Christmas Bread

 

Christmas can now begin for Peter!  For breakfast I made the cinnamon pull-apart loaf that his mother makes every Christmas morning.  We are already celebrating with lots of good food and enjoying our first allergy-free Christmas in 5 years!!   [I always used make double loaves - one dairy- free/ soy-free for Scotty and gluten-free for Colin !  This was much easier...]

Christmas Pull-Apart Bread

1 1/2 cups of milk
3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 egg
1 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoons yeast [or 3 packages]
2 cups of warm water
about 9-10 cups of all purpose flour
3/4  cup of butter [plus additional butter to roll the dough in]

[This recipe makes 4 loaves!  a ton.  Cut it in half to make 2....or give some to your neighbors like we do!]

Combing milk, 3/4 cup sugar and 3/4 cup butter and melt in microwave for 2 minutes.
Let it cool a bit.
In a separate container, mix 2 cups warm water with yeast, salt and 1 Tablespoon sugar.  Let the yeast proof for about 10 minutes.

Pour the milk mixture into the bowl of your electric mixer.
When the milk mixture is cooled a bit, add the egg.  If it is too hot it will cook the egg - which is bad.  To speed up cooling, you can mix in one cup of flour before the egg.

Add yeast mixture to the milk mixture.  [if it is too hot it will kill the yeast]

Add flour one cup at a time, mixing well between cups [remember to count the one you used to cool the milk].

Cover the dough with plastic wrap.
Let the dough rise in a warm place for an hour or until doubled in size. 

Divide the dough into 4 large pieces.

Roll each piece into a snake.  Cut snake into aprox. 25 pieces about the size of a big golf ball [but you don't need to roll it into a ball shape]. 

Dip each piece in melted butter and then cinnamon sugar.  Put sugary pieces in a buttered loaf pan.  Repeat for all 4 pans. 

Let rise, uncovered, for about another hour. [2nd rise]

Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes - until dark golden brown on top.  [put foil in the bottom of your oven - the sugar always bubbles over!!!] 

Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then dump it out onto a cooling rack.  Delicious!

Note:  You could also add pecans between the sugared dough balls if you like nuts