Everything
You Ever Wanted to Know
about Monkey Bread
How
to Make Monkey Bread
Think
of monkey bread as a technique, a type of dessert, with supporting recipes.
Monkey bread is easy to make and doesn’t require a lot of precision.
You have to wait for the bread to rise but there is not a great time
commitment. And it’s a great kids’ project. Kids love handling
and dipping the bread pieces and it really doesn’t matter how
it’s put together.
Here are the
basic steps:
1. Mix the
dough/add the goodies.
- Monkey bread
lends itself to freelancing; you don’t have to follow a recipe.
- You can start
with your favorite bread recipe. To fill a bundt pan, you will need
a recipe that calls for about four cups of flour. Mix as you would
another bread.
- We usually add
several tablespoons of sugar for a little sweeter bread. For an egg-rich
bread, add an egg or two. You can also add cocoa, dry fruit, or nuts.
2. Cut the
chunks.
- The easiest
way to cut the dough is to roll it out on the counter and cut across
the dough with a sharp knife. The chunks should be no larger than
walnuts.
3. Coat
the chunks.
- There are two
ways to coat the chunks: dip the chunks in butter and roll them in
a sugar mixture or make a buttery slurry and dip the chunks in the
slurry. For cinnamon monkey bread, dip the chunks in butter and roll
them in a cinnamon and sugar mixture.
- Nuts or fruit
can be added between layers if desired. If you want to top your monkey
bread with nuts, place nuts in the bottom of the pan since the monkey
bread will be inverted onto a platter after baking.
- The chunks can
be rolled in a mixture of sugar and spices and finely chopped nuts.
- Jam, maple syrup,
or fruit syrup can be used as the basis for a dipping slurry.
4. Load
the pan.
- You don’t
have to use a bundt pan; any pan will do though tube pans and springform
pans may leak.
5. Bake
the bread.
- Bake the bread
at 350 degrees or as directed by the recipe. Once baked, let the monkey
bread cool in the pan for about five minutes before inverting on a
platter. This gives the glaze a chance to set up a bit so that it
does not run everywhere when inverted.
- Serve the monkey
bread warm and fresh.
Sticky Bun Monkey
Bread is one of our favorite monkey breads. (We have that available
in a mix now.) We prefer yeast breads over quick breads though quick
breads will do when you are in a hurry. We are working on a chocolate
monkey bread but haven’t yet concocted one that we have fallen
in love with. We’ll keep working on it.
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