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Orange pull-apart bread is a breakfast dream! Similar to monkey bread or bubble bread, this homemade brunch treat features soft and pillowy bread coated in a sticky delicious brown sugar-orange coating.
Drizzled with a bright and tangy orange butter glaze, this pull-apart bread bakes up beautifully golden and is simply irresistible still warm from the oven.
How to Make Orange Pull-Apart Bread
Citrus – Sweet orange zest flavors the brown sugar coating, and fresh orange zest and juice add brightness to the glaze. You can also use tangerines, blood oranges, or Meyer lemons.
Dough – I use a basic sweet yeast dough enriched with whole milk for this pull-apart bread. It’s simple to make and is ready to use after a 60 minutes rise. Once the dough rises, gently punch down the dough to release air and let stand for 5 minutes.
Brown Sugar Coating – The caramel-like brown sugar coating is very smiliar to the caramel sauce from classic sticky buns. To make the coating, whisk together melted butter, sugar, light brown sugar, fresh orange zest, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth.
Baking Pan – Coat a 10-cup bundt pan (or tube pan) generously with nonstick spray to prevent the bread from sticking.
Shape Bread – Pull off pieces of dough and roll each piece into a 1 1/2-inch ball. Gently roll the balls, one by one, in the brown sugar coating and arrange evenly in prepared bundt pan. Add any leftover coating to the pan and cover the pan with plastic wrap. Let rest for 20 minutes while preheating oven.
Bake Bread – Bake pull-apart bread for 40 minutes, until golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 190-200°F. If the top is browning too quickly, tent loosely with foil. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then carefully invert onto a serving plate. Let cool for 20 minutes.
Orange Glaze – To make the glaze, whisk together melted butter, salt, fresh orange zest, fresh orange juice, and powdered sugar in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the bread and let set before serving.
Cinnamon Variation – If you’d prefer to make a cinnamon version of this pull-apart bread, simply omit the orange zest from the brown sugar coating and add in 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Swap the citrus glaze for a vanilla butter glaze: whisk together 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, and 2 tablespoons milk in a small bowl until smooth.
More delicious brunch ideas to try:
- Overnight Belgian-Style Yeast Waffles
- Homemade Orange Rolls
- Chocolate Hazelnut Star Bread
- Overnight Brioche Cinnamon Rolls
Did you try this Orange Pull-Apart Bread? Let me know by leaving a comment and rating below!
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Orange Pull-Apart Bread
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Orange pull-apart bread is a breakfast dream! This homemade brunch treat features soft and pillowy bread with a gooey brown sugar-orange coating.
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 1/2 cups (490 g) flour, divided
- 1 packet (7 g) instant yeast
- 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- pinch of nutmeg
- 1 cup (240 g) whole milk
- 1/4 cup (56 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 large egg (50 g), at room temperature
Coating
- 1/2 cup (112 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
- 1/2 cup (110 g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp (12 g) fresh orange zest
- 1 tsp (4 g) vanilla extract
Glaze
- 1 Tbsp (14 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tsp (4 g) fresh orange zest
- 2 Tbsp (30 g) fresh orange juice
- 3/4 cup (90 g) powdered sugar
Instructions
- For the dough, combine 2 cups (280 g) flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and nutmeg in a large mixer bowl; mix on low speed until incorporated. Heat milk in a microwave-safe measuring cup for 45 seconds to 1 minute, until very warm (120-130°F).
- Add warm milk, butter, and egg to flour mixture and mix until combined; mix in remaining 1 1/2 cups (210 g) flour. Switch out the flat beater for a dough hook, and knead dough for 3 minutes, until smooth and elastic. The dough is ready when it feels tacky but doesn’t stick to your fingers (if necessary, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time while kneading).
- Place dough in a large bowl coated with nonstick spray and cover with plastic. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. To check if dough has doubled, lightly flour two fingers and press them down into center of dough. If indentations remain, gently press down dough; cover and let rest 5 minutes. Spray a 10-cup bundt pant generously with nonstick spray.
- For the coating, combine melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, orange zest, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth.
- Form approximately 24 1 1/2-inch balls of dough. Gently roll the balls, one by one, in the brown sugar coating and arrange in the prepared bundt pan. Add any leftover coating to the pan and cover the pan with plastic wrap. Let rest for 20 minutes while preheating oven to 350°F.
- Bake pull-apart bread for 40 minutes, until golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 190-200°F. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then carefully invert onto a serving plate. Let cool for 20 minutes.
- For the glaze, whisk together melted butter, salt, orange zest and juice, and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Drizzle glaze over bread and and let set before serving.
- Pull-apart bread tastes best the first day. Wrap leftovers in foil and store at room temperature for 1 day; re-warm in a 300°F oven before serving.
Notes
Cinnamon Variation: If you’d prefer to make a cinnamon version of this pull-apart bread, simply omit the orange zest from the brown sugar coating and add in 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Swap the citrus glaze for a vanilla butter glaze: whisk together 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, and 2 tablespoons milk in a small bowl until smooth.
The most delicious pull-apart bread! The brown sugar coating is perfect with the orange glaze and we love the light and citrusy flavors.
Thank you Jane, so glad you tried this bread! 🙂
Hi. Do you go by the gram measurements when making the recipe? I weigh a cup of flour at 120 grams but I see your measurement is more so I wasn’t sure whether to use cups or metric. Thank you.
Hi Stephanie! I use the gram measurements and use 140 grams/cup of flour. Happy baking! 🙂