Last week, my 8-year-old son walked into the house carrying a large box, exclaiming, “Mom, I found this at the front door!” Seeing the surprise and glee that immediately swept over me, he smiled and tried to pass the heavy box to me in a cute, cumbersome, 3rd-grader type of way and asked, “What is it?”
“Fruit!” I replied, spying the unmistakable branding on the box that makes me feel right at home: Family Tree Farms. Suddenly, I am transported back to the Kings River in Central California – to jet skis and barbecues, to families and friends gathered, and fruit trees exploding with the absolute most delectable fruit imaginable.
Kings River, California – Summer 2009
This box of fruit from my farmer friends nearly brought me to tears. Those happy, nostalgic, feeling-completely-loved-and-not-forgotten-after-moving-far-far-away-to-Alaska sorts of tears. Inside the box was two flats of a brand new, fragrant, sweet variety of yellow saturn peaches called “Peach Pie” – just for me to try and play around with in my kitchen.
And play I did!
This is a summer version of my extremely popular Caramel Apple Pull-Apart Bread. The original recipe was the 3rd most popular recipe on Alaska from Scratch in 2012. I truly hope you love this peach version as much, if not more! For step-by-step photos on assembling this bread, click here.
Big thanks to Family Tree Farms for the beautiful peaches! Stay tuned for another recipe featuring their peaches on Friday. Check out this awesome video highlighting the Peach Pie variety (plus a quick, fun recipe) from Family Tree Farms.
More peach love from Alaska from Scratch:
Grilled Peaches with Cinnamon Honey Butter
Sugar-Crusted Salmon with Avocado Peach Salsa
Caramelized Peach Pull-Apart Bread
Cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread, studded with sweet summer peaches and drizzled with a warm caramel glaze.
Yields: 1 loaf
- For the Dough:
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 2-1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (plus 1/4 cup or more, if needed)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- For the Filling:
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 3-4 small ripe peaches, finely chopped (I used Peach Pie yellow saturn peaches from [Family Tree Farms|http://familytreefarms.com/index.php])
- For the Glaze:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
To the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine warm water and yeast.
In a microwave-safe dish, melt the butter until just melted, but not too hot. Stir in milk and vanilla. Set aside.
Add flour, sugar, and salt on top of water/yeast mixture in mixing bowl. Turn mixer on low, add eggs, then stream in milk/butter/vanilla mixture gradually until a soft dough forms. Add flour by the tablespoon until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball. Turn mixer up to medium speed and knead 3 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm place 90 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt for the filling. Set aside. Prepare the peaches and melt butter just before the dough is done rising. Grease a standard 9x5 loaf pan.
Turn risen dough out onto a floured work surface and roll out into a large rectangle (roughly 12x24 inches, but it doesn't need to be perfect). Dough will be rather thin.
Brush dough with melted butter. Sprinkle the entire surface with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Using a pizza wheel, cut dough into equal-sized, long strips, about 3-4 inches wide. Sprinkle the first strip with 1/6th of the chopped peaches. Lay the next strip on top of the first strip. Sprinkle with peaches and cover with another strip. Repeat until all the strips are stacked on top of each other.
Cut the stacked strips into 4-6 equal stacks of squares (about 4-5 inches in size). Stack the squares vertically into prepared loaf pan. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise 30-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350. Bake the bread on the middle rack of oven 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through (check center for doughiness). If the bread gets too brown on top before it is done cooking in the center, cover loosely with foil for the remainder of cooking time.
Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze by adding the butter, brown sugar and milk to a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute.
Turn loaf out onto a rack with parchment paper underneath it. Drizzle the loaf with the warm caramel glaze. Pull apart and enjoy warm, dipping the bread in the remaining glaze on the parchment paper.
Best enjoyed the same day it is baked.
Disclaimer: Family Tree Farms provided me with a box of peaches as a gift at no cost to me. I was not required to write a post or a review in exchange for the gift nor was I compensated in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.