This Apple Butter Pull-Apart Loaf doubles down on sweet apple flavor, packing both apple butter and tart Granny Smith apple chunks into its sugary bread folds.
Apple Butter Pull-Apart Loaf
Makes 1 (8×4-inch) loaf
Ingredients
- 3½ cups (438 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups (187 grams) cake flour
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 2½ tablespoons (37.5 grams) baking powder
- 4 teaspoons (12 grams) kosher salt
- 1½ cups (340 grams) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 cups (480 grams) whole buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 cup (240 grams) apple butter
- 1 large Granny Smith apple (185 grams), finely diced
- Sugar Glaze (recipe follows)
SUGAR GLAZE
- 1½ cups (180 grams) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) whole milk, room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Spray an 8×4-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in cold butter until mixture is crumbly. Add buttermilk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.
- On a lightly floured surface, gently knead dough until it comes together. Roll dough to ¼-inch thickness. Using a 3½-inch round cutter, cut dough. Reserve one round. Top each remaining round with 1 tablespoon (15 grams) apple butter and 1 tablespoon (12 grams) diced apple.
- Stand prepared pan vertically on one short side, and starting at bottom, carefully layer rounds, apple side up, one on top of the other. Top with reserved plain round. Turn loaf pan upright onto its bottom.
- Bake until top and sides are golden, 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and drizzle with Sugar Glaze. Serve warm or at room temperature.
SUGAR GLAZE
- In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar and milk until smooth. Use immediately.
Absolutely delish! Hubby couldn’t get enough. It was really yummy!!! Making the apple butter from scratch was easy and totally a winning move.
can i use red apples?
Hey Ashley,
Yes! Just know the consistency and sweetness might change slightly. But it should still work.
Can I use only all purpose flour instead of cake flour?
Hi Sneh!
We use cake flour to reduce protein content, which in turn makes the loaf more tender. If you were to substitute AP-flour for the cake flour, the loaf will be slightly more tough.
I found that this was way too much dough to fit in one 8×4 loaf pans. I made Two and I still had extra dough.
What is apple butter? Don’t think we have in uk , is it the same as stewed apples or apple sauce? Thankyou.
Hi Annmarie!
Thanks for reaching out! Apple butter is slightly different than applesauce because it is cooked longer thus imparting more caramelized notes. It also has a smoother texture. Here is a link to homemade apple butter.
I tried this recipe yesterday. The dough is a bit like a biscuit or scone technique, and I’m not sure it is very well suited to this recipe. The dough is squeezed into a loaf pan, and doesn’t have sufficient room to rise and get fluffy. I think it might be better suited to a yeast dough. The top also over browned for my taste (I had to tent it for the last 20 minutes or so).
Can you just use Grands Biscuits?
Hi Anjie,
Thank you for your question! We haven’t tested this recipe with store-bought biscuits. If you decide to try using them, please let us know how it goes!
Happy Baking!