Apple Cinnamon Streusel Bread

Delicately crumbed yet sturdy enough to support those sweetly tart apples, this Apple Cinnamon Streusel Bread is ridiculously delicious.

The past week or so has been a blur of ever rising temperatures, the great attempts to get caught up on the mundane tasks that plague every household (hello 982537392 loads of laundry), and a sneaky little FaceTime call from my niece when her mom left her phone unlocked.  Hysterically, I am now officially known as the “Cat Aunt”.  It is a comically accurate nickname, and while Parmie and Brie begrudgingly meow “hello” to their cat cousin Cleo, this house officially stays a 2 cat household.  As cute as a new kitten would be, I think all family members, feline and human, would seriously revolt. 

A good amount of recipe tweaking has been happening lately in addition to regular, everyday activities.  I have found sometimes it is best for me to put something on the back burner and come back to it if it is stumping me a bit in trying to translate exactly what I am looking for, or translating those rough “pinches of this or that” into measurable quantities to be able to replicate it in other kitchens.  As there is only so much food we can eat and maintain healthy figures/freeze emergency freezer meals, sometimes this can be a longer process than I anticipate.  It is excellent practice to see what can be streamlined, made more accessible, and most importantly, what NOT to do in the experiment phases. 

The Streusel topping is a crackly contrast to the soft bread and silken apples.

One of these recipes I have been playing around with for a while now is for this Apple Cinnamon Streusel Bread.  Yet another apple recipe, I have finally fully embraced that apples are one of my favorite fruits.  Funnily enough, I am mildly allergic to raw apple, so I have to eat it on a regular basis to have my body be fine with it.  Cooked apples I have no problem with, so I have a tendency to eat a lot of apples in baked form, like this, this, and this.  I adore quick breads because they have a little more oomph and structure than delicately whimsical cakes, and to me, for whatever reason, make more sense to eat as an everyday snack.  This Apple Cinnamon Streusel Bread firmly falls right in between the quick bread and cake category for me, as the texture of the crumb lends itself more to the quick bread family, but the toppings and natural sweetness of the apples can lean towards an everyday cake sans frosting.

The apples macerate for an hour or so before you layer everything in the bread tin to bake.  This step is crucial as I found that skipping it actually creates a soggy bread in the middle because there was just too much moisture for the bread to handle.   I also found through trial and error that the size of the apple slices matters quite a bit in the baking process as well - too thick and they create a soggy mess in the middle.  Part of the reason to be so meticulous about the apple slices being thin and macerating them is because this is baked in a bread tin - the loaf is quite thick and takes longer to bake in the oven than a shallower pan would take, like a cake pan.  I briefly contemplated using a different pan, but the structure of the bread itself really is more sturdy than a true cake is. 

Throughout the testing and tweaking process, I also found that room temperature eggs and butter and milk really did make a difference in the rise of the bread.  It created a lighter texture, more height, while maintaining the strength to support the apples.  I played around with different flours as well, and found that making a modified cake flour actually created a more tender baked good rather than plain all purpose flour.  Just little differences here and there that make a good baked good, excellent.

To me, this Apple Cinnamon Streusel Bread is perfection with a cup of tea.

This Apple Cinnamon Streusel Bread is everything. It is the perfect counterpart to a soothing cup of tea mid afternoon.  It is delicious eaten over the sink, with your hand cupping under your mouth to catch little crumbs trying to escape down the drain as you hastily start your day.  It is a smile in a packed lunch to break up and silence the noise of an insane day.  Faintly sweet and with delicate wisps of vanilla, the sturdy little crumb is the foundation for slivers of sweetly tart, cinnamon sugared apples that have been softened almost to the point of heart meltingly tender.  The layers of cinnamon filling help create an effervescent nostalgic flavor as you process the different tastes and textures in each bite.  Topping off the bread is a sturdy little cap of Cinnamon Streusel, creating a much welcomed crunch and grit between your teeth in contrast to the silken apples and softly sweet bread.  An everyday quick bread, but an extraordinary one to sweeten up the middle of the week if you are feeling life is overwhelming and mundane at the same time. 

Preening in the mid-afternoon sunshine, this Apple Cinnamon Streusel Bread is gloriously perfect to perk up the midweek slump, in a fancy faced brunch, or aas  sneaky little snack.

Apple Cinnamon Streusel Bread

Author:  Iris Anna Gohn

Servings:  One 9x5 Loaf, so 10-12 slices

This Apple Streusel Cinnamon Bread seems as though it is complicated, but I have broken down the instructions for each element to make it very easy in the grand scheme of things.  For example, when you take out the initial butter, eggs, and milk to come to room temperature, you can also prepare the apples as they have to macerate for an hour.  Once I get the apples macerating, I measure out the rest of my ingredients in separate bowls as it makes assembly of the bread before baking THAT much simpler.

DO NOT skip macerating the apples for an hour, and DO NOT slice them thickly.  The long macerating time is to help the apples soften and release a decent amount of their natural juice/water before baking, otherwise the bread WILL be soggy in the middle.  Trust me on this one - it took me a few different tries and techniques to find that perfect balance.  When layering the apples in the bread, I did not overlap the apples, just nestled them next to each other.  Again, this was to help the bread cook evenly throughout.

When lining your bread pan with parchment paper, I always do it so there are wings that comfortably lay over the edges to help ensure I can lift the loaf out easily when transferring to a wire rack.  

Lastly, I highly, highly recommend letting the eggs and milk come to room temperature when you soften the butter.  Since apples are so dense and heavy, having all the ingredients start off at room temperature really does make a difference in helping the leavening agent to create a good rise in the bread. :)

Ingredients

Cinnamon Streusel Topping:

• 1/4 Cup Granulated White Sugar
• 1 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
• 1/8 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp Melted Salted Butter

Cinnamon Filling:

• 1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar
• 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

Cinnamon Apples Slices:

• 2 Small Apples, peeled and sliced into 1/8” slices (or 1 very large Apple, or 1 1/2 medium sized Apples). Be sure to choose a firm fleshed, tart and sweet apple, such as Braeburn, Honeycrisp, or Granny Smith
• Zest of 1 Small Lemon
• Juice of 1/2 Small Lemon
• 1 Tbsp Granulated White Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar
• 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

For the Bread:

• 1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 2 Tbsp Cornstarch
• 1 3/4 Tsp Baking POWDER
• 1/2 Cup Salted Butter (1 Stick), softened to room temperature
• 2/3 Cup Granulated White Sugar
• 1 1/2 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
• 2 Eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 Cup Milk, room temperature

Directions

For the Cinnamon Streusel Topping:

1. In a Microwave safe bowl or on the Stovetop in a small saucepan, melt the butter and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and cinnamon.
3. Add the cooled, melted butter to the small bowl and mix together with a fork, until all the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated with the melted butter.  Set aside.

For the Cinnamon Filling:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and the cinnamon.  Set aside.

For the Cinnamon Apples:

1. Peel and core the apples, then slice into very thin, 1/8” slices.  Put sliced apples into a medium bowl.
2. Gently toss the sliced apples with the lemon zest, lemon juice, cinnamon, and both sugars.  
3. Let apples macerate for an hour to help release a good portion of their juices from the sugar and to soften the apples as well.  

For the Bread:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.  Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder.  Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium high speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed with a spatula.  This should take roughly 3 minutes or so.
4. Reduce mixer speed to low, then add the vanilla and each egg, one at a time.  Each egg should take roughly 1 minute to fully incorporate into the batter.
5. Add half of the dry ingredients to the mixer, and mix on low speed for roughly 1 to 2 minutes before adding in the rest of the dry ingredients.  Continue mixing for another minute or two until the flour is absorbed into the wet ingredients.
6. Add the milk into the mixer and when the milk is almost incorporated into the batter (roughly 1 minute), turn the mixer speed up to medium high to incorporate some air into the batter for a minute, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed.
7. Once the batter is thoroughly light and fluffy, turn off the mixer, release the paddle attachment, and scrape down the sides of the bowl.  It’s time to assemble!
8. Layer one third of the batter into the prepared bread pan.  Carefully, in thin, even lines, arrange apple slices into the batter, trying to make sure the batter underneath is as even as possible.
9. Sprinkle half of the Cinnamon Filling evenly over the layer of apples.
10. Repeat another layer with one third more batter, a thin layer of apples, then the remaining Cinnamon Filling.  *Note.  You will most likely still have apple slices with the apple juice/syrup left over - save them and use to top oatmeal or yogurt!
11. Carefully spread the remaining batter on top of the Cinnamon filling.  Try and keep the batter as even as possible - it is okay if it does not reach all the way to the corners of the bread tin.  
12. Sprinkle the Cinnamon Streusel Topping evenly over the top of the batter.  
13. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out cleanly.  Start checking around the 1 hour mark, but since the apples have so much moisture it will most likely take the full bake time to ensure the bread completely cooks through in the middle.
14. Cool for 10 minutes in the bread pan, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.  Store leftovers loosely covered with aluminum foil - this bread is pretty moist from the apples.