The much anticipated monkey bread recipe
I was going to start the Wednesday baking series with something simpler, but there were so many requests for the monkey bread recipe, I decided to start with that. Starting next week, though, I'll do some very basic bread-baking posts(like, "How to Knead Bread Dough"). I apologize to those of you who have no idea how to do yeast baking...read next week's post, and then come back to this one. 😉
This recipe can be made the night before you want to serve it, which is handy because then all you have to do is bake it in the morning. You can mix it by hand, or you can use a stand mixer like I do.
Monkey Bread
Cinnamon Nut Sugar(recipe is below)
1 package active dry yeast(2 ½ teaspoons)
¼ cup warm water(about 110 degrees Farenheit)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup melted butter
¾ cup warm milk
1 large egg
about 3 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup butter, melted
First, mix up the cinnamon sugar.
Cinnamon Nut Sugar
In a small bowl combine ¾ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, and ½ cup finely chopped pecans. Stir until blended.
Next, sprinkle yeast over warm water; stir briefly and let stand about 5 minutes. Add salt, sugar, melted butter, milk, and egg. Stir until blended.
Add 3 ¼ cups of the flour, one cup at a time, stirring after each addition. The dough should look about like this.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead 5-7 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
Cut dough into three equal pieces; then cut each portion into 16 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball.
Roll each ball in butter and then in sugar mixture. Stagger balls in layers in a greased 9-10 inch tube ring mold(about 2 ½ quart size0.
Sprinkle with any remaining sugar, and drizzle with any remaining butter.
Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until puffy(about 45 minutes) or in a refrigerator for 16-18 hours. I do the fridge option, and here's what it will look like after being left overnight.
If you've refrigerated the dough, let it sit on the counter at room temperature for about 30 minutes before baking. Bake the bread in a preheated 350 degree oven until well-browned, about 30 minutes. The top should look like this when it's done.
Let the bread cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert it onto a plate. It will be quite hot at first, so let it cool down a bit before you dig in. Enjoy!
*whimper*
I'm on my second day of successful dieting.
All those summer vegetables made me put on a few...uh, quite a few pounds.
Do not tell me chocolate zucchini cake is not a vegetable.
I'm looking forward to next weeks! This may help me, avoid purchasing a bread maker! 😉
Thank heavens I didn't put "Diet" on my resolutions! This actually works in my plan - no more dieting, just eat food you know whats in it and be moderate.
I think I can safely enjoy eating this after stacking 3200 pounds of hardwood for the woodstove on Tuesday!
Off to the kitchen.
I'm so glad you posted the recipe. It's on the menu for this weekend and I'll worry about dieting next week.
My Mom made this every Christmas and Easter mornings growing up (and still does). Except she uses canned biscuits, the ones that make small biscuits. She cuts them up rolls them in cinnamon and sugar, layer them in the pain, add dots of butter along the way (maybe) and you're good to go!
Have you ever tried this recipe without the egg? I try to be as vegan as possibly (no dairy, no egg, no animal products at all) and usually have success baking with a product called Ener-G powdered egg replacer, but I was wondering if you ever left out the egg entirely---maybe if you were out of eggs, for instance.
I enjoy your blog, keep up the good work.
Thanks, from Seattle...
Jenna, all six of us eat homemade bread all the time, and we are all pretty skinny. lol Of course, we don't eat monkey bread every day, but we do occasionally, and we don't gorge ourselves on it. Everything in moderation.
Julia, I think that would work fine. Yeast bread doughs are perfectly capable of rising/baking without an egg. In fact, they will fare much better without an egg than quick breads will(like muffins or cranberry bread).
OOOH...that looks sooo good!
Hey Kristen,
I am LOVING the Wednesday baking series. I've been making the French Bread regularly (with 1/4 whole wheat) but now that I've seen it, I'm going to try the Whole Wheat Bread as well.
My sister-in-law makes the most delicious "Gorilla Bread", which seems quite similar to your "Monkey Bread", but I haven't had much success with her recipe. She uses the tubes of pre-made biscuits, which I prefer not to do. I'm definitely going to try your version next time!
Thanks again for the baking series. I really enjoy it.
That looks so nice! I wish I had seen it earlier as it would make great Christmas breakfast. Maybe boxing day breakfast instead!
Wonderful recipe! Many thanks for posting photos and being thorough with your directions. I made it for breakfast today, and it was amazing.
Concerning the post about not adding the egg, think about what challah would taste like without egg - it wouldn't be tender and flavorful, which is what the egg proteins and fats give to the bread. From the ener-g website I found this ingredient list:
Potato Starch, tapioca starch flour, leavening (calcium lactate [not derived from dairy], calcium carbonate, citric acid), sodium carboxymethylcellulose, methylcellulose
Given those ingredients, it is just a thickener, not something that will increase the tenderness/flavor of your bread, so I wouldn't recommend it as a substitute. Goodluck!
I finally made this, but like the garlic pull-apart loaf, this was also a fall-apart loaf! I've just followed the recipe - any ideas on why? Do I use too much butter or something? But my, who cares, it tasted amazing!
By the way, where does the name come from?
Thanks so much for posting this. I was using a different recipe and was worried my dough was coming out too thick. But by the looks of this, I did it just right. Thanks!