Cinnamon pull apart loaf

Can you smell the cinnamon wafting from your screen? Does it make you want to reach in and grab a little piece and pop it greedily into your mouth? I want to but you know I can't resist anything with cinnamon in it. It probably doesn't come as much of a surprise that I chose to make the cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread from my Secret Recipe Club buddy this month.

I was assigned to Cookaholic Wife and in many ways it was like being assigned to myself. I'm a cookaholic aren't I? I'm also a wife. It doesn't stop there though, Nichole and are are the same age, in fact just a couple of weeks apart (Happy Birthday for Wednesday Nichole!), we both love cooking for our husbands and we both had a childhood cat who used to get great pleasure out of hiding and jumping out to swipe you with her claws.

Crazy right?

I initially decided on baking Nichole's cinnamon pull apart but then I thought 'no Claire, don't be so predictable.' So I went back to scouring the blog and found lime coconut bars. Why stop there though, I thought I'd go one step further and try and make them with coconut flour, oil and sugar. I really should have checked in on Instagram because JJ and Lizzie both told me to use extra eggs with coconut flour (which I saw after I'd put the tray in the oven).

The result was most definitely un-blog-worthy unless you'd like a recipe for soaking every last skerrick of moisture from your mouth. It was back to cinnamon pull apart (maybe my subconscious had a part in that?). Apart from a little case of the loaf trying to escape the tin, the result was, according to my grandma 'indescribably delicious.'

'What's the syrup, is is golden or maple?' she asked me, still raving about it a couple of days later. No syrup, just the magic that happens when you combine brown sugar, butter and cinnamon between walls of soft, brioche-like dough. I would perhaps call mine more of a fall-apart than pull apart though. The pieces just didn't want to stay together.

It didn't bother me though, it's like it portions itself out for you.

Here's my dirty little secret - I used skewers to hold it all together for the photo shoot. Yet another reason to not worry if your cooking creations don't turn out exactly like they look in the glossy magazine pages. I can't speak for them but I'm sure I'm not the only one who uses a few tricks. I just own up! Yes I made sure I removed them before I gifted the loaf to my grandma.

Next time I'd use my extra long loaf tin so I can try and fit all the slices in one long row but I liked my high-top version sprinkled with a little caster sugar before baking to add a sugary crust. It already has so much sugar what's a little bit more? This would be just the thing for a lazy Sunday brunch but make sure you invite people over to help you eat it. Enjoy!

Recipe

Cinnamon pull apart loaf

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Prep Time: 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 12

Author: Claire Cameron

1x2x3x

Ingredients

Dough

• ▢ 2 free-range eggs at room temperature and lightly beaten
• ▢ 4 tablespoon unsalted butter
• ▢ ⅓ cup milk
• ▢ ¼ cup water
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ▢ 2 ¾ cup + 2 tablespoon bakers or plain if you don't have baker's flour, divided
• ▢ 1 tablespoon yeast
• ▢ ¼ cup caster sugar
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt

Filling

• ▢ 4 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
• ▢ 1 cup brown sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ▢ Caster sugar to sprinkle on top

Instructions

• Place the butter and milk in a small saucepan and heat over low heat until the butter has melted.
• Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the water and vanilla then let it cool for a couple of minutes.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, sift in 2 cups of flour, the yeast, sugar and salt and then stir them together using a spoon.
• Add the milk mixture and place the bowl on the stand then use the dough hook to stir it together.
• Add the eggs and mix until combined then add the ¾ of a cup of flour and mix again until it all comes together.
• Spray a large bowl with oil and then transfer the dough into it and cover it with plastic wrap.
• Set it aside and leave it until it has doubled in size (takes about an hour).
• Meanwhile mix the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together ready to sprinkle on the dough.
• Grease and flour a large loaf pan and set it aside ready for the dough.
• Give the dough a big punch to let out the air and if it is still sticky, knead in the extra 2 tablespoons of flour. Otherwise, just give it a quick knead then cover it with plastic wrap and leave it to rest for 5 minutes.
• Sprinkle a little flour on the bench and then press and roll the dough out into a rectangle about 40cm by 25cm.
• Use a pastry brush to cover it in butter and then sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly over the top.
• Cut the dough in half down the middle then cut each half into three but cut the other way (so you're cutting away from you and then in line with your body).
• Stack the pieces on top of each other and then cut it into 6 even pieces.
• Pick up a few slices at a time and line them up in a row in the tin so the sugary part faces the end of the tin. Repeat until all the pieces are in the tin (I had two layers).
• Cover the tin with plastic wrap and leave it to rest until it doubles in size again (about 45 minutes).
• After about 30 minutes, pre-heat the oven to 160C fan-forced.
• Remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the top of the loaf with a little caster sugar then bake the bread for 30-35 minutes or until deep golden.
• Leave it to rest in the tin for 30 minutes.
• Remove the bread from the tin and serve warm.

Have you made this recipe? I'd love to hear what you think. Tag me on Instagram @clairekcreations