This Apple Bread Recipe is filled with all the cozy Autumn flavors. The soft pull-apart bread has a butter spread, apples, cinnamon, and an amazing glaze. If you love the warm rich taste of Baked Apples, this apple bread is sure to become a new favorite.
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Apple Bread Recipe
Pull-apart apple bread is everything you can ask for in a sweet bread recipe. A soft and fluffy bread loaf that’s rolled out like cinnamon buns and topped with a generous portion of a vanilla butter spread, chunks or grated fresh apple and finished off with cinnamon sugar. The dough is cut and stacked like a pull-apart bread and topped with the best glaze.
Your house is going to smell wonderful as the aromas of the apple bread fill the home. This smells just like Homemade Apple Pie!
The Best Apples for Apple Bread?
Most crisp-tart apples will work in this recipe. Granny Smith apples are our favorite for baking. Gala and Golden Delicious are also great choices. Avoid apples that soften easily, like McIntosh apples or Red Delicious.
Tips for How to Make Apple Bread:
- Be sure the flour is measured out correctly.
- The milk should be warm for the yeast to activate and become foamy. Milk should be just warm to the touch.
- The dough should feel soft and not stick to your hands or mixing bowl. If your dough sticks to the bowl, add a few more tablespoons of flour, mixing well after the added flour.
- Mix the dough using a Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook or by hand.
- Butter MUST be room temp for easy spreading.
- When stacking the bread, stack loosely (it doesn’t have to look pretty)! The dough will rise again and fill in the extra space.
- Glaze Tip: For a glaze that penetrates into the bread, add glaze while the loaf is still warm. For a thicker glaze that will spread, add glaze once the loaf is completely cool.
How to Form Pull-Apart Bread:
Once the dough is made, forming the apple bread is as simple as making Cinnamon Rolls.
- Roll out dough into a rectangle
- Generously spread the vanilla butter over the dough
- Add the apples (cubed or grated) over the butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar
- Cut dough into 5 long uniform strips
- Cut the strips into equal squares for easy stacking
- Stack dough and transfer to pan and bake bread
2 Ways to Layer Pull-Apart Bread:
- When adding the stacked dough to the pan, for a pull-apart bread loaf, stack the bread loosely in a single layer.
- For a bread loaf that you will cut into slices, stack the pieces unevenly and intertwined so you can cut the bread with a knife and it won’t fall apart.
The Best Pan for Apple Bread:
Your bread pans should be at least a 1 lb pan with dimensions of 9″x5″ and deep so the dough doesn’t overflow.
More Sweet Bread Recipes:
There’s nothing like pulling a warm sweet bread from the oven on a cool morning. The aroma of sweet bread recipes will fill your kitchen better than any scented candle.
What is your favorite way to enjoy apples? Let me know in a comment below! We are always looking for new ways to incorporate apples into recipes. 🙂
Pull-Apart Apple Bread Recipe

An amazing Apple Bread Recipe. Soft pull-apart bread loaded with a butter spread, apples, cinnamon and a tasty glaze that you’ll want to bake over and over again.
Servings: 12 servings
Apple Filling Ingredients:
Prevent your screen from going dark
To Make the Apple Bread:
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Cover two bread pans with parchment paper, butter sides or spray with baking spray. Preheat oven to 350°F at step 6. In a small saucepan, add butter, milk, water and sugar. Stirring frequently, cook until milk becomes warm and butter melts. (If milk gets too hot, let it cool until just warm to the touch.)
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Sprinkle yeast over the warm milk and stir. Cover the bowl and allow yeast to activate and become foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 beaten eggs.
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Add flour to a large mixing bowl, form a well in the center, and add the warm milk mixture. Fold until the flour until the dough is soft, pliable and no longer sticks to your hands or the bowl. (Tip: Add additional flour 1 Tbsp at a time as needed until dough no longer sticks to the bowl.) Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour at room temperature.
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Transfer dough to a generously floured work surface. Lightly sprinkle top with flour and use a rolling pin to roll it into an 18”x20” rectangle.
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In a small bowl, use a fork to combine butter and vanilla. Spread the butter evenly over the rolled dough. Spread grated or diced apples evenly over the top. Combine the cinnamon and sugar, sprinkle evenly over the dough.
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Cut the dough into 5 long uniform strips. Cut the strips into squares. Stack dough and transfer to bread pans dividing dough between the two pans, loosely stacking the squares on their sides. Cover pans with a towel or plastic wrap, rise 30 minutes. Bake uncovered at 350˚F for 25-30 minutes until bread is golden in color. Allow bread to cool completely before applying glaze.
How to Make the Sweet Bread Glaze:
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In a saucepan, on med/high heat, combine butter, sugar and vanilla. Bring to a light boil. Add heavy whipping cream, stir to combine and remove from heat. Set aside to cool.
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Once the glaze is cooled, add the powdered sugar. Set glaze aside to thicken then drizzle or spread over the cooled apple bread.
This recipe makes 2 apple bread loaves.
390kcal Calories53g Carbs6g Protein18g Fat
Nutrition Facts
Pull-Apart Apple Bread Recipe
Amount per Serving
% Daily Value*
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen