Why This Recipe Works

This recipe is inspired by the buttery, pull-apart cinnamon bread served at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. For our take, we started with a yeasted dough enriched with butter. After bringing the dough together in a mixer and letting it rise, we cut the dough into five pieces and rolled each in butter and then cinnamon sugar before letting them rise again in a loaf pan. This ensured tons of cinnamon sugar on the bread and created natural seams to pull apart the baked bread. After baking the bread, we brushed it again, with a generous amount of a cinnamon sugar–butter mixture; the bread absorbed the mixture for even more richness and sticky-sweet sugary crunch. We offer a recipe for a quick, stir-together glaze inspired by one option at Dollywood, but the bread is also great served plain or with apple butter.

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Before You Begin

We developed this recipe using a 4½-quart stand mixer. If using a larger mixer, you may need to increase the mixing time to about 10 minutes after adding the butter in step 2. Preheat the oven (step 6) once the dough has risen for about 30 minutes in step 5.

Instructions

for the dough

Whisk flour and yeast together in bowl of stand mixer. Fit mixer with dough hook and, with mixer running on low speed, add warm water to flour mixture. Mix until cohesive dough forms and no dry flour remains, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let dough rest for 15 minutes.

Add melted butter, sugar, and salt to dough and knead on medium-low speed until butter is fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium and continue to knead until dough is smooth and elastic and pulls away cleanly from sides of bowl, 6 to 8 minutes longer. Transfer dough to lightly greased large bowl. Cover bowl tightly with plastic and let dough rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

for the sugar coating

Meanwhile, place 4 tablespoons melted butter in shallow dish. Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt in second shallow dish, breaking up any clumps of brown sugar. Transfer 6 tablespoons sugar mixture to small bowl and reserve separately.

Grease 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pan with softened butter. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and press into rough 8 by 4-inch rectangle. Using bench scraper or sharp knife, cut dough crosswise into 5 equal rectangles (about 1½ by 4 inches each). Working with 1 rectangle at a time, coat rectangles in melted butter in shallow dish, then roll in sugar mixture in shallow dish. Place pieces in pre-pared pan, arranging in single layer to re-form dough rectangle in pan.

Cover loosely with greased plastic and let dough rise until puffy, about 1 hour (sugar coating may crack during this time; this is OK).

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake until top of loaf is well browned and center registers 205 to 210 degrees, about 30 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking.

Meanwhile, add remaining 4 tablespoons melted butter to reserved sugar mixture and whisk to combine.

Remove pan from oven and immediately brush loaf with butter-sugar mixture. Let loaf cool in pan for 15 minutes.

for the glaze

Whisk confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth.

Remove loaf from pan, transfer to serving platter, and let cool 15 minutes longer. Drizzle loaf with glaze. Serve warm.TO MAKE AHEAD: Follow recipe through step 4, then cover pan with greased plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. Let pan sit at room temperature until dough is puffy, about 1½ hours, before proceeding with step 6.