Lemon Roll Pull Apart Bread

Sweet and lemony, this Lemon Roll Pull-Apart Bread is a great mash up of lemon rolls and pull-apart bread. You won’t be able to stop at just one piece!

Love pull apart bread? You can also try this Chocolate Pull Apart Bread or this Red Velvet Pull Apart Bread.

Around our house, Easter is almost as big of a deal as Christmas. In fact, several weeks ago, my daughter came home from school and was so excited to tell me that Easter is in March this year instead of April. She’s practically counting down the days.

And I can see why they are excited. Coloring eggs, the Easter egg hunts, baskets full of chocolate, extra time spent with family – definitely all things to be excited about. And me? I’m always excited about the spring baking!!

I know that technically, lemon is a winter fruit, but there is something about its bright flavor and color that yells spring to me.  So when the nicer weather hits, and when Easter baking begins, all I can think of is lemon.  (Ok, ok – I think lemon year round, but especially in the spring!)

This Lemon Roll Pull-Apart Bread is so fun, and a little bit different from your typical rolls or pull-apart breads.  You make mini lemon rolls, then pile them in a loaf pan and bake them, making this fun pull-apart bread.

This Lemon Roll Pull Apart Bread is definitely a fun recipe for spring and it tastes amazing.  Little bites of rolled up lemon love – the edges were my favorite because the sugar became caramelized a bit – I really couldn’t get enough of it!

Ingredients

• Sugar: You will need granulated sugar for the bread and the filling, as well as some powdered sugar for the icing.
• Lemon Zest and Juice: The lemon zest will give the bread its lemon flavor. You’ll need a few lemons, as well as the juice from a lemon for the icing.
• Flour: I use all-purspose flour.
• Yeast: I used rapid rise yeast in this recipe. You could probably use regular active yeast – you just may need to give it some extra time to rise.
• Salt: This is to balance the flavors.
• Butter: You’ll use butter in each element of the recipe – the bread, the filling, and the icing. I use unsalted butter.
• Egg: The egg brings some richness to the bread.
• Milk: This is just for the icing. You could use any kind of milk you have on hand. You only need a little bit.

How to Make Lemon Roll Pull Apart Bread

1: Start by making your lemon sugar. This is simply lemon zest and sugar that you rub together to release the oils in the zest.

2: Make the dough by combining the flour, lemon sugar, yeast, and salt. Then add in the water and butter that have been warmed together. Mix this into the flour, along with the egg. Continue to add flour and mix the dough until it comes together. Take the dough and knead it until it is smooth and elastic, then let it rise.

3: Once the dough has risen, roll the dough into a long rectangle. Spread butter over the dough, then top with more lemon sugar.

4: Roll the dough up tightly, then slice it into 24 slices.

5: Take each slice and dip it in melted butter, then roll it in even more lemon sugar. Place the rolls in a loaf pan.

6: Let the rolls rise until doubled in size. Once risen, bake the loaf until golden brown.

7: Once the loaf is baked, invert it onto your serving platter. Make the icing by combining the powdered sugar, butter, milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Drizzle the icing over the warm loaf.

Tips and Tricks

One of my favorite parts of this recipe is the lemon sugar.  I learned this technique years ago, when I first started blogging, from a Dorie Greenspan cookbook.  You take sugar and lemon zest and rub them together, making a lemon infused sugar.  Not only is it therapeutic to rub them together, but the smell is amazing.  And the lemon flavor really gets infused into your whole recipe. So don’t skip the lemon sugar!

I like to serve this when it is still warm, but you can definitely also serve it at room temperature.

You can drizzle the icing with a spoon, or I like to place it in a ziplock bag, cut off the corner, and evenly drizzle it over the top.

More Lemon Recipes

Lemon Sunshine Cupcakes
Lemon Meringue Eclairs
Lemon Meringue Angel Cake

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Lemon Roll Pull Apart Bread

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Author: Deborah Harroun

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Rising Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 1 loaf

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

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Sweet and lemony, this Lemon Roll Pull-Apart Bread is a great mash up of lemon rolls and pull apart bread. You won’t be able to stop at just one piece!

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Ingredients

Bread:

• ▢ 2 tablespoons sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• ▢ 2 1/2 – 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 Rapid Rise Yeast
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 3/4 cup water
• ▢ 3 tablespoons butter
• ▢ 1 egg

Filling:

• ▢ 3/4 cup sugar
• ▢ 2 tablespoons lemon zest
• ▢ 2 tablespoons butter very soft
• ▢ 1/4 cup butter melted

Lemon Icing:

• ▢ 1 cup powdered sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon butter softened
• ▢ 2 tablespoons milk
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ▢ 1/2 tablespoon lemon zest

Instructions

• Combine the sugar and the lemon zest in a bowl and rub it together with your fingers until the zest is interspersed through the sugar.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 1 cup of the flour, the lemon sugar, dry yeast and the salt and stir until combined.
• Combine the water and the butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high in 15 second increments until it is very warm, but not hot to the touch (120º to 130ºF – the butter won’t melt completely).
• Add the butter mixture to the bowl with the flour along with the egg.
• Beat the mixture for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add 1 more cup of flour, then beat another 2 minutes on high, scraping the bowl occasionally. Add in just enough of the remaining flour so that the dough will form into a ball.
• Lightly flour a work surface, then knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic and it springs back when lightly touched with 2 fingers, 6 to 8 minutes. Cover with a towel and let the dough sit for 10 minutes.
• Spray a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
• For the filling, combine the sugar and the lemon zest and rub it together with your fingers until the zest is interspersed through the sugar. Measure out 1/4 cup of the mixture and set aside.
• Roll the dough into a long rectangle, 7 x 24-inches long. Spread the 2 tablespoons of soft butter evenly over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle the reserved 1/4 cup of sugar evenly over the butter. Beginning at the long end of the rectangle, roll it up tightly. Pinch the seams to seal. Cut the dough into 24 equal slices. Dip each slice into the melted butter, then into the remaining lemon sugar mixture. Place the slices in the prepared loaf pan.
• Cover the pan with a towel and let it sit in a warm, draft-free area until doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Bake the loaf until the bread is golden brown, 25-35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.
• In a bowl, beat the powdered sugar, butter, milk, lemon juice and lemon zest together until smooth and creamy. Drizzle the icing over the warm loaf.

Recipe Notes:

adapted from Fleischmann’s Yeast

Nutrition Information

Calories: 294kcal (15%), Carbohydrates: 46g (15%), Protein: 4g (8%), Fat: 11g (17%), Saturated Fat: 6g (38%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 0g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0g, Cholesterol: 43mg (14%), Sodium: 180mg (8%), Potassium: 23mg (1%), Fiber: 1g (4%), Sugar: 25g (28%)

Keywords: easter recipe, lemon bread, lemon recipe, pull apart bread