recipe-a-week #17: monkey bread

This is a recipe I originally posted last summer, but since it is so amazingly simple and delicious, and since I'm planning on making it this weekend, I thought it would be perfect for this week's recipe. I think I might need some larger clothes next week if I eat all of the things I'm planning on making on my solo weekend. I also don't think that it's humanly possible (even for me!) to accomplish all of the cleaning, organizing, gardening, and relaxing I'd like to. So I just might focus on the relaxing part. I'm more likely to look back and remember that as having spent my weekend wisely. To make the most of the relaxing part, I'll be enjoying some fun spa treatments, too, including this scrub and making some more lotion and solid perfumes. On to the recipe!

Monkey Bread

I had never heard of Monkey Bread until I was in university. At a friend's wedding shower, I tried and fell in love with it. It's a very simple sweet bread, perfectly designed so you can pull off perfectly sized pieces to eat. This recipe uses the bread machine to make the dough, so a bit of planning is needed. I set it last night to be done the dough cycle first thing this morning, so by 8:30 we had a fresh bready treat to eat. Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp water
1 large egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
2 1/4 cups flour
4 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast (instant rise)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp melted butter

Add milk, water, egg, salt, butter, flour, yeast and 4 tsp sugar to bread machine. Select dough cycle. When cycle is complete, cut into a bunch of little balls. Roll each in melted butter, then brown sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place coated dough in bundt pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, approximately 30 minutes. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes. (If you're using a non-ring pan, it may take longer for the middle ones to cook.) Invert onto a plate, and serve warm.

Yeast tip: Rather than buying the $4 113 gram "Bread Machine" jar of yeast from the grocery store, at Yarmouth Natural (and probably most other natural foods or bulk stores) they have "Instant Yeast" which is the same thing, for a lot less. A 125 gram bag costs $1.25.

Let me know if you try making it - especially if you modify the recipe. Happy Friday!