Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread

Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread is the easy-peasy way to a fun loaf of bread that tastes exactly like cinnamon rolls without the fuss.  I hate the expression “tastes like you fussed, but you didn’t”, but it applies here.  This loaf is gorgeous and it tastes even better than it looks.  It’s also super fun to eat and share.  It disappears quickly whenever I make it as it’s so tempting to nick off just one little cinnamony layer as you pass through the kitchen!  😁

My Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread is more of a construction technique than a specific recipe, so you have several options for the dough and the filling.  Use whatever you have on hand or feel like using!

Three options for the bread dough:

1. Buy a 1 lb ball of fresh or frozen white bread dough.  Thaw to room temp if frozen.
2. Make a 1 lb loaf of your favorite white sandwich bread (don’t bake it – you just need the dough!).  A 1-lb recipe uses 2 cups of flour, so any white bread recipe you like that uses 2 cups of flour will work.
3. Use my recipe for our favorite white bread – Potato Bread.  This bread.  Sigh.  Soft, and fluffy like angel food cake, but it won’t smash down and fall apart like Wonder Bread.  Magical smeared with just butter, or a bit of jam, or toasted for cinnamon toast.  I usually don’t ever get around to making sandwiches with it because someone manages to sneak a slice every time he walks by and the loaf just mysteriously vanishes.

Potato Bread Recipe

• ¾ cup water
• 2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp butter
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. instant mashed potato flakes*
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 ¼ tsp. yeast
• 1 tsp. cinnamon, optional

*Note:  you want PLAIN instant potato flakes, not ones with butter, milk, flavorings added.  You can usually find them dirt cheap in smallish packets at the supermarket.  Check the ingredients and the preparation instructions.  If the instructions say, “just add water” DO NOT BUY.  You want instant potatoes that you have to add milk and butter to.  Those are just plain potatoes.

Prepare dough in bread machine.  When dough cycle is done, proceed with recipe.

Preparing Your Cinnamon Pull-Apart Loaf

Roll dough out into a large rectangle, about 3/8” thick, as though you were making cinnamon rolls. 

Prepare and Spread the Cinnamon Filling

You have two options for the filling:

1. The best option is to use King Arthur’s Cinnamon Filling – it’s ooey-gooey delicious and holds everything together nicely.  Also, super easy to use!  All you have to do is combine ¾ cup of the filling mix with 3 Tbsp water.  I like to add about ½ tsp. cardamom to it as well, but we love cardamom.  Spread prepared filling over the entire surface of rolled out dough – all the way to the edges!
2. Make your own filling.  Spread 4 Tbsp. (or more to taste) soft butter evenly over the entire surface of the rolled out dough.  Sprinkle a generous layer of cinnamon sugar over the butter – about 2/3 of a cup.

I used the Cinnamon Filling. You can see what it looks like in the pics below – some seriously cinnamony goodness!

Prepare and Bake the Loaf

Using a pizza wheel, cut dough into roughly equal squares, about 3” on each side.  Don’t worry about perfection, just stay in the ballpark!  If you don’t have a pizza cutter, you could certainly use a knife, but it might be a bit of a sticky struggle.

Stack squares, filling side up, on top of each other.  I do this in 2 stacks because more than that gets hard to hold onto. As you can see in the pic below, things got a little out of hand! 🤣 But that’s okay – this loaf is prettier the more variations it has. If you really want “perfection” you could stand the loaf pan on one of its short sides and place the layers directly in the pan one by one.

Place stacks together, on their sides, in a greased 1 lb bread pan (8.5” x 4.5”).  Allow loaf to rise until peeking over the top of the pan.  About 20 minutes before the bread is ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350. 

Bake bread at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 200 in the center of the loaf.  Cool in pan 10 mins then tip out to finish cooling on a rack. 

Who am I kidding!?  At least wait until the loaf isn’t “burn your fingers hot” before you start tearing off those delicious layers!

Enjoy!

Peace,

Here are three other fabulous (yet easy) bread recipes to try:

Print Pin

Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread

Flaky layers of soft, fluffy bread and ooey-gooey cinnamon filling

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Keyword Cinnamom Bread, Pull-Apart Loaf

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Rising 1 hour hour

Author Elizabeth at thewildolive.org

Ingredients

For the Bread Dough, use either a 1 lb ball of white bread dough or the recipe below

Potato Bread

• ¾ cup water
• 2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp butter
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. instant mashed potato flakes*
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 ¼ tsp. yeast
• 1 tsp. cinnamon - optional
• *Note: you want PLAIN instant potato flakes - not ones with butter, milk, flavorings added.

Instructions

• Prepare dough in bread machine. When dough cycle is done, proceed with recipe.
• Roll dough out into a large rectangle, about 3/8” thick, as though you were making cinnamon rolls.

Prepare and Spread the Cinnamon Filling

You have two options for the filling:

• The best option is to use King Arthur’s Cinnamon filling – it’s ooey-gooey delicious and holds everything together nicely. Also, super easy to use! All you have to do is combine ¾ cup of the filling mix with 3 Tbsp water. I like to add about ½ tsp. cardamom to it as well, but we love cardamom. Spread prepared filling over entire surface of rolled out dough – all the way to the edges!
• Make your own filling. Spread 4 Tbsp. (or more to taste) soft butter evenly over the entire surface of the rolled out dough. Sprinkle a generous layer of cinnamon sugar over the butter – about 2/3 of a cup.

Prepare and Bake the Loaf

• Using a pizza wheel, cut dough into roughly equal squares, about 3” on each side. Don’t worry about perfection, just stay in the ballpark!
• Stack squares, filling side up, on top of each other. I do this in 2 stacks because more than that gets hard to hold onto.
• Place stacks together, on their sides, in a greased 1 lb bread pan (8.5” x 4.5”). Allow loaf to rise until peeking over the top of the pan. About 20 minutes before bread is ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350.
• Bake bread at 350 30-35 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer reads 200 in center of the loaf. Cool in pan 10 mins then tip out to finish cooling on a rack.

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