Carbs are the ultimate comfort food. Add a little brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter to bread, and the results are pure magic! This week, there were a lot of under-the-weather feelings in my family, and all I wanted was a sweet, warm treat to nibble on between glasses of water, OJ, soup, and cups of tea. I also needed to get back on track with baking since the big family vacation (at Disney, with a one year old. No wonder we’re feeling so run down!)
Monkey bread is one of those things that everyone has made or eaten at some point. It’s kid friendly (even when making) and pleases just about everyone. It’s like the pizza of snack food. Most of the time, it’s made quickly from refrigerated biscuit dough. Let me tell you that I totally respect this. Sometimes, you need doughy goodness without any pre-planning. However, for just a little bit of hands-on time, I promise you that the homemade version is going to trump that quick version every time.
The dough takes about 15 minutes. If you’ve got a stand mixer with a dough hook, it’s the easiest thing in the world!
I like to proof my yeast first. Some recipes (like the one I used from http://sprinklesomesugar.com) don’t call for it, but I always do it to make sure that the yeast is active. It’s a lot less disappointing to throw out yeast and water (and a tsp of sugar from the 1/4 cup the recipe calls for) than it is to wait for the first rise only to realize that the yeast didn’t do the trick. I use a quick read thermometer to get the temperature between 100F and 110F, but if you don’t have that you can estimate it by sticking in your finger. The water should feel warm to the touch, but not uncomfortable to keep there. After 2-3 minutes, it looks like this:
There’s a frothy film on the top with little bubbles. The yeast is good, and we’re good to continue with the dough. To the yeast mixture, we add in the melted butter, warm milk (same techniques you used to test the water applies here!), and the rest of the sugar.
In your mixer’s large bowl, whisk the flour and salt together. With the dough hook attached, turn the mixer on the lowest setting and slowly add the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients. (Check out the notes below the recipe if you don’t have a stand mixer!)
Allow the dough to slowly come together until all the flour is absorbed.
From here, increase the speed of the mixer to a medium setting, and let the dough hook do its thing! About 6-7 minutes of beating will do the trick to get a shiny, smooth ball of dough. The dough will be pretty wet, but should hold its shape. If it’s a goopy mess, you can add extra flour a Tbsp at a time to get it to a workable lump. Flour your hands to remove the dough from the mixer and form a rough ball. Place it into a bowl sprayed with cooking spray, and turn it over once or twice to coat the whole ball of dough. Let your dough rise 1-2 hours until doubled.
Now… it’s never really winter in Florida, so I don’t need to worry much, but if you’re somewhere a bit draftier or you’re just impatient, I have used my oven, turned off, but with the light on as a place to allow my dough to rise. The oven light gives off just enough heat, and I know it is guaranteed to be draft free. Also, I can err closer to the one hour mark than two. Clearly, I live squarely in the impatient camp!
Somewhere near the end of the rise time, I got my butter and sugar stations set up. I melted a little extra butter, which I then used to grease my bundt pan using a pastry brush. You can just grease the inside with softened butter if that’s easier. Also, if you don’t have a bundt pan, you can use pretty much anything you’ve got around that’s got high enough sides to contain the dough. Just consider that he dough will double in volume again before you bake it, so plan accordingly. A 13×9 cake pan would probably work fine with the dough balls in a single layer. You won’t get the same look, but it will be just as delicious!
Once your dough is done with the first rise, gently punch it down and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Work it with your hands into a rectangle. Do your best to get it even, but if it’s thicker around the edges (like mine clearly is) it’s not really a big deal.
From this point on, there is absolutely nothing precious about this recipe. I used my handy bench knife to score the dough, but I quickly realized that i could have used many tools for the job, and in all honesty, cutting long strips with a pizza cutter may have even done the job a bit better. However you can cut reasonably equal chunks of dough out of your rectangle, go for it.
Now you just pull a square off and ball it up with your hands. I realized I probably went a bit too small, so I doubled up some of the thinner ones in the middle. We’re not being precious, remember? Toss the balls into the butter, toss with the brown sugar, and then toss into the pan. There’s no pretty arranging here. No dusting off extra sugar. The messier the better!
After all the little balls are coated and in the pan, wrap with plastic and allow to rise again. (You can use the oven/oven light method here again, just remember to remove it from the oven before you start to preheat!)
The dough should be puffy and almost reach the top of the bundt pan.
OK–real talk here: I had a lot of leftover brown sugar/cinnamon and butter. I was NOT about to let that go to waste!! I set it aside while the dough was rising. I had to re-melt the butter in the microwave for a couple of seconds, but then I mixed in enough of the brown sugar to make a nice, runny, sugary slurry. Before baking, I poured this over the dough balls, sprinkled with more sugar and cinnamon, and then baked away. I had to toss a little of the brown sugar out, but I felt much better about myself.
Because I’d added the extra sugar, I loosely covered the bundt pan with foil for the first 10 minutes of bake time. Extra brown sugar=good. Burnt brown sugar=not so good. Better safe than burnt.
The bread takes about a half hour to bake. The top will be deep brown, and the butter and sugar will have turned into a bubbly caramel around the sides. Cool the monkey bread for 5 minutes, then put a plate over the bottom and turn it upside down. Any longer than 5 minutes, and the caramel will harden making it really hard to get out of the pan. Let it cool for another ten excruciating minutes before eating. You can fill this time by taking pictures of your creation, or making the optional glaze icing. You could also just stare at it longingly, which will make the time go much slower, or you could ignore the time limit and take your chances burning your mouth with hot caramel. I’m not here to judge.
Now go forth, fellow bakers, and fully realize how, after this recipe, you can never go back to the refrigerated monkey bread of your convenience! You’re welcome!
Homemade Monkey Bread
The go-to recipe for the times when you need a little extra comfort or you just need to feel like a kid again! Recipe adapted from Sprinkle Some Sugar and Mel's Kitchen Cafe
Ingredients
- For the Dough:
- 2 Tbsp Butter, melted (extra for greasing)
- 1 cup Milk, warmed to 100-110F
- 1/3 cup Water, warmed to 100-110F
- 1/4 cup Sugar (divided)
- 2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast (1 package)
- 3 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Salt
- For the Coating:
- 1 cup Light Brown sugar, packed
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 8 Tbsp (1 stick) Butter, melted
- For the Glaze:
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 Tbsp Milk
Directions
- Step 1 Proof yeast by adding 1 tsp of the 1/4 cup sugar to the warm water and adding yeast. Set aside for 2-3 minutes
- Step 2 Once yeast is foamy, add melted butter, warm milk, and remainder of the sugar. Mix together
- Step 3 In the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook*, whisk together flour and salt. Turn mixer on the lowest setting and slowly add yeast mixture. Once most of the flour has been absorbed, increase speed to medium for 6-7 minutes until dough is smooth. It will be sticky, but workable with floured hands. If dough is too wet, add extra flour a Tablespoon at a time until proper consistency is reached
- Step 4 Work dough into a rough ball and transfer it to a large bowl sprayed with cooking spray. Turn dough over to coat on all sides, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to sit in a warm place until doubled in size (1-2 hours)
- Step 5 While dough rises, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon in one dish, and melt butter in another. Grease a bundt pan with a bit of the melted butter, working it into all of the corners
- Step 6 Lightly punch down risen dough, and turn onto a lightly floured work surface. Using you hands, shape dough into a rectangle.
- Step 7 Using a bench knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into even(ish) pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Dunk dough balls in melted butter, roll in sugar mixture, and place in greased bundt pan. Stagger the pieces randomly to build layers
- Step 8 Cover bundt pan with plastic, and allow to rise, doubling again in size in a warm, draft-free area (1-2 hours)
- Step 9 Preheat the over to 350F
- Step 10 Mix together remaining butter and brown sugar (microwave if butter is too set) to make a syrup. Pour over the top of the risen dough. Cover loosely with foil
- Step 11 Bake for 30-35 minutes (remove foil after first 10 minutes) until the top is brown and the sugar is bubbling at the edges
- Step 12 Cool Monkey Bread in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a large plate. Don’t wait any longer, or the caramel will harden, making it impossible to turn out in one piece! Allow to cool for 10 more minutes
- Step 13 Make the glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle over warm Monkey Bread or serve in a side dish for dipping
- Step 14 Eat while gooey and warm!
*No stand mixer? No problem! Use a wooden spoon to mix the yeast mixture into the flour. Turn out onto a floured work surface, and with floured hands, knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth. Continue with recipe as written!
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