2 small apples
• juice of ½ lemon
• 100 g/ 3.5 oz/ ½ cup brown sugar + some more to sprinkle
• 1 teaspoon + ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 50 g/ 1.7 oz walnuts

Instructions

1. In the food processor mix the flour, dry yeast, sugar and salt together. Heat the milk until lukewarm and give it to the mixture. Add the melted butter and the eggs and knead with the kneading attachment until the dough is smooth and it doesn't stick anymore. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra flour if the dough is too sticky, but not too much, the dough should still be soft. Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover it with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm spot for about ½ to 1 hour or until doubled in size.
2. Lightly butter a loaf pan (about 23 cm/ 9 inch).
3. Peel the apples, remove the core and chop the apples into small cubes. Turn them into the lemon juice to avoid them browning.
4. Knead the dough lightly on the working surface and roll it to a rectangle on the lightly floured surface. The rectangle should be about ½ cm/ 0.4 inch thick, as long as the loaf pan and 3 times as broad as the loaf pan.
5. Melt the 75 g/ 2.6 oz butter and mix it with the brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Spread about ¾ of this mixture on the rectangle (see the pictures) and sprinkle about ¾ of the chopped walnuts on top.
6. Cut the rectangle into 3 long strips. Cut each of these strips into 4 squares, you should have 12 of them.
7. Prop the loaf pan against the wall or another larger object, it should stand. Start to staple the dough squares in the pan (see the picture), placing a few apple cubes on each square except the very last one. Place the loaf pan on the working surface again, shake gently to help the squares spread evenly in the pan.
8. Cover the loaf pan with the kitchen towel again and let rise for about 20 minutes. In the meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
9. Spread the rest of the butter-sugar-cinnamon mixture on top of the bread. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped walnuts and top with the remaining 50 g/ 1.7 oz cubed butter. Sprinkle with the rest cinnamon and a large pinch brown sugar.
10. Bake for about 30 minutes until the bread is cooked through but still soft. If the top of the bread gets too dark too soon, place a piece of aluminum foil on top.
11. The bread tastes best when very fresh and still a bit warm.

3.5.3208

Others you might like:

Transylvanian Yeast Cake

Plum Pull Apart Bread

Romanian Sweet Bread with Walnuts – Cozonac