Warm, sticky, lightly crusted, and pulled apart homemade caramel monkey bread recipe. These little rich balls are coated in sweet, caramelized sugar and butter then drizzled with confectioners' sugar glaze on top. Double the sweetness, triple the happiness!
I have to say this homemade caramel monkey bread is the most funky and time consuming dessert recipe I've ever tried. And yet so delicious, tasty, and addicted.
What is monkey bread?
When I first heard about monkey bread, I was like: wait, what is it? So, monkey bread is a Hungarian dessert and has nothing to do with monkey in general.
It is a knotty looking bread-like loaf made from super rich dough and baked in a Bundt pan. The monkey bread includes many small bread balls coated in cinnamon spice, caramelized sugar, and melted butter.
It is best to serve warm so the sticky baked bread balls can be pulled apart easily.
Traditionally, monkey bread has super soft texture. But in this homemade caramel monkey bread recipe, I insist on leaving it in the oven a little bit longer to achieve such lightly crusted outer layer.
Baking schedule
Due to its very intense labor recipe, it is best to plan ahead of time for this recipe:
- 9:00 am - gather ingredients
- 9:10 am - mix the dough using stand mixer
- 9:20 am - knead the dough by hands
- 9:25 am - proof and let the dough rise doubled in size
- 11:25 am - cut the dough into small pieces
- 11:40 am - form pieces of dough into small balls and dip in butter & sugar
- 12:40 pm - let the dough rise doubled in size again in Bundt pan
- 1:40 pm - bake for 45-50 minutes
- 2:30 pm - take the bread out of oven
- 2:33 pm - invert monkey bread on serving plate
- 2:35 pm - serve warm
Important ingredients for this monkey bread recipe
All-purpose flour - I prefer unbleached AP flour over bleached one because I don't want my bread insanely white afterwards. You can read more about the differences between bleached and unbleached flour here.
Instant rise yeast - I used SAF gold instant yeast not only for this homemade caramel monkey bread recipe, but for all yeast baking recipes on the blog. It is the world’s top selling instant yeast. You can read more about choosing the right type of yeast and how to store yeast here.
Granulated white sugar - any brand of sugar is fine, just make sure it is granulated (fine) sugar so it can incorporate to the dough quickly.
Fine light brown sugar - make sure you use fine instead of large crystal brown sugar. You can see from the photos I made a mistake using large crystal type. As a result they won't melt completely.
Unsalted butter - always and almost use unsalted butter in a baking recipe unless you know prefer the flavor profile for your bake goods a little bit salty; then salted butter it is. Use salted one at your own risk.
Cinnamon spice - traditionally monkey bread recipe always includes cinnamon spice. But in my recipe, I like to leave it optional. I made both versions and the one without the cinnamon still tastes as good as the one does.
Confectioner's sugar - or powdered sugar, used to make sugar glaze to drizzle on the top of monkey bread.
How to make homemade caramel monkey bread
Time needed: 5 hours and 30 minutes.
You'll need a Bundt pan to make this monkey bread. I used a 6-cup Bundt pan for this recipe. And a pizza cutter or bowl scraper to cut the dough into small pieces.
- Mix the dough using stand mixer
Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook. On medium low speed, slowly add milk and melted butter to flour mixture and mix until cohesive dough starts to form and pull away from the sides (make sure there is no dry flour remains on the bottom of mixing bowl) approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Shape the dough by hands
Transfer the monkey bread dough to a lightly floured counter and start kneading by hand.
- Form the dough into a smooth round ball
Start by picking the furthest edge of the dough and fold toward the middle. Then turn the dough 45 degree and repeat the pick and fold process. Do these steps for 2 full circles.
- Proof the dough until double in size
Place the smooth round dough seam side down and carefully transfer it to a lightly greased large mixing bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let it rise until double in size, approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.
- Cut the dough into small pieces
When the dough is double in size, deflate and transfer it to a lightly floured counter. Press the dough down into a round square then use a scraper or pizza cutter to cut the dough into 6 equal strips. Then cut each strip into 10-12 small pieces.
- Work with few pieces at a time
Work with few pieces at a time while covering the rest with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Place a piece of monkey bread dough on a clean, non-floured counter and using your hand drag it in a small circle to form a round, smooth ball.
- Dip the balls in melted butter
In a small bowl, combine sugar and ground cinnamon while placing melted butter in another bowl. Dip the round ball in melted butter.
- Dredge in brown sugar
Then carefully dredge it in brown sugar mixture to coat evenly.
- Place the ball in a Bundt pan
Then place the sugar coated ball in a lightly greased Bundt pan. Put the seam side up for the first layer. For the rest of the layers, stagger seams where dough balls meet.
- Proof the dough & make confectioner's sugar glaze
Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rest & rise until they reach 2 inches below the edge of the pan. About 30 minutes to 1 hour. The dough might rise during the previous process. It'll depend on how fast you work on each pieces so the rest/rise time can be shorten than 30 minutes if necessary.
While waiting for the dough, in a mixing bowl, whisk together confectioner's sugar and milk until smooth. Set aside for later use. - Bake the homemade caramel monkey bread
Bake monkey bread until the top turns deep golden brown and the caramel is bubbling around the edges, about 45 – 50 minutes. About the last 10-15 minutes of baking process, you can cover the pan partially with aluminum foil to help accelerate the melting.
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Did you make this recipe? If so please leave a rating and let me know how it went in the comment section. Also, don't forget to tag me #cookmorphosis @cookmorphosis on social media.
Homemade caramel monkey bread
Equipment
- 6-cup Bundt pan
- A pizza cutter or bowl scraper
Ingredients
For the dough
- 3 c unbleached AP flour
- 2 tsp instant rise yeast
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 c whole milk room temperature
- ¼ c water room temperature
- ¼ c granulated white sugar
- 1 oz unsalted butter melted
Coating
- 1 c fine light brown sugar see notes
- 2 tsp cinnamon spice optional
- 4 oz unsalted butter melted and cool down at room temperature
Sugar glaze
- 1 c confectioner's sugar
- 3 tbsp whole milk room temperature
Instructions
For the dough
- Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.
- On medium-low speed, slowly add milk and melted butter to the flour mixture and mix until cohesive dough starts to form and pull away from the sides (make sure there is no dry flour remaining on the bottom of the mixing bowl), approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed
- Transfer the monkey bread dough to a lightly floured counter and start kneading by hand.
- Start by picking the furthest edge of the dough and folding it toward the middle. Then turn the dough 45 degrees and repeat the pick and fold process. Do these steps for two complete circles.
- Place the smooth round dough seam side down and carefully transfer it to a lightly greased large mixing bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let it rise until double in size, approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.
- When the dough is double in size, deflate and transfer it to a lightly floured counter.
- Press the dough down into a round square, then use a scraper or pizza cutter to cut the dough into six equal strips.
- Then cut each strip into 10-12 small pieces.
- Work with a few pieces at a time while covering the rest with plastic wrap or a damp towel.
- Place a piece of monkey bread dough on a clean, non-floured counter, and using your clean hand, drag it in a small circle to form a round, smooth ball.
- In a small bowl, combine sugar and ground cinnamon while placing melted butter in another bowl. Dip the round ball in melted butter.
- Then carefully dredge it in a brown sugar mixture to coat evenly.
- Then place the sugar-coated ball in a lightly greased Bundt pan. Put the seam side up for the first layer. For the rest of the layers, staggering seams where dough balls meet.
- Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rest & rise until it reaches 2 inches below the edge of the pan—about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- The dough might have already risen during the previous process. It'll depend on how fast you work on each piece, so the rest/rise time can be shorter than 30 minutes if necessary.
Baking
- Pre heat oven to 350F.
- When the dough is ready, bake until the top turns deep golden brown and the caramel bubbles around the edges, about 45 – 50 minutes.
- About the last 10-15 minutes of the baking process, you can partially cover the pan with aluminum foil to help accelerate the melting.
- You can shorten the baking time to 30 to 35 minutes if you don't want the outer layer lightly crusted; the monkey bread will yield a softer texture.
For sugar glaze
- While waiting for the bread to bake, in a mixing bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar and milk until smooth. Set aside for later use.
Serving
- When the bread is baking, let it cool in the pan for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Prepare a clean large plate. Then invert monkey bread onto it and let the bread cool slightly before drizzling sugar glaze over the top.
- Serve warm.
Notes
- Fine light brown sugar - make sure you use fine instead of large crystal brown sugar. You can see from the photos I made a mistake using a large crystal type. As a result, they won't melt completely, and the remaining crystallized sugar still sticks to the bread.
- You can use white sugar for the coating if brown sugar is unavailable. But the bread won't have such caramelized color effect after baking.
- The monkey bread needs to rest in the pan for 3-5 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. But don't leave it longer; thus, the caramel can cause it to stick to the pan.
- If the breadsticks to the pan and is hard to take out, return it to the oven (350F) for a few minutes, then proceed with the inversion.
This looks absolutely amazing! ! The picts are so mouthwatering! 🙂
Thank you for sharing.
Hi Matt,
Thank you for such kind words :). I'm flattered.