Pull-apart bread is a fun weekend breakfast or brunch treat. Pumpkin-flavored bread is baked up in squares that, once baked, is fun to pull apart and eat. It’s a delicious fall baking project.
I woke up Sunday morning with an insatiable craving for a pumpkin pull-apart bread. I couldn’t stop thinking about thin sheets of pumpkin bread baked together and coated in cinnamon, sugar and glaze.
Last year, I made Cinnamon Pumpkin Bubble Buns, which are similar, but I wanted to try a different recipe this time and make a whole loaf of pull-apart bread. After researching I kept coming across the same recipe on several sites, which is usually a good sign. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I modified the recipe to make it go by faster.
If you’ve never made pull-apart bread it’s totally worth the effort. I love pulling it apart, square by square and it has the most wonderful aroma as it bakes. This pull-apart bread was half devoured 5 minutes after I finished photographing it.
What is pull-apart bread?
There are all kinds of pull-apart bread, but basically, it’s a type of bread that’s either been assembled or sliced in a way that makes it easy to pull off pieces to eat. There are savory pull-apart bread and sweet pull-apart bread, too. You can serve them for breakfast or as a snack for game-day or parties like my Bacon Cheddar Pull-Apart Bread.
Depending on the kind you want to make you can buy a loaf of bread, slice it and stuff it with fillings or, like this recipe I’m sharing, you can make dough from scratch and arrange the dough so you can pull off pieces once it’s baked.
Recipe Tips
- For this recipe, pumpkin puree is mixed into the dough. It gives the dough a pretty orange hue and a subtle pumpkin flavor. Be sure to buy pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling, which has other added ingredients.
- Once you mix the dough you will need to knead it. You can do it by hand, but I like to use my stand mixer fitted with a dough hook because it takes less time and is so much easier.
- Be sure to plan ahead because the dough does need time to rise two times. The first rise is about an hour and the second one is about 45 minutes.
- To create the dough squares you’ll first roll out the dough and then brush it with melted butter and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over the top.
- Cut the dough into six even-sized sections. Stack them on top of each other and then cut them into six squares. Transfer each stack of dough squares to a loaf pan and place them in the pan lengthwise.
- Once the bread is baked, a glaze will have collected at the bottom of the pan while it baked. I like to brush that glaze over the top of the bread before serving.
I could not stop eating this bread. It’s a perfect Fall weekend breakfast treat.
You might like my pumpkin French toast!
Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread
Ingredients
For the bread
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup fat free milk
- 2 1/4 teaspoons 1 envelope active dry yeast
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups bread flour
For the cinnamon sugar mix and glaze
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- Heat milk in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds until it reaches 100°F. Pour into mixing bowl of stand mixer. Add in yeast and let it bubble and sit for about 5 minutes. Add in melted butter, pumpkin, sugar, salt and mix until smooth. Add in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing on low speed with a dough hook attachment until dough comes together. Knead dough on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes.
- Place dough in an oiled glass bowl and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Place in a warm place and let rise until double in size, about 1 hour.
- Roll out dough to a 12 x 20-inch rectangle on a floured pastry board. In a separate small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and mix together. Brush melted butter over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on top, spreading evenly. Press gently into dough with the palm of hand.
- Slice dough into 6 even sections. Stack strips and then cut each strip into 6 squares. Line a 9x5 baking pan with parchment paper or grease the pan. Stack slices vertically into pan. Let dough rise in a warm place for another 45 minutes. Make sure to cover pan so that dough does not dry out.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake bread for about 30-40 minutes until tops of bread turn a dark golden brown. I took mine out at 33 minutes.
- A puddle of glaze will form at the bottom of the bread. Before serving, brush or drizzle top of bread with the glaze. You can also refer to the original recipe to a separate butter rum glaze recipe but this saves time.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
I’ve never made pull apart bread but you are giving me the courage. Or maybe I’ll ask my mom to help make it with the kids lol. Thanks for posting the recipe!
It’s worth the effort! So yummy
This looks amazing! I’ve had pull apart bread bookmarked forever to try but I hate working with yeast, so….
I know what you mean. Yeast recipes are so time consuming. Come over and I’ll make it for you 😉