Beginner’s Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread (From Scratch!)

You can’t beat a classic, and this Beginner’s Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread is made from scratch and oh – so good!! Don’t skip the cinnamon glaze – you’ll be licking it from your fingers!

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I am a Bake a Little Extra Blog Ambassador and this post is sponsored by Fleishmann’s® Yeast. I’m so glad to be able to work with companies and organizations that I truly believe in. Thank you for supporting them, too.

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MY LATEST RECIPES

I love January.  Just like I love Mondays.  I may be the odd one out, because I know that the holidays have just ended and kids have gone back to school and we’ve all had to go back to “normal” life. But I am a new beginnings kind of girl. I love the feeling of a clean slate – a chance to start over.  And that’s what January feels like to me – a time to regroup and refresh and get priorities in line again.

Every year that I’ve been blogging, I’ve sat down at the end of December/beginning of January and made a blogging goal.  Not on the business side, but on the fun side.  Things I want to try, or areas I want to focus on.  In the past, I’ve had lots of cookbook projects, and last year, I had my year of pie.

I had been having a hard time committing to something for 2017, but then it came to me.  I want to go back to the basics.  I have a few basic recipes here on Taste and Tell – pie crust, pizza dough, chocolate chip cookies.  But I think I often get caught up in what a lot of bloggers get caught up in – trying to do something totally different or never seen before.  When the truth of the matter is that what most people want, what most people need, are basic recipes that they can share with their friends and family.

So here it is, 2017 – getting back to basics.  I’m not committing to a certain number of posts, but I will be sprinkling in some of my favorite “basic” recipes all year long.  Starting with this Beginner’s Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread from Fleishmann’s® Yeast.

Everyone loves pull apart bread, am I right??  For me, you can’t beat soft, pillowy bread, covered in buttery cinnamon sugar…and this is a great one-dish recipe too!  I have made several versions of this at home over the years, but when I tried this Beginner’s Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread on breadworld.com, I knew I had found my go-to recipe to make my day extra cozy.  It was exactly what I needed in a basic, beginner’s recipe. No crazy ingredients or crazy techniques. Just basics – straight forward and easy.  The only thing I changed was to add a cinnamon glaze, because I can’t have pull apart bread without a glaze!!

Since we’re doing basics, I thought I’d completely walk you through it to show you just how each step should look.

1 – All you need are basic ingredients: flour, sugar, Fleishmann’s® RapidRise™ Yeast, salt, milk, water, butter and an egg.  I use Fleishmann’s RapidRise™ Yeast not only because I know I can trust that it will work for me every time, but the RapidRise™ Yeast speeds the process along a little bit.  You only need one rise instead of two.

2 – First step is to mix together the dry ingredients – 2 cups of the flour, sugar, yeast and salt.  I make this in my stand mixer, but if you don’t have a stand mixer, you can do this by hand. It will just take a lot more muscle power. 🙂

3 – The milk, water and butter all go into a microwave safe bowl to get warmed up.  You want this very warm, but not hot – somewhere between 120º and 130ºF.  The butter won’t melt all the way, so don’t heat it up so much that the butter is completely melted.  Pour this into the dry ingredients.

4 – Don’t forget to add the egg!

5 – This all goes on the mixer to mix for 2 minutes.  You’ll want to scrape down the sides of the bowl at least once during this time.

6 – Add another cup of flour, and beat an additional 2 minutes.  It will start to come together, but will still be quite sticky.

7 – Now you’ll start adding in just enough flour so that the dough can be pulled away from the sides of the mixer.

8 – Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it until it is smooth and elastic.  You can also do this with the dough hook on your mixer, but I actually enjoy kneading the dough so I always turn it out.  At this point, you’ll want to cover the dough with a towel to let it rest for 10 minutes.

9 – Now the fun part!  Cut the dough into 36 pieces (I use a bench scraper to cut it) and roll them into balls.  Combine cinnamon and sugar in one bowl, and melt some butter in another bowl.

10 – Each of the pieces get dipped in the butter, then rolled in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Then into a prepared pan they go!!

11 – Once they are all in, pour any remaining butter and cinnamon sugar over the top, then cover and allow the dough to rest until it has doubled.

12 – When it has doubled, it should go almost to the top of the pan.  Then you bake it!

13 – Like I mentioned, the original recipe didn’t have a glaze, but I added on this cinnamon glaze and couldn’t have been happier with the decision.  You’ll want to add the glaze while the bread is still warm.

My little family of 5 managed to scarf down about 3/4 of this in less than an hour once it came out of the oven.  And the rest of it didn’t last that much longer.  I encourage you to bake a little extra for your family, because this will be gone before you know it! This is truly the best pull apart bread recipe, and will be my go-to from here on out.

Are there any other basic or beginner recipes you want to see this year?

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Beginner’s Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread (From Scratch!)

You can’t beat a classic, and this Beginner’s Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread is made from scratch and oh, so good!! Don’t skip the cinnamon glaze – you’ll be licking it from your fingers!

• Author: Deborah
• Prep Time: 35 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 120 minutes
• Yield: 0 servings
• Category: Breakfast, Dessert

Ingredients

Bread

• 3 1/4 – 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 packet Fleishmann’s® RapidRise™ Yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter, (cut into cubes)
• 1 large egg

Filling

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, (melted)

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 5-6 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Instructions

1. Combine 2 cups of the flour, the sugar, dry yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir to combine. Combine the milk, water and butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high in 15 second increments until it is very warm, but not hot, 120º to 130ºF. The butter will not melt completely. Add the liquid to the bowl with the flour mixture along with the egg.
2. Beat the mixture for 2 minutes on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Add one more cup of the flour, and beat for an additional 2 minutes on high speed. Add just enough of the flour to the dough so that it will form into a ball.
3. Lightly flour a surface and knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. The dough should spring back when lightly touched with 2 fingers. Cover the dough with a towel and let it rise for 10 minutes.
4. While the dough is resting, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling.
5. Spray a fluted tube pan (bundt pan) generously with cooking spray.
6. Cut the dough into 36 pieces and roll into balls. Dip each of the pieces in the butter, then roll in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Place in the prepared pan. Drizzle any remaining butter and cinnamon/sugar over the rolls. Cover the pan with a towel and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 375º. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a serving platter.
8. For the glaze, combine the powdered sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add the cream 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Drizzle the glaze over the warm bread.

Notes

Adapted from Fleishmann’s® breadworld.com

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