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Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread

This Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread is absolutely bursting with fall flavor. It’s made with rich 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. Sorry, other folks can have their pumpkin spice everything. I’ll take apples and cinnamon over pumpkin spice any day. I don’t care if it’s in a pie, cake, bread or applesauce, it’s simply a heavenly scent and flavor combination.

With my bounty of apples from our farm share, I was ready to create another apple treat. Can’t have too much of a good thing, right?

If you’re looking for a quick cinnamon bread made without yeast, check out this Snickerdoodle Bread made with a TWO cinnamon swirls.

Scroll through the process photos to see how to make Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread:

fresh apple cinnamon swirl bread dough
Mix the dough and set it side to rise.
apples chopped for fresh apple cinnamon swirl bread
Chop the apples into small cubes.
Chopped apples on paper towels
After straining the apples, blot on paper towels to remove excess moisture.
fold the apples into the bread dough
Spread the apples over half the dough.
fresh apple cinnamon swirl bread ready to roll
Fold the dough over the apples
rolling fresh apple cinnamon swirl bread
Roll the cinnamon sugar into the loaf.
fresh apple cinnamon swirl bread ready for the pan
Place the loaf into a buttered loaf pan.
the glaze for fresh apple cinnamon swirl bread
Mix the confectioner’s sugar and apple juice to make the glaze.
glazing fresh apple cinnamon swirl bread
glazing fresh apple cinnamon swirl bread
Drizzle the glaze over the loaf.

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 love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.

fresh apple cinnamon swirl bread

Glazed Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Yield: 24 slices
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Rise Time: 2 hours
Bake Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes

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.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (8 oz, 240 ml) whole milk, warmed to 120F
  • 6 tablespoons (3 oz, 84g) unsalted butter, room temperature (plus more for pan prep)
  • 1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons, 7g) instant dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup (4 oz, 112g) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 4 cups (20 oz, 560g) all-purpose flour

Assembly

  • 3 large apples (1.5 lbs, 680g) peeled and cut into 1/4" cubes
  • 2/3 cup (5 oz, 140 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1 cup (8 oz, 224 grams) brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 egg, whisked
  • 1.5 cup (6 oz, g) confectioner's sugar
  • reserved apple juice

Instructions

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon, combine the milk, butter, yeast, sugar, salt, cinnamon, eggs and 3 cups of the flour. Mix until it forms a thick batter.
  2. 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 clears 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.
  3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead to a smooth ball. The dough should be soft and silky.
  4. 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 1/2 hours.
  5. Toss the apple cubes with the granulated sugar and set aside to macerate for at least 1 hour (do this while the dough rises)

Assembly

  1. Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and 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 8"x 4" loaf pans.
  2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll to a 16"x 16" square. Brush the surface of the dough with egg wash. Sprinkle the apple cubes over the lower half of the dough. Fold the top half of the dough over the apples. Gently roll over the dough with a rolling pin or pat with your hands to embed the apples in the dough. You should now have a 8" x 16" rectangle of dough with the long side facing you.
  3. Divide the dough in 1/2 so you have two 8" x 8" squares of dough. Brush one piece of dough with egg wash and sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar over the dough. Tightly roll the dough into a log, pinching the seam together. Place the dough, seam side down, into one of the prepared pans. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Cover the pans with oiled plastic wrap and rise until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour (see note to work ahead).
  4. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  5. 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.
  6. Bake until the bread is golden brown and the internal temperature is 195F-200F, about 45 minutes. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.
  7. Combine the confectioner's sugar with enough of the reserved the apple juice to make an icing with the consistency of pancake batter.
  8. 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.

Notes

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.

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.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

Doreen

Friday 16th of September 2022

I love Fridays when I get your email!!

Eileen Gray

Friday 16th of September 2022

❤❤❤

Asma Weber

Wednesday 6th of January 2021

Can I swap the whole milk for almond milk or some other liquid?

Eileen Gray

Wednesday 6th of January 2021

Yes, that should work.

Lauren

Thursday 29th of October 2020

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!!

Eileen Gray

Friday 30th of October 2020

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.

Sharla

Saturday 27th of June 2020

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.

Nicole

Tuesday 12th of May 2020

Could you swap sourdough starter for yeast? I have starter and very little yeast at the moment.

Eileen Gray

Tuesday 12th of May 2020

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.

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