Gooey, caramelised dough balls that pull apart effortlessly when you grab a piece!
This recipe is made entirely from scratch starting with yeasted dough, it requires a little bit of work but it pays off I promise!
Some people call it monkey bread, while others call it monkey cake. I think the reason why it’s called monkey bread/cake is because it’s made with loads of sticky sugary dough balls and you pull it apart with your fingers to eat it. And after eating this warm, sweet bread, your hands end up getting all sticky with cinnamon caramel. YUM!
Monkey bread can be made in any ball size and pan shape. I made medium dough balls and used my bundt pan (I think that this is the most popular pan/shape for monkey bread).
There are loads of recipes that use ready biscuit dough, but in my recipe I will explain how to make monkey bread dough from scratch. This is yeasted dough and it requires kneading. After kneading and letting the dough sit for half an hour, you cut the dough using a knife to form balls of any size that you prefer.
Then you dip every single ball in melted butter followed by rolling it in a bowl of cinnamon sugar, once the ball is all coated you place it into prepared bundt pan.
Once all balls are in the pan, wrap it with plastic wrap or cover with a damp cloth and let it rise for 45 minutes or until it doubles in size.
Bake for 35 minutes on 180°c, cool for 10 minutes before you move the bread into a platter.
Although it’s best to serve monkey bread fresh and warm, it can be reheated the next day in the microwave or in the oven.
Ingredients
Dough
- ½ cup water warm
- 2½ tsp active yeast
- 3 ½ cups plain flour
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- ¾ cup milk warm
Coating
- 1½ cups brown sugar
- 1½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup butter melted
Instructions
- Lightly grease the bundt pan with vegetable oil.
- In a little cup combine warm water with yeast + 1tsp of sugar. Let it stand for a couple of minutes until it becomes bubbly and foamy.
- Stir in 1 cup of flour with salt, sugar, vanilla, egg, milk, yeast, and 2 tbsp melted butter. Mix well then add the rest of the flour and knead the dough until you get a nice dough ball. Move dough ball to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit for half an hour in a warm place.
- Turn dough into a lightly floured surface and deflate a little. Divide dough into small-medium dough balls.
- In a medium sized bowl mix together the brown sugar with the cinnamon.
- Dip each dough ball into melted butter, remove with a fork then roll in sugar mixture until it's all coated. Once all balls are coated and are in the pan, cover pan with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and let rise for 45 minutes or until dough almost doubles in size.
- Bake for 35 minutes in the oven on 180°. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Store in airtight container in the fridge.
Nutrition
Calories: 83kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 112mg | Potassium: 26mg | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 2.5% | Calcium: 1.8% | Iron: 0.6%
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My friends came over today and I baked some monkey bread for them, they absolutely loved it and even asked for the recipe! 😀
Margaret Gallagher
October 27, 2018 at 15:27Have never tried this before – sounds yummy – the effort making will be worth it
Martina Evans
February 23, 2016 at 19:41Fantastic recipe, I would love to make this for me and my friends – great finger food!