apple cinnamon pull-apart bread

Ingredients

brioche dough:

300 g (2 1/3 cups) all purpose flour
36 g (3 tablespoons) sugar
10 g (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
6 g (2 teaspoons) kosher salt
3 eggs room temperature
30 g (3 tablespoons) milk room temperature
170 g (12 tablespoons) salted butter room temperature

apple cinnamon filling

56 g (1/4 cup) salted butter melted
72 g (1/3 cup) brown sugar
2 g (1 teaspoon) cinnamon
1 medium red apple

salty maple icing

113 g (1 cup) powdered sugar
6 g (1 teaspoon) maple syrup
big pinch of kosher salt
splash of vanilla extract
splash of milk if needed

Instructions

To make the brioche dough, add the flour, sugar, instant yeast, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir with a rubber spatula to combine. Add the eggs and milk. Place a dough hook attachment on your stand mixer. Mix on medium until a slightly shaggy dough forms, 5-7 minutes.
With the mixer still on low, add 1 tablespoon additions of butter to the dough, letting the butter mix in completely between additions. Once all the butter is added, mix another 3-5 minutes until the dough is smooth and soft. Shape the dough into a ball then return to the bowl (or transfer to a new bowl). Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.
Just before the dough has finished rising, prep the next ingredients. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool until no longer hot to the touch (but still liquid). Place the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and stir to combine. Peel and chop the apple into small chunks.
Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and transfer it to a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into roughly a 16x16-inch square. Then use a pizza cutter or a sharp knife to cut the dough into small squares, each roughly 2x2-inches.
Dip each square into the melted butter, then dip both sides into the bowl of cinnamon sugar. Place the square on the table then add 1-2 tablespoons of chopped apple on top. Continue with this method layering dough then apples. Once you’ve gotten through 5-6 dough squares, transfer the pile to a 9-inch loaf pan with the pieces turned vertically (you can line the pan with parchment paper if you want, but it’s not essential). Continue stacking and transferring the dough to the pan until all the dough is used up (you can try stacking more before transferring to the pan, but your stack will get wobbly and might fall!). Cover and let rise for 1 hour.
After 30 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 350F. Once the dough is finished rising, transfer to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is deeply golden brown.
While it bakes, make the salty maple icing. Add the powdered sugar, maple syrup, salt, and vanilla to a small bowl and whisk until smooth. If the icing is still very thick (and not pourable), add a splash of milk and whisk again.
Once the bread is removed from the oven, let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack or plate and drizzle the maple icing on top. Enjoy while it’s still warm!