This pull apart monkey bread is made with gooey, buttery dough balls coated in cinnamon sugar and brown sugar sauce. It tastes just like the middle part of a cinnamon roll, which is the best part!
These delicious buttery dough balls are baked in a bundt cake. The cinnamon sugar coating and the brown butter sauce create a caramel-like topping that melts into the dough balls.
If you like this recipe, you will love our homemade cinnamon rolls, apple cinnamon rolls with apple pie filling, cinnamon roll muffins, and cinnamon bundt cake.
Jump to:
What is monkey bread?
Monkey bread is a soft, sweet, sticky, bundt cake made by making yeasted dough, dividing it into small dough balls, dipping each dough ball in butter and cinnamon sugar, topping it with a brown sugar sauce, and baking to perfection.
After it's baked, flip it on a serving plate, you can top it with a drizzle of vanilla icing, or leave it as is. This recipe creates super moist and caramelized dough balls, so I didn't need to top it with more sugary icing.
You can do so if you want to though! I will leave an easy vanilla icing recipe in the recipe card below.
Why this recipe works
- This dough is made from scratch which creates the best fluffy and delicious monkey bread.
- You get the delicious buttery cinnamon sugar flavor in every ball! Since we dip each dough ball in butter and cinnamon sugar, each ball is nicely coated.
- This recipe is very easy to make as long as you follow the instructions and tips correctly! It also uses simple ingredients!
- This is the perfect recipe for any occasion! You can make it for breakfast, dessert, or a delish snack!
Ingredients
Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Full measurements are in the recipe card below.
For the dough
Flour– we used all-purpose flour for this recipe, bread flour will work even better.
Yeast- we used instant yeast for this recipe. make sure that your yeast isn't expired.
Sugar- we used granulated sugar for this recipe. You can use caster sugar as well.
Eggs- you will need 2 large eggs for this recipe. Make sure that you use room-temperature eggs in this recipe.
Melted butter- we used unsalted butter for this recipe. If you want to use salted butter, skip the salt in this recipe.
Vanilla extract- adds extra flavor.
Kosher salt- you will need 1 teaspoon of kosher salt for this recipe.
Milk- use whole milk in this recipe. you will need 1 ½ cups.
Coating
Cinnamon– You will need 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon for the filling.
Granulated sugar- you can use either granulated sugar or brown sugar for the cinnamon sugar coating.
Butter- melt the butter in the microwave for 20-second pulses to prevent it from exploding from overboiling. Use unsalted butter for this.
Brown sugar- for the brown sugar sauce, you will need to mix brown sugar and melted butter very well. You can use either dark brown sugar or light brown sugar for this.
Instructions
In a bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, dry yeast, and granulated sugar. Mix with a spoon until combined. Add the salt, and mix until combined.
Add the eggs, room-temperature milk, vanilla extract, and cooled melted butter. Start mixing on low until the dough forms.
Increase the speed to medium and mix for at least 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and silky.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours or until it’s doubled in size (or even tripled in size).
Prepare a 12-cup bundt cake with softened butter to prevent the dough from sticking to the pan.
Punch the dough down and transfer it to a clean floured surface. Sprinkle flour generously on the dough and roll it into a ¼-inch thick rectangle, making sure that the bottom of the dough doesn’t stick to the surface.
Using your clean hands, pull small pieces of the dough (use flour if the dough is sticky) and shape each dough piece into a ball.
Dip each ball in melted butter and coat it with cinnamon sugar. Place in the bundt pan until you run out of dough and the pan is filled.
Cover the pan with a towel or plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Quickly make the brown sugar sauce: in a small mixing bowl, add the melted butter and brown sugar and mix well with a spoon until well combined. Pour the sauce over the dough balls.
Bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, depending on the oven until the dough balls have risen and the tops are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes. Top the pan with a plate, flip the cake, and tap the cake pan to release the cake from the pan.
Expert Tips
- Do not wait to release the bread from the bundt pan! Let it cool for 5 minutes and immediately flip the bread from the pan onto a large plate.
- Use room temperature ingredients. You must use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and milk. This step ensures that your dough mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with the back of a knife.
- Don't overheat your milk! Overheating your milk is one of the most common mistakes in making yeast dough. If you heat your milk over 110f, it might kill your yeast and stop your dough from rising.
- Make sure that your ingredients are fresh! Make sure that your flour and yeast are fresh and not expired. This step ensures that you will have the great dough to work with.
- Be patient! Let the dough rise at least until it doubles its size. The more the dough rises, the more fluffy the monkey bread will be.
- Make sure that your yeast isn’t expired. You can check if your yeast is expired by mixing a teaspoon of dry yeast with ¼ cup of room temperature water, waiting 10 minutes, and if the yeast has bubbles in it and it puffed a bit, your yeast is alive and good, if there are no bubbles in your yeast mixture, your yeast is probably expired.
Faq's
The milk should be warm to the touch. We suggest using whole milk for this recipe.
If you warm up your milk too much, it can kill the yeast, so either use room temperature milk or measure the temperature of the milk with a thermometer, it shouldn't go past 100f.
You can knead the dough by hand! Start by mixing the ingredients in a big mixing bowl, then transfer the dough to a clean floured surface and knead the dough for at least 10 minutes, or until the dough is super smooth and elastic.
The best flour for yeast dough is bread flour. It contains a higher percentage of gluten which is the protein in the flour that makes the dough silky, stretchy, and smooth.
All-purpose flour works great for this recipe as well.
Yes. I never tried making this in another pan, but it can work great baked in a loaf pan or a round cake pan!
Monkey bread has a delicious texture of soft and buttery dough and a cinnamony caramel flavor in each dough ball. I like describing it as the middle part of a cinnamon roll.
Storing
It’s okay to store this at room temperature. Make sure that you store the bread in an airtight container so it won’t dry out.
Freezing
Freeze these after they cooled completely in an airtight freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months.
We suggest removing the dough balls from the pan and placing them in an airtight container or wrapping them with a few layers of plastic wrap.
Thaw in the fridge overnight or at room temperature for a few hours and reheat it in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 5-10 minutes.
Reheating
Place the monkey bread on a plate and reheat it in the microwave for 20 seconds, these warm-up great and taste amazing for 4 days.
Substitutions
Dairy-free- you can make this dairy-free by replacing the milk with vegan milk and the butter with vegan butter.
Variations
Add-ins- make this recipe your own and add your favorite add-ins: chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, pecans, chocolate chunks, chopped fruit, etc.
Toppings- these can be topped with cream cheese icing and vanilla icing. Use your favorite toppings that you like to make the most.
More delicious breakfasts
Coffee cake muffins- These coffee cake muffins are moist, flavorful, and topped with decadent streusel topping. These muffins are just like the ones you would get in a bakery, but you can make them at home!
Chocolate chip banana bread- This chocolate chip banana bread is extra moist banana bread that is made with brown butter, greek yogurt, and plenty of mashed bananas making this banana bread super moist, flavorful, and fluffy.
Pecan banana bread- This extra moist pecan banana bread is made with brown butter, mashed bananas, chopped pecans, and greek yogurt that makes this bread super soft and fluffy.
If you tried this recipe, don’t forget to leave a rating and a comment below. We love hearing from you.
If you liked this recipe
📖 Recipe
Pull Apart Monkey Bread (From Scratch)
Ingredients
- 5 cups Flour
- 1 tablespoon Instant yeast
- ¼ cups Granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 Eggs
- 80 g Butter melted and cooled
- 1 ½ cups Milk room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Cinnamon sugar coating
- 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 115 g Butter or 1 stick of butter
Brown sugar sauce
- 115 g Butter
- ½ cup Brown sugar light or dark brown sugar
Instructions
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, dry yeast, and granulated sugar. Mix with a spoon until combined. Add the salt, and mix until combined.
- Add the eggs, room-temperature milk, vanilla extract, and cooled melted butter. Start mixing on low until the dough forms.
- Increase the speed to medium and mix for at least 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and silky.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours or until it’s doubled in size (or even tripled in size).
- Prepare a 12-cup bundt cake with softened butter to prevent the dough from sticking to the pan.
- Punch the dough down and transfer it to a clean floured surface. Sprinkle flour generously on the dough and roll it into a ¼-inch thick rectangle, making sure that the bottom of the dough doesn’t stick to the surface.
- Using your clean hands, pull small pieces of the dough (use flour if the dough is sticky) and shape each dough piece into a ball.
- Dip each ball in melted butter and coat it with cinnamon sugar. Place in the bundt pan until you run out of dough and the pan is filled.
- Cover the pan with a towel or plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.
- Quickly make the brown sugar sauce: in a small mixing bowl, add the melted butter and brown sugar and mix well with a spoon until well combined. Pour the sauce over the dough balls.
- Bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, depending on the oven until the dough balls have risen and the tops are golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes. Top the pan with a plate, flip the cake and tap the cake pan to release the cake from the pan.
Notes
- Do not wait to release the bread from the bundt pan! Let it cool for 5 minutes and immediately flip the bread from the pan onto a large plate.
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and milk. This step ensures that your dough mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Don't overheat your milk! Overheating your milk is one of the most common mistakes in making yeasted dough. If you heat your milk over 110f, it might kill your yeast and stop your dough from rising.
- Make sure that your ingredients are fresh! Make sure that your flour and yeast are fresh and not expired. This step ensures that you will have the great dough to work with.
- Be patient! Let the dough rise at least until it doubles its size. The more the dough rises, the more fluffy the monkey bread will be.
- Make sure that your yeast isn’t expired. You can check if your yeast is expired by mixing a teaspoon of dry yeast with ¼ cup of room temperature water, waiting 10 minutes, and if the yeast has bubbles in it and it puffed a bit, your yeast is alive and good, if there are no bubbles in your yeast mixture, your yeast is probably expired.
Comments
No Comments