Monkey bread is a sweet, sticky and spiced pull-apart bread recipe from the scratch especially prepared in holiday season like Christmas.
This bread goes by many names like sticky bread, African coffee bread, pluck-it cake or monkey puzzle bread. In this recipe, sweet bread dough is prepared in a traditional way and then it is divided into several small balls and dipped in melted butter then coated in sugar-spice mixture and dropped in the bundt pan and kept it aside for rising, then baked until it is caramel brown in color. The monkey bread is often drizzled with some kind of glaze like sugar glaze.
Why this bread is named “monkey bread” is still uncertain. Some folk says because the bread looks like monkey puzzle tree. The origin of the name may be uncertain but I can vouch for the taste and flavor of this bread. The individual pieces of this sweet bread are loaded with butter, ginger and cardamom flavor. Though my version is way less sticky but if you want it be more sticky, you can add a mixture of 1/4 cup of melted butter, sugar and spices and pour over the dough before baking it.
I have added a cup of whole wheat flour just to spike the fiber content. Though this monkey bread is not a low-calorie dessert but again these sweet treats are always good to share with your friends and family.
Monkey Bread from Scratch Recipe
Course: Snacks, BreakfastCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium10
servings30
minutes30
minutes2-3
hoursMonkey Bread is a pull apart bread screaming with warm spices flavors. A perfect Christmas breakfast which everyone will love.
Ingredients
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1.25 cups of whole wheat flour
1.25 tsp of salt
1 cup of milk
1/3 cup of water
2 and 1/4 tsp of rapid rise yeast
2 Tbsp of oil or melted butter
3 Tbsp of sugar
- For Coating :-
8 Tbsp (1/2 cup) of melted butter
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of white sugar
1.5 tsp of ginger powder
1/2 tsp of cardamom powder
1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp of clove powder
- For Glaze :-
2 Tbsp of confectionary sugar
1 tsp of milk or water
Directions
- Warm the milk with sugar (the temp. should be in between 100-110 F) and mix the yeast and let it stand until it is foamed up and the liquid is doubled in size.
- Now in a big wide bowl, mix whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt and add the foamed up milk and mix well.
- Pour the oil and add water one tablespoon at a time and start kneading the dough. Add more water if required.
- Knead the dough until the dough is smooth and supple (it takes about 10 mins if you are kneading with hands).
- Keep the dough in a greased bowl and cover it with damp kitchen towel or greased plastic wrap and place it in a warm place for about 60-90 minutes until the dough is doubled in size.
- Melt butter in a small saucepan. In another bowl add brown sugar, white sugar, ginger, cardamom, clove and cinnamon and mix well. Keep it aside.
- Butter the bundt pan well on every nooks and corner and keep it aside.
- When the dough is doubled, punch it down and divide the dough into 4 equal parts.
- Roll each dough parts into a thin rope of about 10-12 inches and cut the rope in 10-12 equal parts and roll each part into a small ball. (there will be total of 40-48 balls)
- Now dip each small balls in butter, then drop it in a sugar-spice mixture and coat it all round and place it in a bundt pan. Repeat same with the rest of the 48 balls. Keep the ball close to one another.
- If you have any leftover sugar mixture and butter, then sprinkle the sugar mixture and pour the melted butter all over the dough.
- Cover the bundt pan with the greased plastic wrap and place it in a warm place for another hour or refrigerate it overnight.
- If you have refrigerated the monkey bread dough overnight, next day take out the dough from the fridge and keep it in a warm place for another 60-90 mins, so that it comes to a room temperature and rise a little.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake the monkey bread for 30-35 minutes until it is browned nicely. If the bread is getting dark brown quickly in the oven, then cover the bread with foil and bake it further until it is done.
- Now take out the bread and let it rest for 6-10 minutes, then place a plate over the bundt pan and flip the pan over the plate and pat the pan so the bread can slide on the plate.
- For glaze, mix powdered sugar and milk well and pour over the monkey bread and serve.
Notes
- Serve monkey bread warm or store it in room temperature for a day or refrigerate it for 3 days and at the time of serving just microwave it for 30-60 seconds.
- The spice mixture is up to your choice. You can use only cinnamon or ginger or pumpkin spice in this recipe.
- The glaze is optional, I have used it just to make monkey bread look pretty even more.
