Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Get ready for one of the most heavenly things to emerge from my oven in a while. The moment I saw this bread on Joy’s blog, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I would try it myself. I wiped the puddle of drool off of my keyboard and quickly put this on the menu for the coming week. There are so, so many things to love about this bread. Yeasted dough – check. Browned butter – check. Cinnamon sugar – double check. An entire loaf that is reminiscent of the center of a perfect cinnamon roll – check.

All of this, not to mention it is really fun to make. You can see the pictures below, but basically you brush a thin layer of dough with butter, cover in cinnamon sugar, cut into rectangles and stack them all together. I love the low maintenance approach and the resulting irregularity of the appearance. The layers pull apart, daring you to try and eat just one. I think this would be ideal to serve at a casual brunch with friends. I can just imagine everyone sitting around with lots of fresh fruit, yogurt, mimosas of course, pulling away piece after piece of this bread. So, to all my dear friends, any takers?

Yield one 9 x 5" loaf

Ingredients

For the dough:
2¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
¼ cup granulated sugar
2¼ tsp. instant yeast
½ tsp. salt
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
¼ cup water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs

For the filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

Directions

01
To make the dough, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Combine the butter and milk in a small saucepan and heat just until the butter is melted. Set aside and let cool briefly, until the mixture registers 115-125˚ F on an instant-read thermometer. Add the milk mixture, water, vanilla and eggs to the mixer bowl. Mix on low speed until a cohesive dough forms. Continue to knead until smooth and elastic, adding additional flour as needed 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and is tacky but not sticky. Knead about 3-5 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat, and cover. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. (After the dough has doubled, it can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before proceeding.)
02
While the dough rises, add the butter to a small saucepan and melt until browned. Set aside. Combine the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and mix well.
03
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate.

Roll into a ball, cover with a clean towel and let rest for 5 minutes.
04

Roll the dough out into an approximately 12 x 20-inch rectangle.
05

Brush the dough with the browned butter. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the dough in an even layer. (Yes, really, use all of it.)
06

Stack the strips on top of each other and again cut again into 6 equal slices.
07

Stack all the squares on top of each other and set into the prepared loaf pan. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place, 30-45 minutes.
08
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Transfer the loaf to the oven and bake 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown. (If the top seems to be browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil at the end of baking.) Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan 20-30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen and carefully turn the loaf out, transferring to a serving plate. Serve warm.

Source

Joy the Baker, adapted from Hungry Girl por vida