Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Loaves

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Loaves

These cinnamon sugar pretzel loaves were inspired by pain d’epi french bread. Pain d’epi is simply french bread shaped and cut to resemble a wheat stalk. It’s so pretty and I thought it would be a lovely way to shape pretzel dough as well! This recipe is absolutely delicious and as easy as it gets. I highly recommend serving it with the attached cream cheese icing dip. For traditional cinnamon sugar pretzels, check out this recipe too!

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Loaves

Dough Ingredients:
1.5 cups warm milk
1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) dry yeast
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp melted butter
3.5 cups all-purpose flour

Cinnamon Sugar Topping Ingredients:
4 tbsp melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a stand mixer bowl or large mixing bowl, add 1.5 cups warm milk and sprinkle with 1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant dry yeast. Give that a quick whisk and let it sit for just a few minutes (up to 10 minutes) to make sure it’s active.
2. Add the brown sugar, salt, and melted butter and whisk to combine. Add the all-purpose flour one cup at a time with your dough hook attachment (or a wooden spoon) and mix together until you form a dough.
3. Continue to knead the dough with a dough hook on low speed for another 3 minutes.
4. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.
5. Divide the dough into two equal pieces using a dough knife or any knife that you have on hand. I LOVE my dough knife and highly recommend grabbing one. I use it to scrape sticky flour off my counter for quick clean up too!
6. Shape the dough by slowly rolling one dough ball at a time into a long 18″ logs with your hands. Try to get the dough logs to be as even thickness as possible from top to bottom. Transfer the shaped dough to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
7. With clean kitchen scissors, cut deep leaves about 3 inches apart down the dough starting at the top. Cut the leaf cuts at about a 45-degree angle. Gently pull the leaves apart alternating sides. Be careful not to cut too deep so that you don’t cut through the dough and separate the loaf.
8. Repeat with the 2nd loaf. You can also get creative and make different shapes! For my second loaf, I formed a wreath shape by making a ring before cutting the leaves.
9. Let the shaped and cut dough rest for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 4ooF.
10. Bake each loaf for 15-18 minutes or until nicely browned.
11. Transfer to a wire rack with parchment paper underneath and brush with melted butter. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and generously sprinkle all over each loaf while butter is still wet so it will stick.

Cream Cheese Icing Dip

Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients:
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp heavy cream

Directions:

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients and whisk with a fork. I highly recommend sifting the powdered sugar to avoid a clumpy mixture.