i remember the first time
i successfully made bread
i was smug
oh was i so smug
i declared ridiculous things
like,
it’s so easy, anybody can do it
it’s the best thing, in the world
and the worst:
i’m never buying bread at the store again
the me today would’ve slapped the me then
because that shit’s just silly
i don’t have a kid,
i have a husband
our weekends are usually jammed packed
with social things
like,
wandering the mall before a matinee
and deciding to kill 30 minutes
playing skeeball at Dave&Buster’s
or,
doing nothing
while we watch water boil
most weekend mornings
i spend feeling guilty
for sleeping in past 8am
or
berating myself for not taking advantage
of sleeping in time
it’s exhausting
who has time to bake fresh bread
with all that?
unless one’s husband is sick
and there’s much more time
to spend in the kitchen
and there’s a work event
that requires some smug-like
bread baking —
then bread is made
pull apart bread – two flavors:
cinnamon sugar + citrus love (dairy free)
adapted from Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker
note: these loaves were made weeks ago, when dw was super sick and didn’t even get a chance to eat any. i will be making this again for him, eventually. my favorite combo was the cinnamon sugar but the smell of orange zest was very intoxicating.
also, these will puff out during baking so have the pans on a cookie sheet to catch any dough that may overflow. i learned this the hard way.
12 1/4 oz AP flour
1 3/4 oz sugar
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup so delicious coconut creamer
4 TBL earth balance vegan butter, melted
1/4 cup water
2 large eggs, room temperature
filling
1/2 cup granulated sugar
zest of 2 large organic oranges
2 oz earth balance vegan butter, melted
OR
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 oz earth balance vegan butter, melted
2 TBL cinnamon
cream cheese icing
3 oz tofutti cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 oz powdered sugar
juice of half an orange
splash of so delicious coconut creamer, if needed to thin
in stand mixer bowl, stir together 9oz of the AP, sugar, yeast and salt. in a saucepan, melt the coconut creamer and vegan butter on low, until butter is melted. add in the 1/4 cup water. aim for 120F – 130F.
pour the mixture into mixer bowl, stir with spatula. using the paddle attachment, and the mixer on low, add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until just incorporated. add remaining flour and mix on low until dough is smooth, and slightly sticky. sprinkle counter top with a bit of flour, and turn dough onto it. kneed gently until dough is smooth and no longer sticky. place dough in large bowl, covered tightly with dampened towel, and allow to rise in warm place. (i usually turn the oven to warm for about 10 minutes and then put the bowl in, turning it off but keeping the light on.) it will double in size after about an hour.
meanwhile make the filling, melt the vegan butter. set aside. mix either the sugar + cinnamon or sugar + orange zest.
when ready, take the dough out and preheat oven to 350F. lightly grease a loaf pan.
gently deflate the dough. it will be sticky, dust the counter top with a bit of flour. roll out dough into 20X12 rectangle (honestly, i rolled it out to however long/big my counter space is, without the dough getting too thin. use your best judgement.) using a brush, spread the melted butter over the dough. sprinkle over top with either the orange filling or the cinnamon-sugar filling. with a pizza cutter cut the dough cross-wise into 6 strips, make it as even as possible, or not. carefully stack the strips on top of each other and then cut strips into 5 squares. lift the squares and fit them into the prepared loaf pan. filling the space might be tight lengthwise, i tilted the pan down and let gravity help. there will be space on either sides of the dough width-wise. fret not, the dough will rise again and fill out the pan during the final resting/rising period.
after the final rising, bake bread for about 30 minutes. transfer to wire rack and let cool in pan for about 10 minutes. after that time, i did slide them out to cool completely on the rack before putting them back in the pans for safe keeping.
to make the icing, mix the softened tofutti cream cheese with powdered sugar and squeeze of half an orange. mix until well incorporated. for a nice runny consistency, add a splash of coconut creamer, at your own discretion.
serve warm or at room temp.
i would think they’d last a few days, well covered, in fridge, but honestly, they were eaten up by my office coworkers in one go.
morestomach 
Wow, this looks so good! Looking forward to trying it out. Gorgeous photos too!
hello, and welcome! thank you so much, please do let me know if you try this recipe and how it turns out for you.
This looks absolutely divine!! I like both flavours!
thank you! both flavors certainly have their positives!
That’s my kind of bake! Lovely! =)
thank you!
Again love your writing and the photos are incredible.. makes me want to bake bread…
matt, DO IT! and then let me know how it turns out for you!
Very beautiful looking bread. Wonderful texture – reminds me of a seal somehow…:) We are all smug in the moment. Best to just eat the darn thing and enjoy, I find. Sophie
hi sophie james, i completely agree with you — about eating the whole darn thing & enjoying every second of it, and that it kind does look liek a seal, with the folds & all!
These look beautiful! (One question though—how impossible would the dough be to make without a stand mixer?) Oh wait, one more question actually: am I crazy to think it might taste good with cinnamon and orange zest together? 🙂
After ditching her bread machine and getting serious about bread baking, Paula also (got smug? and) swore off storebought bread. (Even though unlike me she has a full time job AND goes to school.) Admittedly this sometimes leads to sad breadless dinners that would be better with bread, but she’s also stuck by it pretty well and bakes bread pretty often. Her only exception is when we have out of town guests visiting for days and we want to take them wine tasting and pack a picnic; it’s the only time we’re allowed to buy a baguette!
hi allison, it would not be impossible. i have a bread whisk that would work and now i have it in my head that i must try this recipe by hand… unless you & paula beat me to it & you can let me know how it goes! and methinks cinnamon with orange zest would taste good!
props to Paula, seriously!
I just had to google “bread whisk” because I had no idea what that was! Interesting—I’ve seen those before but didn’t know what they were for… I’ll have to ask Paula if she’s heard of it!
(And yeah, her dedication to not buying bread is seriously impressive. While we have bought the rare baguette/loaf of bread, we haven’t bought either pita bread or pizza dough once since she started making those from scratch!)
allison, i meant to add a link. i have the King Arthur one. it’s fantastic.
This looks beautiful Lan! The only thing is now I’m going wheat-free (since the beginning of this year and I’m proud to say I’ve stuck to it for at least 90% of time – and since 2014 rang its bells, I haven’t touched a single piece of bread!)
I do remember baking bread and loving the whole process – from watching the yeast work its magic and seeing it make the dough double in size – and yes, for a while I also swore off store-bought, but then, you kinda need to have that extra time to make a loaf of bread just in case you have a craving!
Beautiful dreamy photos as usual! And I hope DW’s no longer sick at this point of time!
i have two dear friends who are going gluten free right now and we are going to attempt a month without gluten soon. it’s not so much that we would miss bread as there are so many great alternatives out there, it’s that so many things have gluten in them (same with dairy) and reading the ingredients list can be soo annoying sometimes.
One of my favorite posts of yours ever. I wish I was one of your coworkers. I am hungry and I want this!! How long is the second rise? Just til it’s puffed up? I am trying to figure out if I can make it before bedtime………………………………
sophie, hopefully you got my email. when i made these loaves i started in the morning, around 9am and photographed them by around 2-3pm. i did goof off and ignore the loaves during the 2nd rise… 30-45 minutes would be more than enough time for the dough to rise, especially if it’s in a warm place.
I did get your response, you were very speedy, thank you! I ended up using store-bought dough….. ahk, I know. The filling though? SO GOOD. I used Little Cuties and cinnamon, and their juices, which made the bottom of the loaf like sticky buns. This ruled!
sophie, i am so glad this turned out well for you. i am not judging that you used store bought, you gotta do what you gotta do!
Gorgeous bread, I just want to pull it apart! 😉
ha, i see where you went here girl!
Love-love!! I always hear the sad trombone playing *wah wah wahhh* whenever I “attempt” to make bread. However, I’m willing to endure the humiliation for this particular recipe. 😀
valerie, i am so sure you would kick ass at making bread!
Lol that was completely the case for me. Made my own bread for the first time, sourdough at that, having nurtured my own starter like a baby for weeks, and I almost wept with joy and pride and swore I would always make my own bread. Then, life got the better of me and I discovered the amazing baker’s down the road………. kudos to you for going back to it though! the pull-apart bread looks gorgeous!
thanks Shu! life really does take the winds out of your bread baking sails sometimes, doesn’t it?
Your photos are so gorgeous and I’ve been dying to make pull apart bread for months!!! I think I’d also be a fan of the cinnamon version 🙂 I’m so in love with that last photo–it just looks so warm and cozy and I want to dive right into that scene 🙂
hi erika,
hello & welcome. thank you so much for your sweet words! please do let me know if you decide to make this bread!
Bread baking is like a therapy for me. Pull apart bread is one of my fav kind and I like to stuff with savory filling and serve with soup. Love the casualness of just pulling and eating.
oooh, a savory pull apart bread served with soup sounds delightful!
I love this Lan! Pull-apart breads are the best 🙂
nik,
yes they are!