live from new orleans: Bread Heaven: Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Heaven?

I snatched this recipe from Joy the Baker, and it's to-die-for. Don't make this unless you've accepted that you'll eat the entire thing within 24 hours- possibly in one sitting. I did things a little differently from the original recipe, so I'll post the recipe below with my tweaks.

Once the 3 hour bread-making process was complete, we didn't even get a chance to sit down. Will and I stood over it at the stove, devouring slice-by-slice until more than half the loaf was gone. Did I mention it happened to be 10 PM by the time it was ready to eat? So much for saving it for breakfast. Then later that night when I was taking the dogs out to potty before bed, my hair flipped in front of my face and I noticed it smelled like butter and cinnamon. Ahhhh

Here's the recipe:

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread (Adapted and Adopted from Joy the Baker)
Makes: one 9x5x3-inch loaf

For the Dough:

2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 envelope active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup whole milk

1/4 cup water

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Filling:

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted until browned

Directions:

Mix together 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl (It really isn't necessary to use a stand mixer unless you want to- I prefer doing this by hand so I have less clean-up). In a separate small bowl, whisk the eggs.
In a small saucepan, melt together milk and butter until butter has just melted. Remove from heat and add water and vanilla extract. Let stand for a minute or two.
Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and combine. Stir in the eggs until incorporated. Add the final 3/4 cup flour, and stir for about 2 minutes. Expect the dough to be pretty sticky.
Scrape the dough into a medium/large bowl greased with non-stick cooking spray. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a clean hand towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 hour). *At this point, you can refrigerate the dough for a few hours if you need to come back to it later. If you choose to do this- after you take it from the fridge, let it sit on the counter for about 30 minutes before rolling it out.
A few minutes before the dough is done rising, melt and brown 4 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan. Remove from heat.
Grease and flour a 9x5x3 in loaf pan.
After the dough has risen, deflate it and add the last 2 tablespoons of flour. Knead to combine. Cover with the hand towel and let sit for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg in a small bowl and set aside.
Plop the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and flatten out with a rolling pin. The recipe says to roll the dough out to 12 inches x 20 inches... I don't think mine was that big though.
Use a pastry brush to slather the melted butter onto the entire piece of dough. Spread the sugar mixture on top. Now is about the time you realize your self-control has melted away with the butter.
Slice the dough into six strips, then stack the strips and slice those into 6 pieces. Here's where it will make a difference if your dough wasn't rolled out large enough. I ended up slicing mine into 4 strips, then 6 pieces from there (to make 24 small squares instead of 36). I've found it really doesn't matter. Nothing can make this bread taste anything other than devine.
Stack the strips into the greased loaf pan... sort of like putting books on a shelf. Top with the hand towel and let sit in that warm spot again for about 30 minutes. At this point, my family arrived for a visit, so I put the whole thing in the fridge after letting it sit for that half-hour. I think this made it slightly less gooey- so try to avoid interrupting the process if possible.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for about 30-35 minutes. Don't bake fewer than 30 minutes or the bread will be undercooked in the middle. Don't exceed 35 minutes to avoid drying it out.
Remove from the oven and let sit for 20-30 minutes (yeah, right- good luck with that self-control). Run a knife around the edges and slide the bread out onto a plate. You can pretty much grab the ends like an accordion and turn the whole thing over if you want it right-side up (that is, if you can avoid eating it all before you get a chance to turn it over).
I HIGHLY recommend eating this warm, with a glass of milk. YUM!