Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread was the bread of the month for the Artisan Bread Bakers. The recipe posted on Facebook is similar to pull apart bread. It is made with refrigerated biscuit dough which makes things really easy. Almost too easy!

To increase the level of difficulty just a wee bit, several of the bakers in the group decided to make a version from scratch. We used the Cinnamon Bubble Bread recipe from King Arthur Flour.

The next Group Bake is English Muffins and it starts this weekend and runs through next weekend. If you would like to participate, look for information on the Artisan Bread Bakers Group on Facebook.

Cinnamon Bubble Bread Monkey Bread

Makes: 2 Baking Pans or 1 Tube Pan of Cinna-bites

Dough:

1 cup + 2 tablespoons (9 ounces) milk
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) butter
1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) sugar
1/4 cup (1 5/8 ounces) potato flour OR 1/2 cup dried potato flakes (I used potato flakes)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup (2 5/8 ounces) water
1/2 teaspoon Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor, optional but good (I didn’t use this – it didn’t need it)
3 3/4 cups (15 3/4 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Topping:

3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) milk
1/3 cup (2 ounces) cinnamon-sugar
1/2 cup (6 ounces) maple syrup or cinnamon syrup, optional (I didn’t use this – it was sweet enough for me)
1/4 cup (2 ounces) melted butter, optional (I did drizzle butter over the top – very nice addition)

Using your hands, or a stand mixer, mix and knead all of the dough ingredients till you’ve got a smooth, fairly soft dough. Remember, the more flour you add to cut down stickiness, the drier and tougher your final bread will be; so go easy on flouring your kneading surface, if you’re doing this by hand.

Place all of the ingredients in the mixer bowl. Knead the dough with the dough hook until it is thoroughly mixed. Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead until smooth.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and allow it to rise at room temperature for an hour; it’ll be puffy, though not necessarily doubled in bulk.

I started this process last night but decided to make the Monkey Bread for breakfast today instead so I placed the bowl in the refrigerator overnight. I took the dough out and let it come to room temperature and proceeded with the rest of the instructions below:

Gently deflate the dough.

Transfer the dough to a clean work surface. Place the milk and the cinnamon sugar in separate small bowls.

Lightly grease a tube pan. Tear off 1″-or-so pieces of the dough. (If you bothered to round them into balls, they’d be about the size of chestnuts; but you’re not bothering to do that.)

Dip the irregular dough pieces into the milk. Then dip each piece of dough into the cinnamon.

Place them, close together, in the prepared pan(s). Each pan should be full enough that you can only see the bottom of the pan in scattered places.

Cover the pan, and allow the dough to rise for about 90 minutes.

It should be puffy, though probably not doubled in bulk.

Drizzle the bites with melted butter, if desired.Bake them in a preheated 350°F oven for 20 to 22 minutes, or until they’re beginning to brown around the edges, and they seem done.

Note: To check for doneness, I separated one of the pieces slightly. It looked a little gooey so I let it bake just a little bit longer, then checked it again and it was ready.

Remove the pans from the oven, and carefully turn the Monkey Bread out of the pan onto a rack to cool.

Serve the bites warm or at room temperature. Here is the yummy bread. We’ve already started eating it and it’s going fast! If you want some, you better get it now before my sons eat it all.

Happy Baking!
Cathy