Thanksgiving is almost here! My brother and his finance are coming to town, and I'm excited to share my nutritional yeast gravy with them ;) I'm the only vegetarian in my family, so Thanksgiving is one of those funny holidays where dinner just doesn't work out to my advantage. I have actually had a boss who asked me if vegetarians are allowed to celebrate Thanksgiving. Ha. Yes, we are. But when dinner is made by our carnivore family members, we mostly eat pie. Not that I'm complaining about pie! And, as this post proves, you can have pie as both a dinner dessert AND for breakfast. Of course, when you're me, you have even the breakfast version with ice cream or whipped cream, but I think that most people would eat this apple pie bread like they would any other breakfast pastry.
When my MIL, Deb, was here last week, she made this recipe on the same day that she made the creamy lemon orzo posted last week. It's a pull-apart bread, so it was daunting at first, but the further she got into creating it, the more it made sense. She did it as a challenge, and definitely succeeded!
In the end, it was really good. Deb decided that next time she would roll the dough out thinner because it expands a lot in the baking process. I knew it was a little surprising to have a yeast bread with no rising time, so I probably should have seen it coming that the yeast would come to life. But overall, the apples keep the bread moist and flavorful and the crumb topping is just deliciously crunchy. If you have family coming over this weekend, or even if you don't, give this recipe a try!
Apple Pie Bread
For the filling: 3 apples, peeled and diced (about 3 cups) 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons butter 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
For the dough: 3/4 cup milk 1/4 cup butter 3 1/2 cups flour 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup water 1 egg
For the crumb topping: 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 cup flour 2 tablespoons butter, softened 1/3 cup chopped pecans (We used almonds because it's what we had)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan and set aside.
Combine the filling ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. Heat the milk and butter in a separate small saucepan until butter is melted.
Whisk together the flour, yeast, salt, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Add in the water, egg, milk, and butter. With the dough hook on your stand mixer, combine all ingredients until dough comes together. It will be sticky.
Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a well floured surface. Knead for 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. If dough is too sticky, add additional flour about 1 tablespoon at a time until it doesn't stick to your hands.
Roll the dough out into a rectangle that is about 1/4 inch thick. Spread the filling over the dough evenly, reserving 1/3 cup of the filling to put on the top at the end. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 4×5″ rectangles.
With the loaf pan on it’s side, stack the pieces of dough on top of each other, putting filling in between each slice. Set the pan down and, if needed, spread the dough slices gently to distribute through the pan evenly. Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup of apple filling on top.
Combine the crumb topping ingredients together in a bowl until well combined. Sprinkle over the dough.
Bake for 55 – 60 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown. Let it cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes before running a knife along the edges to loosen.
Source: Dough See Dough
