For day 4 of my series “12 Days of Thanksgiving Recipes” we are making an apple, cheese, and hot honey pull apart bread! This bread is the Thanksgiving side of my dreams. It is cheesy, carb-y, and has a hint of sweet and spicy from the apple and hot honey. This one definitely needs to be on your Thanksgiving menu this year!
Above all that, this bread really isn’t that hard to make, but it looks and tastes AMAZING — aka this is a perfect way to really wow your guests without doing too much extra work.
what ingredients do i need for this pull apart bread?
- milk
- sugar
- yeast
- butter
- egg
- flour
- salt
- garlic powder
- honey
- hot sauce
- red pepper flakes
- apple
- cheese
These ingredients are all really standard, household ingredients, so hopefully you will already have everything on hand!
what is hot honey and how do i make it?
Hot honey is magical and wonderful. It seems like it is a more recent phenomenon, or at least has become a lot more popular as of late! Either way, hot honey is exactly what it sounds like — hot (spicy) honey! And it is very easy to make. You can buy hot honey pre-made, but it is so easy to make at home I don’t think it’s worth buying. All you need for hot honey is honey, a hot sauce, and red pepper flakes.
The hot sauce you use is really up to you, however, I would stick to a red hot sauce, especially for this bread. Venturing into saucy green hot sauces or things like that probably won’t work best for this bread. But, hot sauces like Franks Red Hot, Sriracha, Tobasco, etc, these all work great.
To make the hot honey, simply add the hot sauce and red pepper flakes to the honey and stir until well combined. Then you’ve got yourself some delicious hot honey! It is still really sweet but has a nice, subtle kick to it.
what type of apples should i use?
For this bread I would stick to a red apple. Green apples would be a little too tart for what we are going for with this bread. But any type of red apple should work just fine! I love using Fuji apples, as they are sweet, but not overly sweet.
what type of cheese should i use?
The cheese is such an important part of this bread! It adds so much flavor and who doesn’t love a cheesy bread. We want to use a cheese that will melt well and pair well with the other flavors of this bread. When I make this bread I like to use muenster cheese, but mozzarella or white cheddar would also work great!
how do i assemble the bread?
Once the dough has risen and doubled in size, turn it out onto a surface and cut it into 12 equal sized pieces. I like to do this by first cutting the dough into 4 pieces, then cutting each of those into 3 pieces.
Take one piece and flatten it out into a circle. You can use a rolling pin for this, but I just like to use my hands. The circle should be about 3-4 inches wide. Brush a thin layer of butter on the dough. Add 1-2 slices of apple on one half of the circle. Drizzle a bit of hot honey over the apple, then top with 1-2 tbsp of cheese. Carefully fold the dough (starting with the edge without filling) in half.
Repeat this with the remaining pieces of dough. Transfer each piece to a greased loaf pan. It may be tight, but they should all fit.
Here are pictures of the process to make it more clear!
other recipes from my 12 days of thanksgiving series:
apple, cheese, and hot honey pull apart bread
ingredients
dough
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 1 egg
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
filling
- 3 tbsp butter room temp
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 apple fuji, gala, honeycrisp, etc.
- 1 cup shredded cheese muenster, mozzarella, white cheddar, etc.
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp hot sauce like franks red hot, sriracha, tobasco, etc.
- pinch of red pepper flakes
instructions
- Heat milk to 105-110 degrees. If you don't have a temp reader, heat it for 30-40 seconds in the microwave.
- Add warm milk, sugar, and yeast to a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Add melted butter and egg and mix until combined.
- Add flour, salt, and garlic powder. Mix for 5-7 minutes until the dough is well mixed and soft, but not sticky. Cover the bowl with a lightweight kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let it rise until it is doubled in size, about 60 minutes.
- While the dough is almost done rising, prep the filling ingredients. Add the room temp butter to a bowl with the dried parsley, garlic powder, and salt. Stir until combined. Core the apple and cut into thin slices. To make the hot honey, add honey, hot sauce, and red pepper flakes to a bowl. Stir to combine.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 12 equal sized pieces. To do this I like to cut the dough in 4 pieces, then cut each piece into 3 pieces.
- (See pictures above this recipe for extra help on assembling) Take one piece of dough and use your hands to flatten it into a circle, about 3-4 inches wide. Brush the circle with a thin layer of garlic butter. Place 1-2 slices of apple on the top half of the circle. Drizzle 1/2 tsp of hot honey onto the apples, then top it with 1-2 tbsp of cheese.
- Grab the bottom half of the circle (the half without the filling) and fold it over the rest of the circle, into a half circle. Repeat this process with the remaining pieces of dough.
- Grease a standard loaf pan and layer the half circles in. They should be stacked side by side (refer to picture above). It will be tight, but they should all fit in the pan. Brush the top of the loaf with any remaining garlic butter. Cover the loaf and let it rise for 30 minutes.
- While the bread is rising, preheat the oven to 350. Uncover the loaf and wrap it with tinfoil. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30 minutes with the tinfoil on. After 30 minutes, remove the tinfoil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, until the cheese and bread are starting to brown.
- Transfer to a cooling rack. To serve, the bread should easily pull apart into pieces. Pull the bread apart and drizzle with any remaining hot honey. Enjoy!
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