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?

5 from 6 votes

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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!

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Keyword Bread, Cinnamon, Pull-apart

Prep Time 50 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Proving time 2 hours 45 minutes

Servings 12

Calories 201 kcal

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

1. Add the flour, yeast, salt and sugar to the bowl of your mixer. Make sure the salt and yeast aren't together

   

2. 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

3. 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

   

4. Take the dough out of the bowl and knead once or twice on a floured surface until the dough is smooth and soft

   

5. 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

   

6. 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

   

7. Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly

8. In a shallow dish, mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Spray a 2lb loaf tin with oil

9. Divide the dough roughly 15g balls by cutting off sections of dough and rolling them into balls

   

10. 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

    

11. Repeat until you have used all of the dough. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to prove for 30 minutes

    

12. Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan assisted, 200°C non fan). Remove the cling film and bake for 20 minutes until golden

    

13. 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

14. 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. 

Nutrition Facts

Easy Monkey Bread

Amount Per Serving

Calories 201 Calories from Fat 54

% Daily Value*

Fat 6g9%

Saturated Fat 2g13%

Cholesterol 9mg3%

Sodium 99mg4%

Potassium 3mg0%

Carbohydrates 17g6%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 16g18%

Protein 1g2%

Vitamin A 104IU2%

Calcium 6mg1%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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