Enjoy a fun twist on pumpkin bread with this pull-apart pumpkin bread recipe. Yeast bread is infused with pumpkin and then baked in layers for a fun and delicious pumpkin bread.
Years ago I was part of The Secret Recipe Club. Each month club members made a recipe from another member. In October 2012, I totally lucked out when I was assigned Shelley’s blog, C Mom Cook. Shelley is a gal after my own yeast loving heart and it was so hard to choose just one recipe. My daughter asked for something chocolate so I was sorely tempted to try these Chocolate Swirl Brioche Buns. Brioche, chocolate and swirl?! Hello, gorgeous!
But then I clicked on the “pumpkin” recipe category, because I have a huge batch of homemade pumpkin puree in my fridge. The first recipe to pop up was almost too much to resist: Pumpkin Brown Butter Apple Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze. Did I mention that Shelley loves brown butter just as much as she loves yeast? I love how this woman thinks! I didn’t want to completely commit to the rolls without seeing what else I was missing when I found it — Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread. I love pull-apart breads. They are just a hoot to make, fun to eat and it would go perfectly with a chai latte made with my homemade chai tea concentrate!
The recipe makes this look like a lot of work, but it isn’t! It mostly makes the dough, let rise, roll and slice the dough, let rise, bake. That’s it! I had to fight my family off from eating the second loaf so that I could take photos the next morning!
Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread
Ingredients
- For the bread dough:
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) yeast
- 2 1/2 - 4 cups flour
- For the filling:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 Tablespoons butter
Instructions
- In a medium-sized saucepan, melt butter over high heat. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until butter browns and smells nutty.
Remove from heat immediately and pour it into a mixing bowl. - Add the milk to the pan and heat just until small bubbles begin to form around the edges, but don't boil.
- Add milk to browned butter in the mixing bowl. Allow mixture to cool to lukewarm (100-110 degrees).
- Add sugar and yeast to the mixing bowl. Proof if yeast requires it.
- Add pumpkin puree and salt to bowl and mix to combine.
- Add 1 cup flour and mix to combine.
- Add flour, a 1/2 cup at a time, until a dough forms.
- Knead dough by hand or in a stand mixer until it is soft, smooth, and elastic. Add more flour if needed.
- Place dough in an oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling by whisking together sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- When the dough looks like it is near done rising, brown 2 tablespoons of butter in a small pan. Set aside.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, roll out into a large rectangle about 20"x12". Use flour, if needed, so that the dough doesn't stick to the work area. If you have a hard time getting the dough to roll out, let it rest for 5 minutes until it will stretch.
- Use a pastry brush and brush the browned butter over the dough rectangle. Use all of the butter!
- Next, sprinkle the sugar mixture on top of the butter. Again use it all up! It's a lot but trust the process.
- Using a knife or preferably a pizza cutter, cut the dough rectangle into width-wise strips. I didn't measure these, I just cut, but I'd guess they were about 2" wide.
- Stack 3-4 strips on top of each other and cut the stacks into thirds.
Place the small stacks of dough squares in a greased loaf pan on their sides, like you are filing 3x5 cards in the pan. - Continue stacking and cutting the dough until it is all in the pan.
Cover the loaf pan and allow the dough to rise again until it is doubled about 30 minutes. - Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and bake 30-35 minutes.