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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
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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.
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Pumpkin Pull-Apart Yeast Bread Recipe
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Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Bread
Hi, this looks really yummy…. i love apple pie so this will be a hit too…. anway i wanted to check about dry yeast amount, u have mentioned 1 pkg, it is possible to mention in tsp!!! Thanks
Hi, it is 2 and 1/4 teaspoons of dry yeast. Hope you like it!
Hi. The ingredients call for salt but not the instructions. Does the bread need salt? I just made my dough and didn’t add it.
Hi, the salt is just added to the flour, but honestly, even if you don’t use any, it will be fine.
I followed the instructions to a tee but my bread came out dry tasting with a dense texture. The bread itself was kind of bland. What could I have done wrong? What should the texture of the dough be before before the first proof?
It has a typical yeast bread and it comes out very light and soft, I’d guess that the yeast was not good or it id not properly rise. There is a lot of sugar and cinnamon that does in the filling, so it never tasted bland to me, not sure what went wrong.
Soft, delicious bread! I also make it with our pears. In the summer I mix up the apples or pears and freeze so it’s easy to make in the winter months. I like to take it along for breakfast on girlfriend trips. 🙂
I’ll try it with pears. Thanks for your comment!
What type of apple is best?
Honeycrisp or Granny Smith Apples work best, but really, use the apples you have.