Monkey Bread

This is the best Monkey Bread recipe from scratch, is going to become your sinful go to brunch treat to wow the pants off your guests. Fluffy pull apart sweet bread rolls dipped in butter, rolled in cinnamon and sugar and drizzled with a vanilla glaze. This easy monkey bread recipe is THE perfect brunch treat. Perfect for holiday mornings! All you need is now is a mimosa to wash it down with. 

Excuse me while I lick my fingers as I type. They are covered in buttery brown sugar sauce from this monkey bread I can’t stop eating. 

Believe it or not, when it comes to breakfast I’m a salty girl all the way. Bring on the crispy bacon. Everything bagels topped with a fried egg. Or maybe on one of these air fryer english muffins from Two Cloves Kitchen? Dripping in cheese as the yolk runs down my chin kind of salty girl. Or maybe some fried egg chilaquiles.

There are a few breakfasts that will make me stop dead in my tracks and put down that breakfast sandwich. Cinnamon rolls are definitely on the list. And now monkey bread is one of them too. There is just some about the warm biscuit pieces covered in butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Topped with a glaze too? It’s absolute heaven.

Basically I love this stuff. Enough said. This is a great recipe for Christmas morning, Easter brunch, or really any Sunday that calls for Mimosas and stretchy pants. A monkey bread recipe from scratch is worth all the trouble and then some.

Why Is It Called Monkey Bread?

It’s kind of a goofy name right? But monkey bread is a rich dough, a  yeast bread, where the dough is divided into small bite-sized pieces of dough, rolled into usually a cinnamon sugar and baked into a bundt pan.  And apparently it has to do with it being a finger food. The idea is that you pull apart the monkey bread and eat it… like a monkey might do.

Well Monkey see. Monkey do if you ask me.

Now you can get store bought bread rolls or use biscuit dough, like my 6 ingredient overnight monkey bread or you can make it from scratch. I prefer making my monkey bread from scratch!

See Also:

• Move over pumpkin! This butternut squash bread recipe is an easy loaf bread to make in the Fall.
• For more whole grain goodness, try my whole wheat blueberry muffins. These are the best breakfast treat!
• Sugar donuts are a fun breakfast treat to make with yeast! Dipped in sugar these donuts are light and fluffy.
• For a traditional Swedish breakfast treat during the holidays try making these St Lucia buns flavored with saffron!

Why This Recipe Works

• Perfect for special occasions
• Made with basic ingredients you may have on hand right now!
• Classic pull-apart bread made completely from scratch
• Can assemble the monkey bread and bake the next day

Ingredients Needed

• Milk – I prefer to use whole milk for richness, but you can use a low-fat milk. I haven’t tried with plant-based milk.
• Sugar
• Yeast – I used active dry yeast, but you can also use instant yeast, but the rising times will be less.
• Flour – I used all-purpose flour for this dough. Be sure to measure your flour correctly by weighing it or spooning it into your cup and leveling it off.
• Butter – I always use and bake with unsalted butter so I can control the salt.
• Eggs
• Salt
• Brown Sugar – I used light brown sugar but you can also use dark brown sugar. If you’ve run out, be sure to check out my full tutorial on how to make your own brown sugar. Or you could also use granulated sugar.
• Cinnamon
• Vanilla
• Powdered Sugar

How To Make Pull Apart Monkey Bread From Scratch

Monkey bread does take some time to make when making it from scratch. But it’s worth every single amazing bite.

First off, yes we are going to need to work with yeast on this. Now I know there are easier ways to make monkey bread by using frozen bread dough. But this is not that kind of recipe. So yes yeast. Yes you can do it. And yes I’ll help you every step of the way. You might want to give my Ultimate Guide To Making Homemade Bread Recipes a read.

This recipe for the dough comes from Bake From Scratch.  I recommend using Red Star Yeast if you can find it. It’s a premium yeast that will yield premium results. I always get premium results with my yeast doughs when using this yeast, so I highly recommend it.

Preparing The Yeast

To make the dough, start by combining warm milk (I recommend using whole), sugar and your active dry yeast into the bowl of your stand mixer or a measuring cup. You want to let the yeast proof for about 10 minutes until it’s foamy.

Making The Dough

Once the yeast has proofed, then you want to start making your dough. For this I use my stand mixer. I transferred the yeast mixture to the bowl of my stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. If you don’t have a stand mixer you can make the dough by hand in a mixing bowl.

To the yeast mixture,  you will add in 1 cup of your properly measured flour. Then some melted butter, more flour and then your eggs.

Once the flour has been added its time to let the monkey bread rise in a warm draft free place for about an hour in a greased covered bowl. Go do some dishes. Or Catch up on Netflix. Yea, I vote for Netflix too.

Shaping The Monkey Bread

Ok phase two: time to get your hands dirty.  In one corner of the arena: cinnamon + brown sugar. And in the other corner. Always a crowd favorite. Butter.

Basically get your bundt pan ready by spraying with non-stick cooking spray. 

You want to take a small 2-inch piece of dough, and shape into a ball in your hands. I just pinch the ends of the dough together in the center and the roll the dough around on the counter with my hands. Then dip each of the dough pieces into the melted butter, then roll into the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Second rise and bake

You want to place each ball of dough into the greased bundt pan. You will still see the bottom of the bundt pan. But you are going to let the monkey bread go through a second rise. Just cover the bundt pan again and let it rise until doubled in size, and puffy – about 30 to 45 minutes. 

With the leftover brown sugar mixture and butter, you want to combine the rest and pour over the monkey bread before baking. You may need to reheat the butter again in your microwave or a small saucepan if it’s solidified again.

And then bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 350°F until an internal temperature reaches 190°F. Then you can prepare the glaze and drizzle over the monkey bread. 

Storage Instructions

I store leftovers, covered in the fridge, for up to 3 days then will reheat again.

Reheat any leftovers in the oven for best results. You can warm the monkey bread back up in an 250°F oven until warmed through (about 10-15 minutes depending on amount reheating). 

Recipe Tips

• Use a thermometer. You want to use a thermometer to test the temperature of your milk before adding your yeast. Yeast is a living thing, which means if the milk is too hot, it will kill the yeast. If the milk is too cold the yeast will not proof properly. If you don’t have a thermometer, test it with your finger. If you can’t put your finger in the liquid, then it’s way too hot! If it’s too hot for you, it’s way too hot for the yeast!
• Measure your flour accurately. Either measure using this method described in this post, or use a kitchen scale for best accuracy.
• No stand mixer? No problem. You can use your stand mixer with a dough hook attachment to make kneading this bread easy or make your bread dough in a mixing bowl with a dough whisk, and knead your bread dough by hand.

Recipe FAQ’s

More Homemade Bread Recipes

• Easy overnight monkey bread
• St Lucia Buns
• 25 Easter Brunch Recipes
• No Yeast Bread
• The Ultimate Guide To Baking Homemade Bread Recipes

Monkey Bread

Pull-Apart Cinnamon Monkey Bread made from scratch and drizzled in a vanilla glaze! Perfect brunch treat!

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: breakfast

Prep Time: 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Total Time: 3 hours hours 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 servings

Calories: 309kcal

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

For the dough:

• ▢ ⅔ cup (160 ml) warm whole milk 105°F to 110°F
• ▢ 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
• ▢ 3¼ cups (406 g) all-purpose flour, divided *spooned and leveled
• ▢ ¼ cup (1/2 stick, 57 g) unsalted butter melted
• ▢ 2 large eggs room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt

For the coating:

• ▢ 1 ¼ cups (248 g) packed light brown sugar
• ▢ 1 ½ Tablespoons ground cinnamon
• ▢ ¾ cup (171 g, 12 Tbs.) unsalted butter melted

For the glaze:

• ▢ 1 cup (113 g) powdered sugar
• ▢ 1 Tablespoons -2 Tbs. milk
• ▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• To Make The Dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine warm milk, sugar, and yeast. Let stand until mixture is foamy, about 10 minutes. ⅔ cup (160 ml) warm whole milk 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
• With mixer running on low speed, add 1 cup (125 g) flour, beating just until combined. Add melted butter and and additional ½ cup (63 g) flour, beating until combined. Beat in eggs. Gradually add salt and remaining 1¾ cups (218 g) flour, beating until a soft dough forms. (Dough will be sticky.) 3¼ cups (406 g) all-purpose flour, divided ¼ cup (1/2 stick, 57 g) unsalted butter 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon salt
• Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place dough in bowl, turning to grease top. Loosely cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place (75°F) until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• To make the coating: In one small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir to combine. In a second bowl, melt the butter. 1 ¼ cups (248 g) packed light brown sugar 1 ½ Tablespoons ground cinnamon ¾ cup (171 g, 12 Tbs.) unsalted butter
• Spray a 10-inch bundt pan with cooking spray.
• Punch dough down very gently to release the gasses to release. Then remove small amounts of dough to form into about 1-inch balls. Dip each ball of dough into melted butter first, then roll into the brown sugar- cinnamon mixture. Place each ball of dough into the prepared pan arranging them as you go. You will get about 30 balls of dough. You may still see some of the bottom of the bundt pan in the end, but these will double in size. Once you have used all the dough, then cover the pan with a towel and allow to rise for another 45 minutes in a warm draft free place.
• Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Combine the rest of the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture and butter. You may need to re-melt the butter. Then pour the mixture over the monkey bread before baking. Bake in your pre-heated oven on the middle rack for 30-35 minutes. Insert a digital thermometer into the center. The internal temperature should read 190oF. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, before inverting onto a plate.
• To make the glaze: In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. If the glaze is too thick, adjust the consistency by adding additonal milk. Drizzle over the monkey bread and serve while warm. 1 cup (113 g) powdered sugar 1 Tablespoons -2 Tbs. milk ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Video

Notes

• Make ahead/storage: This monkey bread is best served warm. But it can be kept at room temperature, covered, for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator. You can also make the dough and refrigerate it overnight before allowing it to go through the first rise. Then continue on with the rest of the recipe as followed!
• Stand mixer: If you don’t have a stand mixer you can mix the dough together by hand.
• No bundt pan? Bake this in a 9×13 casserole dish for about 20-25 minutes. Or you can use a tube pan instead. Or try using two loaf pans.

Nutrition

Calories: 309kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 52mg | Sodium: 240mg | Potassium: 80mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 404IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 1mg

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