Monkey Bread Adventures

What kept me going all day with meetings and cleaning up at school was the fact that i was going home and make Monkey Bread .. I have had it at Starbucks but never made it myself so this is a first attempt - and the queen cake maker who is of course my mom said it was good - i trust her judgement - she truly enjoyed it or just trying to be nice hahahaha anyways . Ti asked me what monkey bread bread was - to me its picking bread lol .. well to answer her and get a better understanding of what it is i Googled monkey bread and this is what it came up with -

Monkey Bread - The fruit of the baobab tree is called monkey bread. The fruit is eaten as is or to make a drink, it's flesh is dried and ground into flour, and the leaves dried and crushed for flavoring. Even the pulp of the tree is sometimes eaten.

Monkey bread is also a sweet yeast bread made by taking small balls of dough, usually dipped in melted butter, and overlapping several of them in a pan (usually a tube or round pan). After the dough is allowed to rise, the balls of dough cling together to form a solid loaf, which after baking, are easily pulled apart. Frequently, raisins, nuts, sugar and cinnamon are added.'

Some recipes gives the explanation for monkey bread as little cinnamon buns stuck together but i still like the baobab tree version - more exotic .. Anyways, below are the pictures of my version of the monkey bread and a recipe ...

Its worth trying cos its yummy - its best eaten hot and you can always microwave it when it turns cold .. I had fun doing it tired as i was - i just love the smell of cinnamon - i added a little more cinnamon and used brown sugar to make the dough and i halved the receipe seeing that the actualy recipe makes about 20 servings. And i added walnuts to mine omitting the glazing.. I just wanted a simple monkey recipe so improvised it as much as i could .. Most of the recipes online called for ready made bread dough since it was short notice for me i made mine from scratch with a recipe i have in file. So here ya go happy trying the Monkey bread - lets monkey around .. ;)) ...

Monkey Bread Recipe - (20 servings)

Ingredients:-

BREAD - 1 cup raisins - 1/2 cup orange juice - 4 1/2 cup flour - 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 pkg. (1/4 oz) Rapid Rise Yeast - 2 Tsp ground cinnamon - 1 Tsp salt - 1 1/3 cup milk - 3/4 cup butter - 1 egg

GLAZE - 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar - 1 Tbs butter - melted - 1 Tbs light corn syrup - 1/2 tsp grated orange zest - 1-2 Tbs milk

Method:-

For bread :

1. In a micorwave safe bowl combine raisins and juice. Microwave on high in 20 seconds intervals until warm.

2. In a large bowl combine 4 cups flour,1/2 cup sugar, yeast,cinnamon and salt.

3. Heat milk and 1/4 cup butter until very warm (125 degress fahrenheit)

4. Stir milk mixture and egg into flour mixture until dough forms.

5. Drain raisins. Stir raisins into dough and follow the following steps ...


For glaze:-

1. Combine sugar, butter, corn syrup and zest. Stio in enough to make smooth pourable glaze.

2. Invert bread unto serving plate so sugary top is up. using fork, drizzle glaze over bread.

3.Alternatively you can drizzle your monkey bread with canned vanilla frosting

Happy Trying & Happy Eating!