A brilliant hot dessert with caramel or a delicious ‘pastry’ with Vanilla Glaze
Serves 8
Ingredients
Dough
7gm active dry yeast (1 sachet)
60 ml warm water (110F-115F)
300ml cups warm milk (110F-115F)
625 gms All purpose flour
50gms granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
70gms unsalted butter, melted
Cinnamon- Sugar Topping
100gm unsalted butter, melted
250gm sugar
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
Option1: Caramel Sauce Option
Caramel Sauce
100gm unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 Tablespoons heavy cream (no substitutions)
Option2: Vanilla Glaze Option
Butter Coating
75gms unsalted butter melted
150gm Brown Sugar
1 tspn Vanilla Extract
Vanilla Glaze
135gm Powdered Sugar (Ground Castor sugar)
50ml Double Cream
1/2 tspn Vanilla Extract
Preparation Method
Make the dough:
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir it around a bit and let it sit for about 2 minutes. Add the milk, melted butter, sugar, eggs, salt, and 3 cups of flour, Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. By hand, stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-7 minutes. Do not over-knead, which will lend tough and chewy bread. The dough is ready when it is smooth and when you can poke it with a finger and it springs back. Form dough into a smooth ball and place into a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top (I greased the bowl with cooking spray). Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
Make the cinnamon-sugar topping:
In a shallow bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar.
In a separate small bowl, melt the butter. Set aside
Spray a 10-12 cup bundt pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
Punch the cold dough down very gently to allow the air bubbles to release. Pull apart pieces and roll into balls, about 1.25 inches in diameter. You will need 40-45 balls total, so be modest with their size. Dip each ball, one by one, in the melted butter and then generously roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat them well. (You may need more cinnamon-sugar depending how heavy you coat each ball).
Option1: Make the Caramel Sauce:
The caramel sauce can be made ahead of time (up to 1 week) and heated in the microwave for 30 seconds before using. To make the caramel, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Once melted, add brown sugar and heavy cream. Stir constantly over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Allow to bubble for 3-4 full minutes, no more. Set aside.
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Assembly:
Arrange 15 dough balls into the bundt pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the pecans. Top-up the pan with remaining dough balls and pecans – don’t overfill the pan! (it’s possible that there will be about 10 balls left – place them on a tray and bake separately – delicious with jam or honey). Allow dough balls to rise again for about 45 minutes at room temperature. Preheat oven to 350F.
Option1: Caramel Sauce Option
Warm the caramel sauce up for about 30 seconds. Stir, and top the dough balls with 1/2 of the caramel sauce. Reserve the rest to pour on top after it is baked.
Option2: Vanilla Glaze Option
Whisk the brown sugar and vanilla into the melted butter until combined. Pour the Butter Coating mixture over the dough balls in the bundt pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top (cover loosely with foil if the top browns too quickly). Cool for 5-10 minutes, then invert onto a large serving plate.
Warm up the remaining caramel sauce and drizzle over the bread before serving
Simply whisk all of the Vanilla Glaze ingredients together and pour over the cooled, cooked bread
The Caramel Sauce version is a hot pudding – the Vanilla Glaze a spicy treat best served warm but not hot, served either cut into generous slices or better still letting everyone pick off the gooey pieces themselves.
Monkey bread tastes best served on the same day, but will stay fresh for 3 days if stored covered at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
Ormside Kitchen 