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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.
