Homemade Buttery Cinnamon Bread (Dollywood Copycat)

Coated in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, this iconic Dollywood Cinnamon Bread is a scrumptious way to start your day. This soft pull-apart yeast bread has been a top-rated recipe for over 4 years among Butter & Baggage readers. Your family will love this gooey breakfast treat – make a double batch, one is never enough!

This Cinnamon Bread Recipe is Iconic!

While soft gooey cinnamon rolls are my all time favorite weekend brunch treat, this gooey, light as a feather Dollywood cinnamon bread is a close second. The girls just love this stuff and I even had my “not sweet eating” husband digging in. The hardest part is waiting for it to cool long enough so that you don’t burn your fingers.

Don’t take my word for it, this recipe gets more visits than any other recipe on Butter & Baggage year after year!

Try serving it with a savory quiche or a ham and potato breakfast casserole, the sweet and savory are a great combination.

The recipe came about because of a trip we had to cancel to Dollywood. Natalie is my roller coaster loving daughter but somehow she was born into a family that doesn’t like roller coasters.

She was so disappointed on missing out on the roller coaster but also she wouldn’t get to try the famous Dollywood Cinnamon bread. So of course I had to try to recreate it for her.

There are “official” recipes out there that have been sanctioned by Dollywood, so I started there and made a few changes here and there. We ended up with an amazing cinnamon bread that is coated with butter and then dipped into brown sugar and cinnamon.

The super soft dough is light as can be, you can eat a loaf by yourself before you even realize it! 🙀

This cinnamon pull-apart bread is different from the Dollywood version in that theirs is topped with a powdered sugar glaze and served with apple butter. We tried it with both of these additions, and preferred this version much better.

The cinnamon bread is pretty sweet and adding a frosting on top was too much for even my sugar lovers. Apple butter, while delish, was just lost on this bread and we didn’t like the combination.

The texture is so light and fluffy, it makes smallish loaves so if you have a crowd, double the recipe.

Why you’ll love this recipe for Cinnamon Bread inspired by Dollywood

• Gooey brown sugar and cinnamon glaze gets down into crevices in the bread.
• It’s coated in butter!!
• The dough is light and soft.
• It’s easy to make
• You can make the dough the night before

hnWhile this might sound like a cinnamon roll just baked in a loaf pan, it is very different. The dough itself is much softer than cinnamon roll dough. This is what makes it so easy to pull off sections. Also the topping is not just brown sugar and cinnamon, it has a little corn syrup which makes it gooier than a cinnamon roll. You’ll need a napkin!

A Few Key Ingredients

Check the recipe card below for a full list along with measurement.

• Bread Flour – with its higher protein content, it gives it a better texture. You can substitute All Purpose flour if you need to.
• Yeast -Active dry yeast or rapid will work, you only need half of packet so you might as well double the recipe. What are you going to do with half a packet of yeast.
• Corn syrup – This comes in either light or dark, you want light corn syrup. Light just refers to the color, not the calorie content.

What is unique about Dollywood cinnamon bread is the way it’s formed after the dough has risen. In order to achieve the gooey topping in each bite, slits are cut deep into the dough and then the dough is dipped into butter and then into a cinnamon-sugar mixture. The slits allow not only gooey glaze in every bite, but it makes it easy to pull off a section of the bread to eat.

How to make Cinnamon Bread

Step 1: you need some yeast

Add the proofed yeast mixture to the dry ingredients with some melted butter.

Step 2: knead

Knead for about 5 minutes with a dough hook in a stand mixer, cover and let it rise in a warm place.

Step 3: form into loaves

// parchment paper / small sheet pan //

Step 4: make it sweet

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in one dish and melted butter and corn syrup in another shallow dish.

Step 5: make it buttery

Cut 4 deep crosswise slits across each loaf, and then dip both sides into the butter-corn syrup mixture.

Step 6: coat the loaves

Coat each loaf in the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture making sure you get into each of the creases you made in the dough.

Step 7: make it gooey

Place the loaves in parchment paper lined loaf pans and drizzle the remaining butter over the top, then sprinkle with remaining brown sugar mixture.

// disposable loaf pans //

Step 8: bake

Bake for about 30 minutes and then let cool for about 15 minutes if you can.

Cinnamon bread is best when it’s warm. Let it cool for a few minutes and then use your fingers to break off a piece. This recipe makes two small loaves.

If you’ve had the cinnamon bread at Dollywood, let me know how this one compares.

Several people have asked about putting all of the dough in one loaf pan instead of two. I have tried it that way and it is fantastic but a little different. You will have more soft bread and not as much gooey topping like you do with the smaller loaves. It is less sweet because the topping doesn’t seep into the bread as much. Both work, it just depends what your preference is. I prefer the smaller loaves. Just double the recipe and make four loaves.

If you loved this recipe, give it a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating! Also, snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #butterandbaggage and tagging me @butterandbaggage.

Homemade Buttery Cinnamon Bread (Dollywood Copycat)

Author: Barbara Curry

Coated in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, this iconic Dollywood Cinnamon Bread is a scrumptious way to start your day. This soft pull-apart yeast bread has been a top-rated recipe for over 4 years among Butter & Baggage readers. Your family will love this gooey breakfast treat – make a double batch, one is never enough!

4.97 from 56 votes

Print Pin

PREP: 2 hours hours

COOK: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients

 

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DOUGH

• ▢ ¾ teaspoon yeast
• ▢ ½ cup water
• ▢ 1 ½ cups bread flour
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 2 tablespoons butter melted
• ▢ cooking spray

TOPPING

• ▢ ¼ cup sugar
• ▢ ¼ cup brown sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• ▢ 6 tablespoons butter melted
• ▢ 2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Instructions

 

• Dough: Add yeast to a bowl with ½ cup of warm water, add a pinch of sugar and let it sit until it starts to foam, about 5 minutes. If it doesn’t get foamy, throw it out and try a new pack of yeast.
• In a stand mixer, combine the flour and salt and add the melted butter and yeast. Make sure the butter is not hot. Knead with the dough hook for 5-8 minutes, until it is smooth. Place it in a bowl sprayed with cooking spray and cover. Place in a warm area and let rise for about an hour until double in size.
• Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray. Punch down the dough and cut it in half. Shape each half into a three by six inch rectangle. And place on a baking sheet. Spray some plastic wrap with cooking spray and cover the dough. Let it rise until it is about double, 30 minutes.
• Topping: In a pie dish, whisk the melted butter and corn syrup together. In a separate dish, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon.
• Preheat the oven to 350º and line two nine by five inch loaf pans with parchment paper.
• Cut 4 deep slashes across the top of each loaf, cutting about half way through. The dough will be very soft and will deflate as you work with it. Dip each loaf into the butter mixture, turning to coat both sides. Then place it in the brown sugar mixture making sure it is completely coated and the topping has gone into the slashes. Place in the loaf pans.
• Pour the remaining butter mixture over each loaf. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar mixture over the top. Bake until lightly brown, about 25 minutes. Lift the bread out of the pans and let cool on a baking rack for about 15 minutes.

Video

Barbara’s Tips + Notes

• Make sure neither the water nor the butter is too hot or it will kill the yeast, if the yeast does not get foamy, try again with new yeast and cooler water.
• Try placing the dough in a warm microwave to rise. Boil some water in the microwave and then place the dough in the microwave and shut the door.
• You can use all purpose flour instead of bread flour.
• Light corn syrup refers to the color and not the calorie count.

Nutrition

Calories: 343kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 336mg | Potassium: 68mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 471IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 1mg

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