I feel like through life we are always finding new things out about ourselves. Like for instance, as a kid I loved clam chowder. Now, I’ve come to realize that I really don’t care for it all that much, and that the only reason I was so crazy about it as a kid is that I thought it was fun to bite into the pieces of clam and have it feel and sound like you were biting into a balloon. I know… I was kind of a weird child, but weren’t we all 😉
Anyways, through this blogging experience I have found that I love taking picture, but not just any picture. I really hate lugging around a camera just to have everyone pose awkwardly for some random photo somewhere. My sister Ashli is the photo opportunity enthusiast, so she takes care of that for me. But, I love to take pictures of movement. Why am I telling you this, you may ask, cause I went just a tad bit overboard. You have been warned!! But I loved all my pouring photos so much that I couldn’t throw them out. This is after all a food blog, and adding ingredients is a big part of the baking/cooking process. Right!?
So I have an excuse for my addictive impulse to always shoot ingredients while I am pouring them, and I completely release full responsibility for my actions to my little split personality french photographer… who exists in my brain. I have lovingly called him Jacque. How a split personality of myself can be male I have no clue, and I also have no idea if Jacque is even a french name, but there you go.
Where was I going with all this?? Oh, yeah. Ok so that is my extremely long disclosure about the many pouring pictures in this post. Moving on from my random thoughts to something actually related to this recipe which is so scrumptious. This bread is awesome! The outside is crisp and grainy from the melted sugar, and the inside is sticky and moist like the inside of a cinnamon roll. This totally satisfied my cinnamon sugar craving and was so easy to make. Enjoy!!
Cinnamon and Sugar Pull-Apart Bread
Dough
2 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (1 packet)
1/2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup water
2 eggs (at room temperature)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Filling
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
In a large mixing bowl, mix 2 cups of flour.
I use my Kitchen Aid Professional 600 mixer for all the “hard” work 🙂
Sugar.
Yeast and salt.
Set this flour mixture aside.
In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and milk.
Once the butter is completely melted take off the burner and add the water…
and vanilla. Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes.
Pour the milk mixture into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix well. Whisk together the eggs and add to the batter.
Keep mixing. Add 3/4 cup of flour and mix well. The mixture will be very sticky which means it’s perfect. Place the dough in a medium greased bowl.
Cover with wrap and let it sit in a warm place to rise for about 30-45 minutes. Once the dough has doubled its size, knead in 2 tablespoons of flour. Cover the dough again for 5-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, start on the filling. In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl. Set aside.
Once the dough is ready, roll it out on a floured surface. Brush the melted butter on the dough and add the sugar mixture. Make sure everything is covered.
Using a shape knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into equal sized strips (about 2 to 2 1/2 inches wide). Then cut the strips into equal sized squares.
Stack the squares on top of each other to make 3 to 4 piles. Don’t make stacks to high or your will be cussing when you try to place them into the pan. Also, your bread will come out prettier if you don’t stack the squares perfectly aligned.
Place squares in the greased bread pan.
Take any sugar that fell off squares and sprinkle over the top and around the sides of dough. Cover the dough for another 10-15 minutes to rise.
While dough is rising, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Place a cookie sheet under bread pan and bake for 30-35 minutes until outside of bread is golden brown.
