Monkey bread with festive Christmas tablecloth
Friends, we are lucky that I have something to report this morning. This week’s Baked Sunday Mornings project is Monkey Bubble Bread, and I’ll admit that I was a little intimidated. As I have mentioned before, I am not a practiced hand at yeast-based treats and so I just tend to steer away from them. And there was a moment last night where I thought I was going to have to take a photo of a dead lump of dough and declare myself an abject failure.
Fortunately, I mentioned to my husband that the dough hadn’t risen and he pointed out that it wasn’t warm enough in the kitchen for the dough to rise. So, per his suggestion, I turned the oven on to low and set the bowl on top of the oven to allow the yeast to do its work. It still took a long time for it to rise, but it all worked out in the end.
My friend Sally, who makes cinnamon rolls and monkey bread all the time, said that this was a good pastry to make with kids because they like to dip the balls in the butter and sugar, but my kids were loooong asleep by the time I got to that step. But Harrison did get to mix the dry ingredients together before bedtime — including turning on the mixer! You would have thought Christmas had come early!
The cookbook says that you can make the dough ahead of time, just to cover and refrigerate, then uncover and proof/bring to room temperature before cooking. This was the option I chose, and I was a bit concerned about the fact that the balls didn’t puff up while proofing, but they turned out fine. I felt like some of the inner balls were a tad undercooked, but not so much so that they were inedible. Just a little softer than the outside balls.
Of course, Harrison rejected the monkey bread because he said it would turn him into a monkey. Laurel rejected it because, well, she is crazy and doesn’t eat anything but Z Bars and milk, and the occasional tube of organic yogurt. So, we’ve got a LOT of leftover monkey bread, and the two chubby adults in the house are just going to have to suffer through finishing it off!
My Rubberbandball 
Elaine
/ December 19, 2010I’m glad you got the dough to rise. It turned out perfectly. We have a little leftover and I am going to warm some up for breakfast.
mikejdunlap
/ December 19, 2010Wow — looks just like the book! So glad you tried it – yeast is so much fun to bake with – and I’m no expert! Beautiful loaf!
Shelley
/ December 20, 2010Your Monkey Bread turned out great! I agree, this was a really intimidating recipe. I decided I didn’t have the time to dedicate to it before leaving but I’m making the Jan. 2nd challenge, Almond Joy tart, while home for my Dad since he’s always been crazy about the candy bar.
Kathryn
/ December 22, 2010I am drooling over here. I love monkey bread so much, and I am super impressed that you made the dough from scratch!