PICTURED: ANDREW BUI; FOOD STYLING: MAKINZE GORE
For breakfast, nothing better than blueberry monkey bread, fresh from the oven. Tiny bites of warm bread, rolled in spiced sugar, smothered in blueberry sauce and drizzled with cream cheese frosting? Sign us up.
Many monkey bread recipes use canned cookies, but trust us, it’s worth making your own dough from scratch. You can’t beat the smell and taste of freshly baked bread, and that yeasty flavor provides extra richness to balance out all the sweetness of the brown sugar coating and frosting. Is it bread? Is it a pastry? Either way, it’s damn delicious.
Read on for more tips on how to make this delicious baked treat. Looking for another sweet bread treat? Check out these concha breads – they look spectacular and are much easier to make than you might think.
What is Monkey Bread?
Monkey bread is made up of bite-sized pieces of bread dough, rolled in butter and spiced sugar, then cooked in a Bundt pan until caramelized and gooey on the outside. Many versions of monkey bread use canned cookies, but we love the yeasty flavor and aroma of homemade bread, so we decided to make our own slightly sweetened dough for this recipe. We also added a simple filling of blueberry jam, which we laced between the layers of bread dough balls. As the monkey bread bakes, the blueberry sauce bubbles around the bread, adding to the delicious gooey flavor. A blended cream cheese frosting drizzled over the finished loaf makes for a real hit.
How do I know if my yeast is working?
If you use active dry yeast (which is what this recipe calls for) you will be able to tell if it works based on whether or not it starts to froth or bubble when you mix it into the milk/sugar/ hot butter. mixed. The foaming indicates that the yeast is feeding on the sugar (and releasing the carbon dioxide byproduct, which causes the bubbles), and this proves that the yeast is active. If there has been no change within 10 minutes, the yeast is not active, which means you need to discard the liquid mixture and start over with a fresh packet of yeast. It’s not common – it happens maybe one in a million times – but regardless, it helps to have proof that your yeast is working before you mix it into the flour. That way, if not, you’re only throwing away some milk, butter and sugar, not all of your dough!
Can I replace instant yeast with active dry yeast?
We do not recommend replacing Instant Active Dry Yeast in this recipe. Although the two types of yeast may look similar, they require different methods of activation: active dry yeast must be activated in warm liquids (preferably with sugar), while instant yeast is thrown directly into the bowl with the flour and all the rest. Instant yeast might seem easier to work with (and therefore preferable), but we chose active dry yeast for this recipe because that extra step also gives us a chance to make sure our yeast is working.
The active dry yeast is available in packs of 3 individual sachets of 7 g. (0.25 oz) in most grocery stores (which is ideal for this recipe), but if you buy it in a larger jar, no worries! Just store it in the fridge and it will keep for a long time.
Why is there cardamom in the brown sugar coating?
Although not as widely used in the United States, cardamom is a popular spice in Scandinavian sweet breads, most notably in Swedish Kardamummabuller, or cardamom bun. Although it can taste medicinal if used too heavily, a hint of cardamom adds a lovely floral spice to sweet pastas and is especially tasty when paired with blueberries. We chose to add it to our coating with the more traditional cinnamon. If you don’t have it or can’t find it, feel free to leave it out.
Can I do it in advance?
This monkey bread is best fresh out of the oven, preferably while still warm. If you want to work ahead, you can make the blueberry sauce ahead, let it cool, and store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days before making the monkey bread. You can also make the cream cheese frosting ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator. Simply reheat it every 5 seconds in the microwave until it’s the consistency of a trickle.
Do it ? Let us know how it went in the comments below.
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PICTURED: ANDREW BUI; FOOD STYLING: MAKINZE GORE
