Sweet Pull Apart Bread

I love baking cakes with carrots, especially around Easter. Do you know why? Because bunnies like to eat carrots, just like me, of course. I leave the eggs for the Easter bunny – this cake recipe is vegan without eggs but still super fluffy and moist. A carrot cake is typical for Easter time, and so is yeast bread. I have combined these two ideas: a fluffy yeasty dough and carrots. You’ll be surprised because the sweet pull apart bread tastes delicious and contains very little sugar – you can enjoy it all year round. You can easily pluck the pieces of our sweet pull apart bread with your fingers. This recipe is fun to eat for everybody, not just for the children!

Ingredients for making Sweet Pull Apart Bread:

• Wheat flour type 550
• Brown sugar
• Vanilla sugar
• Dry yeast (alternatively fresh yeast)
• Lemon zest from one organic lemon (or a bag of baking lemon powder)
• Salt
• Carrot juice
• Ground almonds
• Vegan butter substitute
• Apple sauce
• Cinnamon
• Marzipan carrots for decoration

How to make Sweet Pull Apart Bread

For this sweet pull apart bread, we will firstly prepare the dough. Secondly, we will make the delicious carrot filling, after which we will layer the dough with the filling before baking it to fluffy deliciousness with a caramelised crust.

Preparing the Yeast Dough

• 500g wheat flour
• 50g brown sugar
• 1 sachet 8 g vanilla sugar
• 1 sachet 7g dry yeast (alternatively 25g fresh yeast)
• 1 tsp salt
• 190ml carrot juice
• 50g vegan butter substitute
• 70g apple sauce

I use a large mixing bowl where the kneaded yeast dough is allowed to rise. The dough should double in size.
Pour all the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, dry yeast, and salt into the large bowl and mix everything thoroughly.
Dissolve the butter in another bowl, add the carrot juice and apple sauce, and heat gently. Add the liquid to the flour mixture and knead into an elastic dough. It should feel like you are pinching your cheek 🙂
It works wonderfully with your hands – if it gets too sticky between your fingers, you can sprinkle a little more flour on top.
Form a smooth ball of dough and place it back in the bowl.

Cover the yeast dough with a clean kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until it has roughly doubled in volume. I prefer to place the bowl in a slightly preheated oven, at a maximum of 30° C (85° F). Above 40° C (105° F) the yeast fungi dies. Turn off the oven heat. I also put a small bowl of water in the oven. The yeast likes moist air. Moisture prevents it from drying out on the surface. You have to make it comfortable for the yeast (it’s a living unicellular fungus) so it can multiply and grow!
I have had good experiences with dry yeast. I always have a supply in my drawer. You no longer need to dissolve it in liquid, and it rises just as well as fresh yeast. I couldn’t taste any difference in the flavor either, but perhaps you have to try it for yourself.

Making the Sweet Carrot Filling

• 200g finely grated carrots
• 50g applesauce
• 50g ground almonds
• 100g melted vegan butter substitute
• 15g brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Mix the apple sauce, almonds, and grated carrots in a bowl and set aside.

Melt the butter substitute, stir in the cinnamon and sugar, and set aside.

Now flour the work surface and place the risen yeast dough on it. Flour the rolling pin and roll out the dough into a rectangle.
The ideal size is about 35 x 45 cm (14 x 18 inch).

Filling & Layering the Sweet Pull Apart Bread

First, cut the dough into four strips and then into rectangles. The size of the rectangles should be roughly the same as the loaf tin you are using. I recommend a 28-30cm (11-12inch) loaf tin (the ceramic tin I used here is a bit shorter and broader) – and generously grease the tin with vegan butter substitute.

Brush the top of the rectangles with the butter-cinnamon-sugar mixture. Keep the rest of the mixture to cover the sweet pull apart bread later.

Now spread the carrot mixture loosely over the rectangles.

Then, stack three rectangles on top of each other and lift the dough with the filling packets vertically into the loaf tin.

Spread the rest of the butter-cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top. This will give it a beautifully caramelized crust.

Place the filled loaf tin in the slightly warm oven and leave to rise again for about 30 minutes. Once the dough has expanded, you can bake it at 175° C (345° F) for about 40 minutes. Always use top and bottom heat because yeast dough does not like convection. When it turns brown on top, use aluminum foil to cover it and continue baking.

Once the sweet pull apart bread is ready, you can decorate it with the small marzipan carrots. Just stick them between the folds of the dough.
Enjoy your meal, now it’s time to pluck – I can’t wait to see how much you like it!

Some more Recipe Inspirations: 

• Vegan pesto pinwheels
• Banana pancake recipe
• Persimmon tarts
• Vegan German Schmalzgebäck
• Vegan banana bread recipe
• Easy vegan apple crisp recipe
• Yeast cake with sea buckthorn

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