Apple Cinnamon Bread

Apple cinnamon bread is a homemade yeast bread filled with apple-cinnamon filling and topped with cinnamon sugar for the ultimate fall apple bread recipe.

Course bread

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 45

Rising 2

Total Time 3 15

Servings servings

Calories 147kcal

Author Kate @ I Heart Eating

Equipment

2 8x4-inch loaf pans

Ingredients

Dough

3 teaspoons active dry yeast
⅓ cup warm water 105 – 115 degrees F
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ cup warm milk about 105F
⅓ cup warm water about 105F
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

Apple cinnamon filling

2 large Granny Smith or other baking apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ½” cubes
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar packed
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Cinnamon sugar topping

1 tablespoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

Grease two 8”x4”x 2 ½” metal loaf pans. Line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper.
To make the dough, pour the warm water into the bowl of an electric stand mixer.
⅓ cup warm water
Sprinkle the yeast over the water and add the sugar. Let the yeast stand until foamy, 5-10 minutes.
3 teaspoons active dry yeast, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Add the milk, water, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla. Attach the paddle attachment and stir to combine
¼ cup warm milk, ⅓ cup warm water, 1 large egg yolk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
On low speed, add half of the flour and salt.
½ teaspoon salt
Add the butter in one tablespoon at a time.
¼ cup unsalted butter
Add enough of the remaining flour to make a rough dough (for me, about 3 cups).
Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook.
Knead on medium-low speed, adding more flour as needed, until dough comes clear of the sides of the bowl (for me, about 3 ¾ cups total).
Continue with the machine kneading until the dough is soft and smooth, about 6 minutes.
Form the dough into a ball. It will still be slightly sticky.
Place the dough into an oiled bowl and turn to coat dough with oil.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm area. Let the dough rise until doubled, about 1 - 1 ½ hours.
Once the dough has risen, make the apple cinnamon filling.
To make the filling, stir together the apples, egg yolk, sugars, cinnamon, and extract. Set aside.
2 large Granny Smith, 1 large egg yolk, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface (I used a lightly floured rimmed cookie sheet that was 15”x11”).
Roll the dough out into a 15”x11” rectangle.
Spread the apple filling evenly over the dough.
Roll the dough up starting at the top so you end up with a long piece of apple-filled dough.
Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, cut the dough into 1”- thick slices. I like the my bench scraper because it has the 1" marks on it, which makes it easier to get even slices, and I can use it to scoop up the cubes to put them in the pans.
Cut each slice into 1” pieces. You will have little cubes of apple and dough mixture.
Divide the apple and dough mixture evenly between the two pans.
Place both pans in a warm spot and allow the dough to rise to the top of the pan, about 1 hour.
Place a rack in the center of oven.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
To make the topping, stir together the granulated sugar and cinnamon.
1 tablespoon granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Sprinkle the top of each loaf with half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Set the loaves on a half sheet pan and place the sheet pan in the oven. Bake the loaves for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops of the loaves are golden brown.
Loosely cover the loaves with aluminum foil and continue to bake for another 20-25 minutes.
Remove the loaves from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
Remove the loaves from their pans, take off parchment paper, and place on the wire rack to finish cooling.

Notes

Yeast: If the yeast doesn't foam, start over. The bread won't rise without good yeast.

Milk: For richer, softer bread, use whole milk.

Flour: Only use as much flour as you need to to achieve the proper dough consistency. Using too much flour will give you dry, heavy, dense bread.

Apple: You'll want to use baking apples in this recipe so that they don't turn to mush while they bake. Granny Smith and Honeycrisp are my favorite varieties to use in this recipe.
Spices: You can replace the cinnamon in the apple filling with apple pie spice if you prefer more spice flavor.
Nutrition values are estimates.

Nutrition