Deliciously soft and sweet dough smothered in cinnamon. This Easy Monkey Bread is the ultimate pull-apart bread that you won’t be able to stop eating!
What is Monkey Bread?
If you don’t live in North America, you may not have heard of Monkey Bread. It is a sweet and sticky soft cinnamon bread.
It’s name comes from the idea of it being a bread that is picked apart using your fingers as monkeys would.
I struggled with what I was going to call this recipe. Monkey Bread is a very familiar term for people in certain areas of the world and not in the others. I also considered calling it pull apart bread or tear and share bread.
In the end it had to be Easy Monkey Bread because it is a simplified version of this.
My Easier version of an American classic
I love monkey bread, it really is delicious. But I very rarely make it. All of the recipes I have seen make a huge ‘loaf’ usually using a bundt tin.
If you have a bundt tin that’s great; but if you don’t you might then be put off making the recipe.
I decided to reduce the recipe so it used a smaller tin that more people might have. I also wanted to make it smaller so that people don’t need to invite their extended family over to eat it!
Another difference between my Easy Monkey Bread and the original is a reduced amount of sugar. The popular recipes have an extra sugary cinnamon drizzle that you pour over the dough before putting it in the oven.
I’m sure this is to help bind the dough balls together and isn’t just for an extra sugary hit. But because my loaf is smaller, I decided it didn’t need extra sugary glue.
Easy Monkey Bread Making Tips
As the name suggests, I think this is quite an easy recipe (especially if you have a mixer!). Your mixer does most of the work for you and all you really need to do is roll some dough balls.
Those dough balls don’t even have to be particularly neat. If you have a less than perfect looking side, just make sure that is the bottom and no one will know!
The temperature of your kitchen will affect the proving time. If it is a particularly hot day, your dough may only need one hour to prove before it doubles in size.
Alternatively on a cooler day you may need the full two hours. Don’t panic if after an hour your dough isn’t much bigger, just give it a bit longer.
When it comes to rolling the dough balls in the butter and then the cinnamon sugar, I would recommend keeping a wet and dry hand. This just helps reduce the chance of cinnamon sugar getting stuck to the butter on your fingers!
This Easy Monkey Bread is like a lot of fresh bread and best eaten on the day you make it. It will still be tasty the next day but after that it might become less fluffy.
Breakfast, as a snack or as a dessert; when would you eat your Easy Monkey Bread?
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Easy Monkey Bread
Deliciously soft and sweet dough smothered in cinnamon. This Easy Monkey Bread is the ultimate pull-apart bread that you won't be able to stop eating!
Ingredients
For the dough
- 300 g strong white flour
- 4 g yeast
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 160 ml water lukewarm
For the cinnamon sugar
- 100 g caster sugar
- ½ tbsp cinnamon ground
- 50 g unsalted butter melted
- spray oil
For the drizzle
- 70 g icing sugar
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp whole milk
Instructions
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Add the flour, yeast, salt and sugar to the bowl of your mixer. Make sure the salt and yeast aren't together
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Make a well in the middle and add the olive oil and the water. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes
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Scrape down the dough off the hook if needed and mix on a medium speed for 8 minutes. You may need to stop to scrape the hook off again
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Take the dough out of the bowl and knead once or twice on a floured surface until the dough is smooth and soft
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Put the dough in a bowl sprayed with oil and cover with oiled cling film. Leave to prove for 1-2 hours until it has doubled in size
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Knock the air out of the dough by hitting it down in the bowl. Tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a couple of times
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Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly
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In a shallow dish, mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Spray a 2lb loaf tin with oil
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Divide the dough roughly 15g balls by cutting off sections of dough and rolling them into balls
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Roll each dough ball in the melted butter before rolling it in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Make sure each ball is completely covered before lining them snugly in the loaf tin
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Repeat until you have used all of the dough. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to prove for 30 minutes
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Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan assisted, 200°C non fan). Remove the cling film and bake for 20 minutes until golden
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Leave to cool in the tin for at least half an hour before carefully removing from the tin and leaving to cool on a wire rack
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Mix together the icing sugar, vanilla extract and milk in a bowl. Drizzle it across the monkey bread
Recipe Notes
Nutritional information is given as a guide only and my vary.
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Jacqui Bellefontaine says
OMG this looks amazing. I have been meaning to make Monkey bread for so long. I’m sure your lower sugar version is more suited to the British taste buds than the US versions
Curly says
Thanks Jacqui 🙂 The US version is lovely, but very sugar focused! Hopefully like you said this is a good alternative.
louise Gunstone says
Fab photo’s… I’m now very hungry! This is on my list for trying out this weekend – thanks!
Curly says
Thank you very much. Hope you enjoy it if you do 🙂
Laura - Mummy Lauretta says
This looks so good! I know my family would love this, they love any kind of bread!
Curly says
Thank you very much 🙂
Corina Blum says
I love the fact that your recipe is a little bit healthier than the original. I’ve never actually tried monkey bread but I’ve seen lots of pictures online and it always looks so tempting!
Curly says
Haha yes only a little bit, still not quite health food unfortunately. If you like cinnamon you definitely should try it 🙂
Lesley Garden says
I love monkey bread, in fact I like any bread flavoured with cinnamon. What a great recipe I will have to give this a try.
Curly says
Haha thank you 🙂
Rosemary says
I’ve seen a few recipes for monkey bread but never made it. Your recipe looks really straightforward (and tasty) so I feel inspired to give it a go!
Curly says
Thank you 🙂 Yes it is simple to make, you just need some time to allow for the proving.
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
I’ve always wanted to try monkey bread, this looks so tasty!
Curly says
Once you’ve tried it you’ll want to keep eating it!
Antonia says
What a great recipe!
Really easy to make, and not tome consuming at all. I definitely need to work on my placement skills when stacking the dough balls, but for a first try this came out really well.
Couldn’t quite wait for it to cool down before eating it! Whole family loved it, and I already have people asking for the recipe.
Curly says
Thank you so much 🙂 I try to pack the dough balls quite tightly. So happy you all liked it.
Laura Henderson says
I made this today and its heavenly!!! Really easy to follow recipe and absolutely delicious…I will be making this for Christmas day breakfast! Thanks!
Curly says
Oh fantastic, thank you! What a great idea. I have to limit how often I make this because I think I could eat the whole thing myself!