Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Bread

Guess what we woke up to this morning...snow! I feel like we've been spoiled over the past year with all the nice weather. We had a great summer which turned into an even greater fall(I was still wearing flip flops in October). Don't get me wrong, I love snow, but for some reason we just weren't prepared for it at all this year. It kind of messed up our plans for the day.

Today is my sisters birthday(Happy Birthday kid!). The plan was to arrive at the parents house at 4:30 to enjoy some appies and drinks and then dive right into the presents. Unfortunately, we didn't make it 5 minutes down the highway till we had to turn around because the highway was a skating rink. The first snow fall of the year and we can barely even make it out of the town! How did we do this last year?

Anyways, the recipe I'm about to post I actually made a few weeks ago, it was for my father-in-law's birthday. I remember that day being a busy day, so busy in fact, I forgot to take the final picture of it! So sorry - just imagine it being all fluffy and delicious...


Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour or all purpose flour

Filling Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon(or more)
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground cloves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions
Grease and flour your bread pan and set aside. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter until it gets all brown and bubbly. Remove from heat and pour it into a large bowl to cool. Next, warm the milk until it bubbles in the same saucepan over medium-low heat. Remove from heat and poor it into the bowl with the butter. Let that cool for at least 10 minutes.

Next, stir the sugar and yeast into milk and butter mixture and let it sit for about 10 more minutes to proof. When completed, stir in pumpkin puree, salt, and 1 cup of flour. Mix and add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, mixing between each addition. When all the flour is combined, knead for 10 minutes by hand. (4 minutes with a mixer-low speed)

Place dough in a warm draft-free place(I use my microwave) with a damp cloth over top. Let it rise for an hour or until it doubles in size.

While the dough is rising, start on the filling. Whisk sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves together. When your dough is almost done rising, brown 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat and remove to cool.

Once your dough has risen, knead a dash of flour into the dough, deflating it, and recover it. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Get your work area setup. Flour a large surface area and flour your rolling pin. Roll your dough out to a 20 inch long by 12 inch wide rectangle.

Drizzle your cooled browned butter over the entire surface of the dough and use a pastry brush to cover your dough evenly. Next, sprinkle your sugar mixture over top of the butter, patting it down to ensure it sticks. It might seem like too much sugar, but believe me, it's just enough! Cover the entire surface.

With the long edge of the rectangle toward you, cut it into 6 strips. Stack the strips on top of one another and cut again into 6 even portions. Place the portions into your loaf pan, pressing them up against each other to fit them all in.  Cover your pan with a damp cloth and place it in a warm draft-free place again for 45 minutes to rise again.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place your loaf in the center of your oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until it's dark golden brown on top. Cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes before removing it to cool completely.