Drunken Monkey Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you know when monkey bread is done? ›

Bake the monkey bread for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the top of the loaf is golden brown. An instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf should read between 190°F and 200°F. Serve and store. Serve immediately, or warmed.

Homemade monkey bread combines several tiny balls of dough coated in butter, cinnamon, and sugar. It's basically a giant Bundt pan of gooey cinnamon rolls! Finish this fun breakfast or dessert treat with vanilla icing and serve pull apart style. This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.

You can speed up the rising process by placing the refrigerated monkey bread into a warm oven (not warm enough it will bake the bread! just warm enough to help the rising – I preheat my oven to 170 degrees and then once it reaches temperature, I turn it off but keep the oven light on).

I bake mine in one of the best Bundt pans, but a tube pan works, too. You could even bake it in a muffin tin for individual monkey bread "muffins." Wouldn't that be cute?! Just be sure to adjust the baking time.

Bread is typically done when it has an internal temperature of 190°F. Testing your bread with a food thermometer a few minutes before the recipe suggests it will be done can help ensure that it is baked to your desired doneness and ready to be made into a delicious Pulled Pork Sandwich or dipped in a warm cup of soup.

If the bottom of the pieces that haven't been exposed is still doughy, the bread needs to bake longer. If it's fully baked and no stretchy dough appears, it's ready.

Recipes for the bread first appeared in American women's magazines and community cookbooks in the 1950s. During the 1980s, Nancy Reagan popularized serving monkey bread during Christmas by making it a staple of the Reagan White House Christmas. Mrs. Reagan acquired the recipe from her fellow actress Zasu Pitts.

Monkey bread gets its name by the method in which it is eaten: picking off chunks of buttery, gooey dough with your fingers not unlike a monkey grooming his buddy (which is actually a weird thing to name a food after, if you really think about it.)

Yeast is too cold If the other ingredients are too cold, it could cause some of the yeast to die. Was the dough kneaded properly? Dough may not have been kneaded enough. Kneading 'exercises' the gluten in the bread and gives it the elasticity to hold in the air bubbles produced by the yeast.

Add more yeast, blend in the starter, or knead in more flour to help initiate rising. Dough that has expired yeast, too much salt, all-purpose or cake flour, or antifungal spices like cinnamon might have trouble rising.

What happens when you overproof dough? ›

An overproofed dough won't expand much during baking, and neither will an underproofed one. Overproofed doughs collapse due to a weakened gluten structure and excessive gas production, while underproofed doughs do not yet have quite enough carbon dioxide production to expand the dough significantly.

Can you bake a Bundt cake in a 13×9 pan? Yes—but don't overfill the pan. Be sure to leave about 1/2″ to 1/4″ of space at the top to give the cake room to grow. You'll also need to adjust your baking time.

Recipe Tip

To be entirely sure that the monkey bread is fully cooked and not doughy in the center, use a thermometer to verify that the middle has reached 190°F. If the top is browning too much and the center is still not at 190°F, lower the monkey bread in your oven and/or cover it with foil to prevent over-browning.

You can be extra-sure that the bread is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted in the top or side registers 210°F. Cool and slice the bread. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and use the parchment paper to transfer the bread to a wire rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes before slicing the bread.