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Cinnamon Apple Pull-Apart Bread Recipe – yeast bread, stuffed with cinnamon and diced apple. One of my favorite baked treats for fall.
Cinnamon Apple Pull-Apart Bread Recipe
This cinnamon apple pull-apart bread is cozy, sweet, and irresistible. It is like a mix between apple pie and a warm cinnamon roll. Each layer of soft yeast dough is stuffed with cinnamon sugar and tiny apple pieces, baked into a loaf you can pull apart slice by slice. Perfect for fall baking.
I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t I just share a pull-apart bread recipe?
Yes, I did. My pumpkin version went up last week, but the step-by-step photos accidentally got deleted. Since I re-shot the process, I decided to make an apple version instead. That way you get a new recipe and the step-by-step photos that make it so much easier to follow.
At first, I thought about using apple butter, but I ended up adding diced apples and I am so glad I did. They soften beautifully while baking and give little bursts of flavor in every bite.
The dough is simple and beginner-friendly. It needs about one hour of rising, then another thirty minutes after shaping. I used active dry yeast, but instant yeast works as well.
If you love apple desserts, this recipe is a must try. The smell alone while it bakes is pure comfort.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Great for brunch, dessert, or with coffee
- Cozy fall flavors with cinnamon and apples
- Easier than it looks, with a simple yeast dough
- Pull-apart presentation that is fun to eat and serve
What Apples Work Best
- Avoid: Red Delicious or soft apples since they turn mushy
- Best options: Firm, crisp apples like Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Pink Lady
- Sweeter options: Fuji or Gala if you want more natural sweetness
Helpful Tips
- Best enjoyed fresh, but leftovers keep for two to three days wrapped at room temperature
- Dice the apples into small cubes so they layer easily and bake evenly
- Lightly flour your work surface before rolling and cutting the dough
- Cut the dough into even strips for uniform baking
- Cover loosely with foil if the top browns too fast
More Bread Recipes
Cinnamon Apple Pull-Apart Bread
Ingredients
For the bread:
- 3/4 cup warm milk, (around 115 F)
- 1 pkg. active dry yeast
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
For the filling:
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 large apple, , diced
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
For the glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Combine milk and yeast, stir and cover. Let mixture stand at room temperature for 10 minutes, untill is gets foamy.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer beat egg and sugar. Add 3 tbsp melted butter. Add yeast/milk mixture. Beat to combine. Add salt to the flour. Add half of the flour and beat for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Beat for 3 more minutes.
- Add the remaining flour, knead to form the dough into a ball.
- Transfer to a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature, until it almost doubles its size.
- Butter a 9×5 inch bread pan.
- Flour working surface. Roll out dough into 20×12 inch rectangle.
- In a bowl combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Have diced apple ready.
- Brush dough with melted butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. Spread diced apple on top.
- Cut dough into six 20×2 inch pieces, as shown in the pictures. Stack pieces on top of each other. As they are, cut into six strips vertically, as shown in the pictures.
- Loosely stack pieces, cut side up into the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- In the mean time, preheat oven to 350 F.
- Bake bread for 35 minutes, covering the top with aluminium foil for the last 10 minutes.
- Let the bread cool inside the pan for 15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- In a bowl, combine all ingredients for the glaze and mix to combine. Add more milk to adjust the consistency, if needed.
- Once the bread has cooled, drizzle with cinnamon glaze. Serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Bread Recipes
Bulgarian Easter Bread Kozunak
Pumpkin Pull-Apart Yeast Bread Recipe
Peanut Butter Bread With Cream Cheese Layer
Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Bread
Thanks for this awesome recipe. Everything about it was easy. My biggest problem was being home alone and eating 1/2 the loaf myself. Haha. Thank you for sharing. It’s always so exciting to find something good.
Thanks Brigit! Glad you liked it! I totally understand, I ate like half of it, too! It was soo good, while still warm 🙂
I have a ton of freshly picked apples right now so this would be perfect! So delicious looking.
Love pull apart breads, but never realized how easy to make they are!
If I make this bread and leave it in the fridge overnight, can I take it out and bake it in the morning?
Hi, no, because there is yeast in it. It may work, but sometimes yeast breads rise too much and it may ferment in the fridge, so the bread will have a weird taste. It may still work because the fridge might slow the rising, but I have not tried it with this particular bread and I can not recommend it.
Can this be frozen when baked?
This looks awesome
Yes, you can definitely freeze it for up to 3 months, just make sure you wrap it tightly. Thank you 🙂 Hope you like it!
I made this. Overall, I’m very proud of the result and thankful for the accessible recipe with easy to source ingredients. However, I found the dimensions and cutting instructions to be a little off; there was no way I was getting this to be a 20X12 rectangle. The pictures helped me even though they looked different from the written steps. Also the total time is waaaay off. From start to finish with an hour for rising, it took about 2 hrs. But in the end… delicious. I would have never attempted this type of bread before, and the recipe led to a delicious end result. I’ll b making this again.
You forgot to state when you add the salt.
Making this for breakfast today for my daughter’s sleep over.
Hope you like it! Salt is added to the flour, will correct. Thanks!
still haven t made the correction… I forgot the salt :/
HI Mira,
I would like to make your Apple Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread but the print button isn’t working.
It’ looks so good!
Hugs, Teresa
Hi Teresa, I just tried it and it is working for me. Could there be something blocking it on your browser? Let me know. Or maybe try a different browser.
Delicious! I made a “version” of this. I cheated and used store bought bread dough and rolled it in a log form then divided it. Easy to make and good!
I made this for the first time yesterday, I gave half of the loaf to my neighbor. It got rave reviews!! I love it so much, I am making another one today for my daughter. The recipe was very easy to follow and is delicious! I make the dough in my bread machine, let it rise, then I cut and place in the bread pan ?? Thank you for this, it’s a keeper!
Blessings,
Sheryl
Great! Glad you liked it! I’m actually enjoying a slice of it tight now 🙂