By Published Jan. 18, 2017
In Bread Illustrated—our first book devoted to bread—we show that baking a perfect loaf is no mystery: It’s just a matter of breaking recipes down into essential steps that demystify the art and science of this age-old process. After rigorous testing, we have created a roadmap to baking more than 100 foolproof breads, each accompanied by step-by-step photo tutorials.
Classic monkey bread is a sweet pull-apart bread baked in a bundt pan. For our version, we achieved a faster recipe for this breakfast favorite that didn’t compromise on its delicious flavor and sticky, sweet appeal.
“When I was first flipping through Bread Illustrated, the monkey bread recipe immediately jumped out at me,” Courtney Champion of Cook Like A Champion writes. “I’ve had a from-scratch recipe maybe one time, so I knew I had to give this a try.”
We start from scratch in our version of monkey bread—no store-bought biscuit dough shortcuts here! To expedite the rising and proofing in this recipe, we used a generous amount of yeast and added sugar to the dough (which jump-started the yeast). In addition, if you desire to prepare the dough the night before, unrisen dough can be refrigerated for up to 16 hours. Come morning, all you have to do is set aside some time to roll the dough into balls and coat them in cinnamon-sugar. Little bakers love to help out with this step!
“Clara and I made this together, like we do so many baking projects, and she especially loved dunking the balls of dough in butter and then rolling them in brown sugar,” Courtney writes of working in the kitchen with her daughter when making the monkey bread.
“While the general nature is similar to cinnamon rolls, you get some super caramelized and slightly crunchy bites in this that you don’t typically get with cinnamon rolls,” writes Courtney.
A drizzle of a simple confectioners’ sugar glaze over the top finishes the bread after baking.
“This bread, with its pull-apart nature, is far too easy to sneak bites of piece by piece, and you may just find you’ve eaten more of it than you intended,” writes Courtney. “For anyone on the hunt for a great cookbook devoted completely to bread, Bread Illustrated has been an awesome addition to my cookbook shelf.”
For the entire review–and the Monkey Bread recipe–see the original post on Cook Like A Champion. And for more from our favorite bread bloggers, read these posts:
Treats SF Bakes a Puerto Rican Staple
Hummingbird High Bakes a Childhood Favorite
The Vanilla Bean Blog Dreams of Kolaches
A Pleasant Little Kitchen Discovers the Power of Homemade Bread
