Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll Pull Apart Bread

When I saw a recipe on pinterest for cinnamon pull apart bread I was inspired, why had I never thought of cinnamon rolls in bread form? Amazing! I also saw a recipe for apple pie cinnamon rolls, so I put those two together and what resulted is Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll Pull Apart Bread. I had to cook it a lot longer than the cinnamon roll bread recipe called for, possibly due to the liquidity of the apple filling. If I make it again I am going to try and figure out a way to decrease the runnyness of the filling. It was quite messy to cut the apple filled dough into slices, but the messiest part by far was smooshing the rolls together. I imagine this is a cooking project that kids would LOVE!

Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll Pull Apart Bread

Smooshed together from Top With Cinnamon and Alli n Son

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 teaspoon dried active yeast

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup water

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For cinnamon sugar filling...

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cornstarch

For apple filling...

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup peeled, cored, grated apple (1 to 2 large apples, 3-4 small apples)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 cup butter, melted

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attached, place the cornstarch, sugar, yeast, salt and 2 cups of flour. Heat the milk and butter together in a small saucepan until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and add the water. Let this cool for about a minute, then add the vanilla, and pour all the liquid into the bowl with the flour. Stir this all together until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Start the mixer on a low speed as you add the eggs one at a time until they're just incorporated.

Stop the mixer and add 1/2 cup more flour to the bowl. Mix again at low speed for about half a minute. Add 2 more tbsp of flour and mix in on medium speed until you get a smooth, slightly sticky dough (about 45 seconds). On a work surface sprinkled with about 2 tbsp of flour, knead the dough until it's not sticky (about 1 minute). Place the dough in a large, oiled bowl and cover it with cling film. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place until it's doubled in size which should take about an hour.

While the dough rises, make the fillings. In one bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch, set aside.

In another bowl, stir together the sugars, flour and spices called for in the second filling.

Mix the grated apples with the lemon juice, then add to the flour and sugar mixture. Mix well, and place in the fridge until ready to use.

Once the dough is ready, lightly flour your work surface and gently tip the dough onto it, sprinkling a little more flour on top of the dough.

Roll the dough out into roughly a 40 x 40 cm square, then brush about 2/3 of the butter over the entire surface of the dough.

Sprinkle 3/4 of the first (cinnamon sugar) filling mixture evenly on top of the butter on the dough.

Top with the apple filling then roll the dough tightly into a log. Be prepared for some oozing.

Place the log horizontally on your work surface. Take a piece of thread and place it vertically on your work surface. With the thread still vertical, place log on top of the middle of the thread. Move the thread to the left or right, so it is still under the dough, and is one centimeter in from the end of the log. Take the ends of the thread and hold them above the log. Cross them over each other once and pull them away from each other until the thread has cut through the dough completely. (you are effectively making a loop of thread around the dough and pulling on the ends to make the loop smaller so that it cuts through the dough on all sides with an even force). On a piece of parchment paper, lay the slice down, and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cut another slice and place it on top of the first slice, sprinkle with cinnamon.

Continue until you have a stack about five slices high.

Smoosh the stack a bit and place horizontally in a greased 9x13 inch bread pan. Continue in this manner until you have no dough left. Be prepared for lots of leakage, I covered the entire area with a slip pat and clean up wasn't too bad.

When all of your slices are in the pan, cover pan with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise for another hour. Fifteen minutes or so before dough is done rising, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the bread for 1 hour, when it should be golden brown on top.

Let it cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

Run a butter knife around the edge of the pan and gently tip the loaf out onto the wire rack. Put the bread the right way round again and enjoy!

Have a sweet day!