Monkey Bread
Indulge in the delightful sweetness of cinnamon caramel pull-apart bread, perfect for anyone who adores cinnamon rolls! This monkey bread features fluffy dough balls drenched in a luscious butter and brown sugar blend, creating a gooey treat that’s impossible to resist. Gather your friends and family to enjoy this shareable dessert that’s as fun to eat as it is to make!
Prep
15
min
Cook
35
min
Serves
8
people
Level
intermediate
📝 Ingredients
Serves 8🥛Dairy & Eggs(6)
- 85 g butter (5.95 tbsp)
- 125 g butter for coating (8.75 tbsp)
- 30% creamoptional
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon mascarpone + a bit of milk (15 ml)optionalor 30% cream
- 200 ml milk (6.76 fl oz)
🫙Pantry Staples(4)
- 550 g bread flour (4.4 cup)
- 50 g sugar (0.25 cup)
- 225 g muscovado brown sugar (1.12 cup)
- 7–8 g instant yeast (0.25 oz)
🧂Spices & Seasonings(3)
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon (15 ml)
- 1½ teaspoons salt (7.5 ml)
- a pinch of salt
👨🍳 Instructions
- 1
Heat the milk with 85 g of butter until the butter melts. Let it cool slightly, then add the eggs and whisk.
- 2
Mix the flour with the yeast, sugar, and salt. Pour in the wet ingredients, mix until a sticky dough forms, and let it rest for 5 minutes. Then knead for 5–10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
- 3
Transfer to a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.
- 4
Thoroughly grease a 25 cm bundt pan with butter.
- 5
Melt 125 g of butter. Mix the sugar with cinnamon and salt. Divide the dough into about 65 pieces and shape them into balls. Dip each in butter, coat in the cinnamon sugar, and place in the pan.
- 6
Mix the remaining butter and cinnamon sugar with 1 tablespoon of mascarpone and a bit of milk. Instead of mascarpone and milk, you can use 30% cream. Drizzle the sauce over the balls in the pan.
- 7
Cover and let it rise for about 1 hour until puffed up again.
- 8
Bake for about 35 minutes at 180°C (356°F) on the middle rack of the oven.
- 9
After baking, let it sit in the pan for only 5 minutes. Then place a large plate on top and quickly invert the pan while the Monkey Bread is still hot. Leave the inverted pan for 30–60 seconds and remove.
- 10
And it's ready! Fluffy Monkey Bread, pull-apart bread with cinnamon caramel.
💡 Pro Tips
- ✓Heat the milk-butter mixture to no more than 43-46°C (110-115°F) before adding eggs and yeast, since temperatures above 60°C will denature egg proteins prematurely and above 54°C will kill yeast cells.technique43-46°C (110-115°F)
- ✓Cut the 65 dough balls to a uniform 20-25 g each using a kitchen scale, because inconsistent sizes cause uneven proofing and create gaps or dense pockets when the balls fuse during baking.technique20-25 g per ball
- ✓Let the shaped dough balls proof until they've roughly doubled and spring back slowly when poked with a finger (leaving a slight indent), rather than relying solely on the 1-hour timeframe, since ambient temperature affects yeast activity significantly.timingslow spring-back test
- ✓Use a bundt pan with a light-colored, non-dark-coated interior to prevent the sugar-butter coating from burning, as dark metal absorbs more radiant heat and can push localized surface temps 15-20°C higher than the set oven temperature.equipment15-20°C hotter on dark pans
- ✓Let the baked monkey bread rest in the pan for exactly 10 minutes before inverting, as the caramelized sugar-butter coating needs to firm slightly to prevent it from sliding off, but waiting longer risks the sugar hardening and sticking to the pan.timing10 minutes
Share this recipe
Prep
15
min
Cook
35
min
Serves
8
people
Level
intermediate
Share this recipe
Monkey Bread
Indulge in the delightful sweetness of cinnamon caramel pull-apart bread, perfect for anyone who adores cinnamon rolls! This monkey bread features fluffy dough balls drenched in a luscious butter and brown sugar blend, creating a gooey treat that’s impossible to resist. Gather your friends and family to enjoy this shareable dessert that’s as fun to eat as it is to make!
📝 Ingredients
Serves 8🥛Dairy & Eggs(6)
- 85 g butter (5.95 tbsp)
- 125 g butter for coating (8.75 tbsp)
- 30% creamoptional
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon mascarpone + a bit of milk (15 ml)optionalor 30% cream
- 200 ml milk (6.76 fl oz)
🫙Pantry Staples(4)
- 550 g bread flour (4.4 cup)
- 50 g sugar (0.25 cup)
- 225 g muscovado brown sugar (1.12 cup)
- 7–8 g instant yeast (0.25 oz)
🧂Spices & Seasonings(3)
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon (15 ml)
- 1½ teaspoons salt (7.5 ml)
- a pinch of salt
👨🍳 Instructions
- 1
Heat the milk with 85 g of butter until the butter melts. Let it cool slightly, then add the eggs and whisk.
- 2
Mix the flour with the yeast, sugar, and salt. Pour in the wet ingredients, mix until a sticky dough forms, and let it rest for 5 minutes. Then knead for 5–10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
- 3
Transfer to a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.
- 4
Thoroughly grease a 25 cm bundt pan with butter.
- 5
Melt 125 g of butter. Mix the sugar with cinnamon and salt. Divide the dough into about 65 pieces and shape them into balls. Dip each in butter, coat in the cinnamon sugar, and place in the pan.
- 6
Mix the remaining butter and cinnamon sugar with 1 tablespoon of mascarpone and a bit of milk. Instead of mascarpone and milk, you can use 30% cream. Drizzle the sauce over the balls in the pan.
- 7
Cover and let it rise for about 1 hour until puffed up again.
- 8
Bake for about 35 minutes at 180°C (356°F) on the middle rack of the oven.
- 9
After baking, let it sit in the pan for only 5 minutes. Then place a large plate on top and quickly invert the pan while the Monkey Bread is still hot. Leave the inverted pan for 30–60 seconds and remove.
- 10
And it's ready! Fluffy Monkey Bread, pull-apart bread with cinnamon caramel.
💡 Pro Tips
- ✓Heat the milk-butter mixture to no more than 43-46°C (110-115°F) before adding eggs and yeast, since temperatures above 60°C will denature egg proteins prematurely and above 54°C will kill yeast cells.technique43-46°C (110-115°F)
- ✓Cut the 65 dough balls to a uniform 20-25 g each using a kitchen scale, because inconsistent sizes cause uneven proofing and create gaps or dense pockets when the balls fuse during baking.technique20-25 g per ball
- ✓Let the shaped dough balls proof until they've roughly doubled and spring back slowly when poked with a finger (leaving a slight indent), rather than relying solely on the 1-hour timeframe, since ambient temperature affects yeast activity significantly.timingslow spring-back test
- ✓Use a bundt pan with a light-colored, non-dark-coated interior to prevent the sugar-butter coating from burning, as dark metal absorbs more radiant heat and can push localized surface temps 15-20°C higher than the set oven temperature.equipment15-20°C hotter on dark pans
- ✓Let the baked monkey bread rest in the pan for exactly 10 minutes before inverting, as the caramelized sugar-butter coating needs to firm slightly to prevent it from sliding off, but waiting longer risks the sugar hardening and sticking to the pan.timing10 minutes