Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

For the holidays, I end up baking and cooking A LOT for family get-togethers.  No complaints of course, I'm glad to help, but I usually over-extend myself a teeny bit.  Like this recipe, for example.  I volunteered to bring it to a Christmas Day brunch.  Now, as you might know, yeast breads take a bit of time, skill, and patience, all of which I'm lacking.  Not to fear, we can make this ahead of time.

I made this recipe this weekend as a way to "rehearse" my plan.  The original recipe is for making the whole sha-bang in one day (dough to delicious cinnamon pull-apart bread in a matter of hours).  But there is NO way I'm doing the whole thing the day of.  I would need to get up at about 4am to make this happen, and that's not happening.

So, I did the whole thing the day before and stopped right before baking, storing the loaf tightly wrapped in the refrigerator.  Then, the next morning, I allowed the loaf to come to room temp for about an hour before baking.  It turned out just fine.  In my humble opinion, the original recipe I got from Annie's Eats needs at least 1/4 cup more flour and 15 more minutes of baking time than called for on the site (I've reflected the changes below).

My wonderful grandma tried this recipe when I emailed her for advice regarding a yeast bread for a morning gathering.  She thought the inside was too doughy, so I adjusted by baking for longer (covered the top with foil), and it turned out just fine.  So bake away, people.  We can do this for Christmas morning.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread
Adapted from Annie's Eats

For the dough:
3 cups AP flour, plus more as needed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs

For the filling:
4 Tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

To make the dough, combine flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a mixer with the dough hook attached.  Combine butter and milk in a saucepan and heat until butter is melted.  Let cool until it reaches 115-125 F on a thermometer.  Add milk mixture, water, vanilla and eggs to the mixer bowl.  Mix on low speed until a dough forms.  Continue to knead in mixer until smooth and elastic, adding more flour as needed until the dough clears the sides of the bowl.  Knead about 3-5 minutes.  Transfer dough to a lighly oiled bowl, turning to coat, and cover.  Let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

While dough rises, add butter to a small saucepan and melt until browned.  Set aside.  Combine the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and mix well.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and deflate.  Roll into ball, cover with a clean towel and let rest for 5 minutes.  Roll dough out to a 12x20 inch rectangle.  Brush dough with browned butter.  Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the dough evenly.

Grease a 9x5" loaf pan.  Slice dough vertically into 6 strips.  Stack the strips on top of each other and cut again into 6 equal pieces.  Stack all the squares on top of each other and set into loaf pan.  Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes.

*I covered the loaf after rising for the last time with seran wrap and tin foil and stored in the refrigerator over night.  I let the loaf come to room temp for at least an hour, then baked the next morning.

Preheat oven to 350.  Transfer the loaf to the oven and bake 40-45 minutes until the top is golden brown (you can cover the top with foil if it is browning too quickly).  Remove from oven and let rest in the pan 10-20 minutes.  Run knife around edges to loosen and carefully turn loaf out, transferring to a serving plate.  Serve warm.