Monkey bread is marvellous. It is a pull apart bread with cinnamon and an ooey caramel sauce. In the United States it is actually served as breakfast. And of course, you can use it too as a snack or dessert.

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This finger food idea is great for a christmas morning breakfast. Or for any other special day breakfast. This is because monkey bread is usually made in a bundt cake pan, like a wreath. And this shapes, somehow, makes it love festive and special. Which we absolutely adore. It is truly so pretty on its own. Just look at it!

A lot of people make monkey bread by using canned biscuits. But you know us. We will not teach you to make it that way, at least not today. Today we bring you a monkey bread recipe where we make the bread pieces ourselves. So it is the fluffiest it can ever be. And so it is the softest too.

You will find this recipe is so good, I can assure it. The caramel sauce is buttery and sticky, and we love it. Overall, this is a fun to eat bread that is perfect for when you have a bunch of people or children to feed. They will love you.

Here, along with the caramel sauce, we add some pecan or castile nuts pieces. This is completely optional. We, however, find it delicious, asi it gives the monkey bread this crunchy bits that are amazing to run into. Plus, it gives it all a more interesting flavor.

Moreover, it is important to note that when making the bread ourselves, sometimes, when baking in the oven, the bread pieces can grow a bit too much, “overflow” and even fall apart from the rest of the monkey bread (this happens to us). So, make sure to bake this with a baking sheet underneath.

Finally, before turning out the monkey bread, you can even out the base (meaning, the part that is on top while in the bundt cake pan and will be under once you turn it out) by cutting the parts that stick out with a knife. This way you have a stable and prettier looking monkey bread.

If you like this recipe, please, you have to go see our chocolate chips panettone.

Monkey bread

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Prep Time 40

Cook Time 48

Resting Time: 2 45

Total Time 4 13

Servings: 12

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 C (8.11 fl zo) (240 ml) whole milk, lukewarm
2 1/4 tsp (0.25 oz) (7 gr) dry active yeast
1/4 C (1.76 oz) (50 gr) white sugar
2 eggs
1/3 C (2.65 oz) (75 gr) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 3/4 C (17.20 oz) (488 gr) wheat flour (for bread -with 13-14% gluten)

1 tsp (0.17 oz) (5 gr) salt

For the coating:

2/3 C (4.70 oz) (133 gr) white sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon powder
1 C (7.94 oz) (225 gr) unsalted butter
1 C (7 oz) (200 gr) brown sugar
2 tsp (0.33 fl oz) (10 ml) vanilla extract
1/2 C pecan ot castile pine nuts in small pieces (optional)

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Equipment

Method

For the dough:

In a large bowl place the milk with the yeast and half of the sugar. Mix with a spoon and let it sit for 15 minutes for the yeast to activate.
After this, add the rest of the sugar, eggs, butter and mix until everything is integrated.
Add in the flour, salt and mix with the same spoon or with your hands until a sticky dough forms. Place the dough on the clean counter and knead, beating and folding it over itself for 10 minutes until it firms up.

Knead for another 7-10 minutes until the dough is very soft and elastic. It is important not to add more flour as the kneading is what will form the dough (the whole kneading process can also be done in a standing mixer with the dough hook on).
Once ready, form the dough into a ball and place it in a clean bowl with a little soft flavored vegetable oil to prevent it from sticking. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 2 hours to double in size.

For the coating and to assemble:

Grease a bundt cake pan of about 9.80 inches (25 cm) in diameter with a little butter. Separately, in a medium shallow bowl, add the sugar with the cinnamon powder and mix with a spoon.

Once the dough has doubled in size, place it on a clean, previously floured surface and flatten it a little with your hands. With the help of a dough cutter, divide the dough into 64 pieces of the same size and then shape each one into a ball. They don't have to be perfect balls, so it's okay if the pieces are a little irregular.
Roll each dough ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until well coated and place them in the bundt cake pan as they are ready. You may need a little more cinnamon sugar depending on how much you coat each dough ball.
Cover the pan with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let the dough balls rest for 30 minutes. When 15 minutes are left before the end of the resting time, turn on the oven to 356º F (180° C).

Separately, in a small saucepan, place the butter and brown sugar. Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula, until the mixture begins to boil and the butter has melted completely. Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla extract with the chopped walnuts (optional). Mix until the ingredients are fully integrated.
Once the bread has rested, carefully pour the previous mixture (which should be hot) over the dough balls in the bundt pan. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the top of the bread is golden brown. If necessary, cover the bread with aluminum foil if it is browning too much on top.
Once ready, take the monkey bread out of the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes while in the same pan and then turn it out of the pan and onto a large plate. Serve the monkey bread while still warm and preferably eat it the same day.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Monkey bread