Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Instructions

1. 1

   Warm the milk and butter

   Combine the milk and the 4 tablespoons of dough butter in a small saucepan over low heat, or microwave in short bursts, until the butter has just melted. Stir in the vanilla and set it aside until it feels barely warm on the inside of your wrist, around 110°F. If it's hotter than that, wait — too much heat will kill the yeast before it ever gets going.

2. 2

   Mix the dough

   Whisk 2 cups of the flour with the granulated sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Pour in the warm milk mixture and stir until it comes together into a thick batter. Beat in the eggs one at a time — the dough will look slippery and broken at first, so keep working it until it's smooth again. Add the remaining 1 cup of flour and mix for about 2 minutes, until you have a soft, sticky dough that pulls away from the sides but still clings to the bottom of the bowl.

3. 3

   Knead briefly

   Knead with a dough hook on medium-low for 5 minutes, or turn it out onto a lightly floured counter and knead by hand for about 8. Resist adding much extra flour; a tacky dough is what gives you a tender loaf. It's ready when you can stretch a piece thin enough to see light through it without it tearing immediately.

4. 4

   First rise

   Shape the dough into a loose ball, set it in a greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise somewhere warm until doubled, about 1 hour. If your kitchen is cold, turn the oven on for 60 seconds, switch it off, and let the dough rise in there with the door shut.

5. 5

   Prepare the pan and filling

   Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and line it with a parchment sling that overhangs the two long sides — that's how you'll lift the finished loaf out cleanly. Stir the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a small bowl, breaking up any brown sugar lumps with your fingers. Melt the filling butter and keep it nearby.

6. 6

   Roll and fill

   Punch the dough down and roll it on a lightly floured counter into a rectangle roughly 12 by 20 inches, with a long side facing you. Brush the whole surface with the melted butter right to the edges, then scatter the cinnamon sugar evenly over it. Press it down gently with your palms so it sticks rather than sliding off when you cut.

7. 7

   Cut and stack

   Slice the rectangle lengthwise into 5 long strips about 4 inches wide, using a pizza wheel or bench scraper. Stack the strips on top of each other, then cut the stack crosswise into 6 squares. Don't worry about neatness here — uneven edges bake into the craggy, irresistible parts.

8. 8

   Load the pan

   Stand the squares up in the loaf pan like files in a drawer, cut edges facing up, working from one end to the other. Pack them snugly but don't cram; if you have a square or two left over, bake them in a muffin cup. Scrape up any cinnamon sugar left on the counter and sprinkle it over the top.

9. 9

   Second rise

   Cover the pan loosely and let it rise until the dough is puffy and crests just above the rim of the pan, 30 to 45 minutes. Heat the oven to 350°F partway through so it's fully up to temperature when the loaf is ready.

10. 10

    Bake

    Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is deep golden brown and the center of the loaf registers 190°F. The sugar browns fast, so if the top is dark by the 20-minute mark, tent it loosely with foil and carry on. Some filling will bubble out at the edges — that's the good stuff.

11. 11

    Glaze and serve

    Let the loaf cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then lift it out by the parchment onto a rack or serving plate. Whisk the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt until smooth and pourable, adding milk a few drops at a time if it's stiff. Pour it over the warm loaf and serve right away, letting everyone pull their own layers off.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Weigh your flour if you can. An extra heavy-handed cup turns this from pillowy to dense, and it's the single most common thing that goes wrong.

• 2.

  Chill the filled, rolled rectangle for 10 minutes before cutting if your kitchen is warm. Firm butter means clean strips instead of a sliding, sugary mess.

• 3.

  You can assemble the loaf the night before: cover the pan tightly and refrigerate instead of doing the second rise, then pull it out and let it come up to puffy at room temperature, about 60 to 90 minutes, before baking.

• 4.

  Swap in cardamom and orange zest for the nutmeg, or add 1/2 cup of finely chopped toasted pecans to the filling for crunch.

• 5.

  This loaf is at its absolute best within a couple of hours of baking. Plan to serve it warm rather than making it far ahead.

Equipment

• 9x5-inch loaf pan
• Parchment paper
• Stand mixer with dough hook (or a sturdy bowl and spoon)
• Rolling pin
• Pizza wheel or bench scraper
• Pastry brush
• Instant-read thermometer

Storage