Pull Apart Bread

I found out late on Saturday that we were having a linger longer after church on Sunday.  I thought about making a treat - my preferred baking items, but since it was a true potluck (everyone was just bringing whatever they wanted to share) I was worried we've be heavy on the desserts.  So I decided to make some kind of bread product.  Turns out we only had three desserts... so I could have made something more to my liking.  But Jonathan really enjoyed this. 

This is a recipe I got from a friend two wards ago.  It's really easy and super yummy!  The recipe calls for three different rise times, but you can skip the second one if you're in a hurry.  The dough recipe is really similar to other roll recipes, the difference is how you put it together. 

I use my stand mixer.  I start by just mixing the water, yeast, sugar & salt together. 

 Then I add the flour, one cup at a time.  Mixing between each cup. 

 

 This time around I only needed 5 cups.  You can tell you have enough flour when the dough all comes together and starts to climb up the dough hook.  It might be a little sticky but you can work in a bit more flour when you roll it out.

I let it rise the first time for an hour.  Then I punched it down.

 After I punched it down I pulled the dough together over the hole and turned it in the bowl.  I let it rise a second time for about 45 minutes.

 It doubles again...

 Next I rolled the dough out.  I try to get it to about an 1/8" thick.  I use a good amount of flour on the counter so I can get the dough pieces off easily.

 Then I just use my pizza cutter to cut it into rows and then pieces. 

I don't worry too much about getting the pieces even at all.  I just try and keep them all smaller than about an 1". 

 

Then I melt a cube of butter and pour it into the bottom of the baking dish (13x9").  Then I just layer all the pieces in.  I try to keep it pretty random.  I like to have the butter layer mostly covered before I start the second layer.  

 At the end you just have a pile of dough pieces in the pan. 

I let this rise one more time, about 30 minutes this time, until the dough is about even with the edge of the pan.  Then it's into the oven for 20 - 30 minutes. 

 After baking the tops are warm and golden brown.  The lower pieces are perfectly buttery, and the top pieces are chewy and crisp. 

It's a delicious bread.  I could eat the whole pan myself, but if you restraint yourself and get 16 servings out, the calories work out as below.

Here's the recipe in an easy form to copy and print out.

Pull Apart Bread

2 cups luke-warm water	2 tablespoons yeast
½ cup sugar	2 teaspoons salt
4 – 6 cups flour	8 tablespoons butter

 

Mix water, yeast, sugar and salt in a stand mixer with dough hook.  Gradually add flour, one cup at a time, until dough forms a ball and isn’t sticky.  Cover the dough.  Let rise until double (about an hour), punch down the dough, cover and let rise again (about 45 minutes).  Melt butter and pour into a 13x9” pan.  Roll out the dough and cut into 1” strips.  Add strips to the pan with butter in it.  Just place the strips in the pan randomly.  Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rise again (about 30 minutes).  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 – 30 minutes until browned.