Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread
This Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread is absolutely bursting with fall flavor. It’s made with rich yeasted bread dough studded with chunks of fresh apples and swirled with brown sugar and cinnamon. Apple juice glaze is the perfect finish for this luscious bread.
Ah, autumn…crisp air, colorful leaves, cozy sweaters and, best of all, the aroma of apples and cinnamon.
I don’t care if it’s in a pie, cake, bread or applesauce, it’s simply a heavenly scent and flavor combination.
This bread is just a big ol’ loaf of autumn deliciousness. It would be the perfect treat to make for a lazy weekend morning. If you want the bread for breakfast, you can put it together in the evening and bake first thing in the morning. See the recipe notes for working ahead.
If you’re looking for a quick cinnamon bread made without yeast, check out this Snickerdoodle Bread made with a TWO cinnamon swirls.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes:
- All Purpose Flour – AP flour makes a bread with a softer crumb than bread flour.
- Milk & Butter – Enrich the dough for a soft and luscious crumb.
- Eggs – Give the soft dough extra structure so it can rise in oven.
- Apples – Any apple will work in this recipe.
How to make Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread:
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- Place the scalded and cooled milk in a mixing bowl with the yeast, sugar, salt, cinnamon and eggs.
- Add the flour, switch to the dough hook and knead the dough for 5 minutes. The dough will be fairly sticky.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it to a smooth ball.
- Set the dough aside to rise until it’s doubled in volume.
- Toss the apple cubes with sugar and set aside to macerate while the dough rises.
- The apples will give off quite a bit of juice.
- Drain the apples, reserving the juice.
- Blot the apple cubes dry on paper or kitchen towels.
- Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and pat it into a large rectangle. Spread the apple cubes over the dough.
- Fold the dough over to encase the apples.
- Knead the apples into the dough. Use plenty of flour as the dough is fairly sticky from the apples.
- Mix together the brown sugar with cinnamon and salt.
- Divide the dough in half. Pat one piece of dough to an 8″x12″ rectangle and brush the dough with egg wash.
- Spread half the cinnamon sugar over the dough and pat it into place.
- Roll the dough from the short side. If any apples come out just tuck them into the middle as you roll.
- Pinch the bottom of the loaf to enclose the sugar. Repeat with the other piece of dough.
- Set the loaf aside to rise until doubled in size. The loaf should grow to fill the pan.
- While the loaves rise, preheat the oven and mix the glaze.
- Add enough of the reserved apple juice to the powdered sugar to form a glaze with the texture of pancake batter.
- Bake the loaf until the internal temperature is 200F. Turn the dough out of the pan while it’s still quite warm to prevent any sugar that leaked from sticking to the pan.
- Pour half the glaze over each loaf.
- Spread the glaze and set the loaves aside to cool to room temperature or very slightly warm before slicing.
Storage
Apple Cinnamon Swirl bread will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days. The second loaf can be frozen for up to a month. Individual slices can be frozen for up to a month and toasted.
More Apple Recipes
- Apple Dumplings
- Apple Maple Pie
- Apple Fritter Donuts
- Apple Bourbon Pot Pie
- Apple Frangipane Tart
- Apple Upside Down Layer Cake
- Apple Walnut Linzer Tart
- Dutch Apple Tart
- Iced Apple Oatmeal Cookies
- Apple Cider Donuts
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Glazed Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread
A swirl of brown sugar and cinnamon fills this rich bread dough studded with chunks of fresh apples and finished with an apple juice glaze. The recipe makes two large loaves of bread. The exact number of servings will vary based on how the loaf is sliced.
slices
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Ingredients
- 8 oz whole milk (1 cup)
- 4 oz unsalted butter (room temperature (plus pan prep))
- 2 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast
- 4 oz granulated sugar (½ cup)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 22 ½ oz all-purpose flour (4 ½ cups, see note)
Assembly
- 1 ½ pounds apples (peeled, cored, cut into ¼" cubes)
- 6 oz granulated sugar (¾ cup)
- 8 oz brown sugar (1 cup)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg (whisked, for egg wash)
- 6 oz confectioner’s sugar (1 ½ cup)
- reserved apple juice
Instructions
- Scald 8 oz whole milk. Add 4 oz unsalted butter to the hot milk to melt then allow it to cool to about 110 °F . In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon, combine the cooled milk, 2 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast, 4 oz granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt,1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 2 large eggs and 3 cups (15 oz) of the flour. Mix until it forms a thick batter.
- If working on a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook. With the mixer running, add the remaining flour. The dough should gather on the hook and partially clear the sides of the bowl. Sprinkle a little more flour if necessary. If working by hand mix as much flour as you can with the spoon, then finish kneading in the rest of the flour by hand. Knead the dough for 5 minutes.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead to a smooth ball. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky.
- Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover the bowl and set it aside to let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours.
- Toss 1 ½ pounds apples (cubed) with 6 oz granulated sugar and set aside to macerate for at least 1 hour (do this while the dough rises).
Assembly
- Combine 8 oz brown sugar, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon and ⅛ teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Drain the apples, reserving the juice. Dump the apples onto a paper towel or clean kitchen towel to blot them dry. Generously butter two loaf pans.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat it out to a large rectangle. Spread the apple cubes over the dough then fold the dough to encase the apples. Knead the apple cubes into the dough. Use plenty of flour as the dough will be sticky.
- Divide the dough in ½. Roll one piece of dough to an 8"x12" rectangle. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar over the dough. Pat the sugar in place then tightly roll the dough into a log, pinching the seam together. Tuck any apple pieces that escape back into the dough. Place the loaf, seam side down, into one of the prepared pans. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Cover the pans and rise until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour (see note to work ahead).
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
- To check if the dough is ready, poke the dough. If the dough springs right back it's not ready. If the dimple slowly fills in the dough is ready for the oven.
- Bake until the bread is deep brown and the internal temperature is 200 °F, about 45 minutes. Cool the bread in the pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.
- Combine 6 oz confectioner’s sugar with enough of the reserved the apple juice to make an icing with the consistency of pancake batter.
- When the bread is still slightly warm, drizzle half the glaze over each loaf. Spread the glaze to cover the top of the bread. The glaze will set while the bread finishes cooling.
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Notes
If measuring the flour by volume use the “dip & sweep” method. That is, dip the measuring cup into the flour bin, overfill it, then sweep away the excess.
To work ahead, assemble the loaves and place them in the pans. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Take the bread out in the morning and allow it to finish rising while the oven pre-heats.
Turn the loaves out of the pans while there still fairly warm. Any sugar that leaks out will harden as the bread cools, making it more difficult to turn out of the pan.
If you want to freeze one or both of the loaves, wrap and freeze without the glaze. Defrost the loaf before glazing.
The bread keeps for several days at room temperature.
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Made this recipe and loved it! I usually make cinnamon raisin but wanted a different variation to have with my coffee that wasn’t essentially cake and this hit the spot! I made a few adjustments to make it dairy and egg free and turned out amazing! I cut the apples really small and it made the kneading a lot easier and only used 1 honeycrisp apple . Totally recommend!
I struggled to get all those apples worked in, and in the end did not succeed. However, this bread is really good. Tomorrow is day 3 since I made it, and I am looking forward to another chunk for breakfast. Then it will be gone! It was a bit messy in the final forming, but the dough is nice to work with. Added to my bread file. Thank you.
Admittedly it’s a messy process getting the apples into the bread. It should bake up fine even if it looks messy. It is neater to scatter the apples over the cinnamon filling and roll them into the bread. You can do it that way, but I do prefer to have the apples distributed throughout the bread. Also, when the apples are rolled in with the cinnamon the slices tend to break apart.
Looks delicious! Can’t wait to try this..
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Can I swap the whole milk for almond milk or some other liquid?
Yes, that should work.
@Asma Weber, I used soy and worked perfectly!
Hi! This looks amazing and I’m excited to try it! I’m thinking about making mini loaves, how should I adjust the baking temp/time? Thanks!!
Mini loaves will certainly bake faster. The surest way is to take the temp of the middle of the loaf. 200F and you’re good to go.
I’ll give your recipe a try! I have a local shop that makes an apple cinnamon raisin bread and at 6 bucks a loaf, it’s few and far between when we get some as we eat it within a day or two! I tried one recipe that afterwards said to knead the apple-raisin mixture and let me tell you, there was NO kneading. I think that recipe had something wrong! I made it into little pockets, then afterwards though, shoot, I should have rolled it! Just like you did. Waiting for it to cool to see how bad it is.
Could you swap sourdough starter for yeast? I have starter and very little yeast at the moment.
I haven’t made this recipe with starter, but generally I’ve had good luck converting recipes. If you use 8 oz of starter, and your starter is 100% hydration, that means you’re adding 4 oz of water and 4 oz of flour to the recipe. So you’ll need to adjust the original recipe accordingly.
How long should I let the mixer knead the dough for?
Hi Amanda- hand or mixer, knead for 4-5 minutes.
This bread looks amazing! Perfect for fall.
I am going to try to make this this weekend. However, I already know I am going to skip the apples and instead use some applesauce. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks!
I imagine the applesauce with be too soft to stay in the bread, but let me know how it works.