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This cinnamon pull apart bread recipe is basically your classic cinnamon roll but in bread form: it’s insanely delicious. Learn how to make this cinnamon bread recipe completely from scratch for a special breakfast.
Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread from scratch
That’s one of my favorite things about my cinnamon roll bread recipe: all the hard work is done the day before. The day of you just have to bake it and eat it. That’s my kind of breakfast!
- From scratch yeast cinnamon roll dough
- Buttery cinnamon sugar filling
- Baked in a loaf pan – just pull it apart to eat it!
- Maple frosting on top!
Wake up to your kitchen smelling like a fresh bakery and enjoy this gooey sugar cinnamon bread with your morning coffee.
Ingredients needed
- Active Dry yeast: be sure to get active dry yeast, not instant. This recipe was written with active dry in mind.
- Milk: warm non-fat milk in a microwave safe bowl for about 30-45 seconds in the microwave
- Egg: Adding an egg to yeast dough gives it more moisture and fat, making the dough nice and fluffy.
- All-purpose flour: You’ll need it to make the dough, plus more for dusting
- Butter: at room temperature softened unsalted butter is best.
- Brown sugar: you could use white sugar but the brown sugar gives the filling a caramelized taste
- Cinnamon: A must in cinnamon bread!
- Maple extract: adds a delicious sweet flavor to the icing
How to make Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread
Making Yeast Dough
- Add yeast to warm milk and stir. Let it sit for a few minutes.
- Place sugar, butter, salt, and egg in the bowl and mix until the butter is distributed throughout the liquids. It may be chunky. Pour in the milk/yeast mixture and stir.
- Add flour and stir until the dough forms a ball in the center of the bowl. If the dough is still very sticky, you can add an additional 1/4 cup of flour.
- Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place the dough ball in it. Spray the top of the dough ball with cooking spray (lightly) and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit for 2-4 hours until it doubles in size.
How to assemble Pull Apart Bread
- Stir together butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour until it forms a paste.
- Spray an approximate 9×5” loaf pan with cooking spray.
- Once the dough is risen, roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle and slice into 18 sections. Spread a little filling on each section, except for one (that will be your last piece, you don’t want the filling touching the end of the pan).
- Stack half of the sections and place in the prepared pan. Stack the second half and place them in front of the first, making sure that the ends touching the ends of the pan have no filling on them.
- You have two ways to continue. (1) let the pan rise for 1 hour at room temperature then bake as directed or (2) cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the rolls from the refrigerator (if you chilled them overnight) and let them warm up to room temperature while the oven is preheating. Remove the plastic wrap and bake for about 25 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
Tip From Dorothy
Expert Tips
- You can use any fat content milk or nondairy milk.
- Want a semi-homemade pull apart bread? Skip making the bread dough and use canned biscuits (slice each biscuit into thirds). See my 2 ingredient pull apart bread!
- Store bread loosely covered at room temperature for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
FAQs
Can I use instant yeast in this recipe?
Yes you can. Use the same amount of instant yeast as directed.
How do I know pull apart bread is done baking?
Until it’s golden brown or about 25 minutes.
Can you freeze this bread?
Yes. This cinnamon pull apart bread holds well in the freezer for up to 3 months in a sealed container.
Cinnamon Roll Pull-Apart Bread Recipe
Cinnamon rolls – in bread form! Cinnamon roll dough is cut into squares and formed into a loaf of bread for a new twist on breakfast. Filled with cinnamon and topped with maple glaze, this is your new favorite breakfast.
Recipe Video
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Rising Time 3 hours
Total Time 4 hours 15 minutes
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 1 package (7g) active dry yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)
- ¾ cup (177ml) warm non-fat milk (heated to about 120°F, about 30-45 seconds in the microwave)
- ⅓ cup (67g) granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter , softened
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 3 – 3 ¼ cups (372-403g) all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)
For the Filling:
- 3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter , softened
- ⅓ cup (67g) packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons (15g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the Frosting:
- 2 tablespoons (26g) unsalted butter , melted
- ¾ cup (85g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon maple extract
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Make the Dough:
- Place milk in a microwave safe measuring cup. Heat for 45-60 seconds in the microwave, until it’s about 120°F. (The time you heat it will need to be adjusted depending on your microwave. You can use a candy or a meat thermometer to test the temperature.) Add yeast and stir. Let it sit for a few minutes.
- Place sugar, butter, salt, and egg in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until the butter is distributed throughout the liquids, although it may be chunky. Pour in the milk/yeast mixture and stir for a few seconds.
- Add flour and stir with the paddle attachment just until the mixture starts to stick to the paddle. Then replace the paddle with the dough hook. Continue mixing on low speed until the dough forms a ball in the center of the bowl. If dough is still very sticky, you can add an additional 1/4 cup of flour.
- Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place the dough ball in it. Spray the top of the dough ball with cooking spray (lightly) and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit for 2-4 hours until it doubles in size. Note on rising: if your house is warm, it should rise no problem. If it’s cold in your house, it may take longer for the dough to rise.
Prepare your Bread:
- Stir together butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour until it forms a paste.
- Spray an approximate 9×5” loaf pan with cooking spray.
- Once the dough is risen, roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle, about 10” by 14”. Slice into 18 sections. Spread a little filling on each section, except for one (that will be your last piece, you don’t want the filling touching the end of the pan).
- Stack half of the sections and place in prepared pan. Stack the second half and place them in front of the first, making sure that the ends touching the ends of the pan have no filling on them. (You need to stack them in two sections because otherwise the weight of the top of the stack with seal the bottom of the stack together and it won’t be “pull-apart” anymore.) The stack won’t totally fill the pan, but it will once it rises again.
- You have two ways to continue. (1) let pan rise for 1 hour at room temperature then bake as directed or (2) cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Remove the rolls from the refrigerator (if you chilled them overnight) and let them warm up to room temperature while the oven is preheating. Remove the plastic wrap and bake for about 25 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
Make the frosting:
- Whisk the melted butter and powdered sugar until mostly smooth. Whisk in vanilla and maple extract (if using). Whisk in heavy cream and pour over warm bread and serve.
Recipe Notes
- You can use any fat content milk or nondairy milk.
- Want a semi-homemade pull apart bread? Skip making the bread dough and use canned biscuits (slice each biscuit into thirds).
- Store bread loosely covered at room temperature for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Recipe Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 292kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 162mg | Potassium: 89mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 325IU | Vitamin C: 0.03mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Dorothy,
I’ve wanted to make this ever since seeing Joy’s similar post a few years ago, but I’m basically a lazy baker. Your pictures have convinced me that it will be no harder than making cinnamon rolls, and maybe easier. Having typed that, is there a good reason not to slather on the filling before cutting? (Apart from needing one corner to be bare.)
I’m with you on the maple glaze; it works so well on so many things!
I think you could do it after spreading the filling, but I was worried that if the filling was too close to the edges it would spill out and burn on the side of the pan, so I erred on the side of caution!
My concern is the same as yours, but lazy baker that I am, I may give it a try and report back.
As it turned out, I couldn’t spread the filling easily. Probably had something to do with the extra teaspoon of cinnamon that I added. (I can’t help myself; I’m a cinnamon addict, and there’s never enough for me! If I insist on adding extra cinnamon again, I might bump up the butter just a bit, too.) I used my smallest disher to evenly portion the filling onto all but one of the squares, and smeared as best I could. The dough was a dream to work with. It turned out beautifully, and I will look forward to making it again. The maple glaze was the perfect way to top it off.
Thanks so much, Dorothy!
Made this baby today and oh damn! It is SO good!
I made the filling with an extra portion of cinnamon, it turned out just wonderful Thank you for sharing this 🙂
Yay!! I’m so glad Delia!! Love the extra cinnamon. 🙂
Can’t wait to try this – looks so delicious!
I can’t believe I missed this, but OMGIWANTITNOW! So. incredible.
Can I just face plant into this bread?? Is that weird? Don’t answer that 😉 I can’t wait to give this a try!
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