Apple Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread

I had the pleasure of getting 11 apples from a new friend here in Germany that came from her parents apple trees in Schweinfurt, Germany.  I can’t say that I’ve ever tried an apple from Germany so this was a real treat.  The apples she gave me were crisp and slightly tart, but full of great flavor!

Everyone told me I should make an apple pie with the apples, but I really wasn’t in the mood for pie.  So, I surfed the internet for inspiration and saw a pull apart bread baked with diced apples and tons of cinnamon and brown sugar.  I’ve always wanted to try a pull apart bread so I thought this would be the perfect time to start.

The recipe I got my inspiration from came from Flour Me With Love.  It’s got a great photo tutorial that I followed to put together the dough and bread.  I changed up the ingredients just slightly and of course added my own flair to it. 🙂 I liked this recipe a lot because I didn’t have to wait for the bread to rise. I just made the dough, rolled and cut it and into the oven it went! 🙂

Apple Filling:
6 apples, peeled & diced (I used my apple peeler, corer, slicer then cut into pieces. This worked great!)
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp nutmeg
pinch of ginger
1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp warm water

1. Peel, core and dice your apples.  Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over them.
2. In a large pan, combine the butter, apples, sugar, vanilla and spices.
3. Mix the corn starch and water together then add to the mixture.
4. Bring to a light boil and cook for 3-4 minutes,
5. Reduce heat and simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes,  continually stirring.
6. Set aside to cool and thicken.

Dough:
3 cups flour (plus more for work surface and kneading)
1 package yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.  Grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan.
2. In a small sauce pan, bring the milk to a simmer… just until bubbling.  Remove from heat and add the butter, stirring until melted.  Set aside.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer with the hook attachment, whisk together the flour, yeast, salt and brown sugar.
4. Add in the water, egg and milk/butter mixture.
5. Turn on your mixer to medium speed and mix until a ball forms.  My dough wasn’t coming together, so I added another 1/4 cup of flour to help it come together.
6. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a well floured surface.
7. Knead for 5 minutes adding more flour to keep the dough from getting sticky or sticking to your hands or counter.
8. Roll out into a large rectangle (or the best you can do), about 1/4 inch thick.
9. Spread 2 tbsp butter over the dough then spread the apple mixture over it evenly.  Reserve about 1/4 cup of apple mixture.
10. Using a pizza cutter.  Cut about 4×5 inch pieces of dough.  Stack them into piles of three pieces.  Don’t worry if sizes aren’t exactly the same, just do your best to stack like sizes together.  If you have odd sizes, just add them to the tops of your piles of three.
11. Hold your baking pan on it’s end.  Stack your pieces into the pan.  Set the pan down and spread the pieces out so they fill the entire pan.
12. Use the reserved 1/4 cup apples to spread on top.
13. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until golden brown.  If the apples on top start to brown or burn, cover the loaf with foil.
14. Let cool in pan for about about 30 minutes, there may still be some raw dough in the middle, but don’t worry!
15.  Run a butter knife along the edges of the pan to help it come out.
16. Glaze and enjoy!

Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3 tsp milk

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the powered sugar and cinnamon.
2. Add the vanilla, butter and milk and mix until you get a smooth consistency.
3. Pour over slightly cooled bread.  Allow to set up before cutting into the bread.