When I spent a year in Alabama in the US nearly 30 years ago, I came across many delicious foods. ‘Monkey Bread’ is one of them. I tried to make it using my ‘Basic Sweet Bread Dough’, which amount is perfect for my family. If you have never heard of ‘Monkey Bread’, try it once. You will fall in love with it.

Makes

4 to 6 Servings

Ingredients

Basic Sweet Bread Dough
1/2 cup Warm Milk
1 to 2 teaspoons Dry Yeast *1 teaspoon takes longer time to proof
1 & 3/4 cups Bread Flour *and extra for kneading
2 tablespoons Caster Sugar *You don’t need more than this.
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg *lightly whisked
20g Butter *melted
*Note: You need extra Butter to grease cake tin

Coating
40g Butter *melted
1/4 cup Caster Sugar
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
Extra 20g Butter
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Method
  1. Place Warm Milk and Dry Yeast in a bowl, mix gently and set aside.
  2. Combine Bread Flour, Sugar and Salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast mixture, Egg and Butter. Mix well to form a soft dough. Knead for 2 to 3 minutes, gradually adding extra Flour as required, until smooth and elastic.
  3. Cover with a plate or plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  4. Grease a ring cake tin or bundt cake tin with Butter.
  5. Place 40g Butter in a bowl and melt it. In another bowl combine Caster Sugar and Ground Cinnamon.
  6. Divide the dough and form lots of small 2cm size balls. Coat with melted Butter, then Cinnamon and Sugar mixture, and place in the prepared cake tin evenly. Set aside in a warm place for 1/2 hour. *Note: Save the leftover melted Butter.
  7. Preheat oven to 180℃.
  8. You probably have some leftover melted Butter. Add extra 20g Butter and melt it. Add Brown Sugar and Vanilla Extract, and mix well. Drizzle the mixture over the dough.
  9. Bake for 40 minutes on a lower rack. When the top gets too dark, cover with a sheet of foil. Allow to stand in the tin for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer to a serving plate.