Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

Have you ever made homemade cinnamon rolls?  After receiving some delicious ones as a gift, we decided to give them a whorl ourselves this past Christmas.  Yes, they were absolutely delicious – but they happen to be something that I’m not sure I can imagine myself making again.  Just a little too much.  Something I personally would prefer as a dessert , and with SO many wonderful options for dessert out there, cinnamon rolls wouldn’t be my first choice.  It also probably had something to do with the fact that I think I ate 4 of them on Christmas morning and then felt like a dying sloth the rest of the day.  So moral of the story,  4 cinnamon rolls = too much for me.   But homemade cinnamon sugar pull apart bread = perfect.

This bread is really divine.  It’s easier to make than cinnamon rolls, it’s unique and it uses ingredients I had around the house.  I adapted it slightly from Joy’s original recipe, only because I almost never buy whole milk, and I hate buying it for the 1/2 cup that a lot of recipes call for.  I know a lot of people just substitute skim – but I think of baking as a science, and I don’t like to mess with science.   When you really think about it, skim milk even looks a lot different than whole milk.  No milk mustache with skim.  So I figured, what could I combine  with skim milk to  give me a milk mustache?  Yogurt!  The recipe came out great, even with fat free yogurt – but if you happen to have whole milk, just use 1/3 cup of it instead of the 1/4 cup milk and 2 T. yogurt.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

• 2 3/4 cup flour + more for rolling
• 1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) quick rise yeast
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 T. butter (1/2 stick)
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 2 T. plain fat free yogurt
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten

In a large bowl, stir together flour, yeast, sugar and salt.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, warm butter, milk and yogurt, until butter is just melted.  Remove from heat, add water and vanilla and let cool for 3 minutes.

Using a spatula, stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture.  Then add the eggs, and continue to stir with the spatula.  Dough will be very sticky, but avoid trying to knead it with your fingers like I did.

If you must, add a little bit of flour.  Just so that you can form the dough into some resemblance of a ball.  This dough should be sticky so try not to overdo it on the flour.

Once formed into ball, place in a well greased bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Once about doubled in size, place dough ball onto a lightly floured surface, and roll into a rectangular shape, about 22 x 14.  ***Alternatively, you could refrigerate the dough ball at this point, and do the remaining steps the next day. (A good plan if you want this for breakfast).

Mix the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl. Spread the browned butter over the surface with a brush, then sprinkle sugar mixture all over the dough.  (It seems like a lot of sugar – but it’s worth it).

Cut the rectangle into 6 equal strips.

Then lay the strips on top of each other, and cut again into 6 pieces.

Place the pieces in a well greased 9×5 loaf pan. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes more.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. You might need to cover the top with tin foil to keep it from overbrowning. Remove pan from the oven, let rest for 20 minutes, then slide a knife around the edges to loosen the loaf.  Remove from pan and serve warm.

Slightly adapted from Joy the Baker