Recipe for Yummy Monkey Bread

What's monkey bread and why is it called "monkey bread"? Is it for monkeys? There are many theories about how it got that name, but the one that seemed to make sense to me is that monkeys gleefully pick and pull at their food usually off from trees. Since monkey bread is made of small balls of dough pinched off and rolled into balls, hence the name. These balls are dipped in melted butter and then layered in a pan where there is a caramel glaze which drips down into the bread when you take it out of the oven and flip it over.

Cinnamon Pull-Apart Monkey Bread

½ cup melted margarine

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup chopped nuts (optional)

Put into bottom of a bundt pan

Take 2-inch balls of roll dough and dip into melted margarine and then into cinnamon sugar.

Place into pan until is ½ way full. Let raise and bake 20 - 25 minutes at 375 degrees. Dump immediately onto a plate and eat hot. Be careful not to burn yourself.

Now I will give you my basic roll dough that I learned recently at a Relief Society meeting from Donnette Tew. She is a proliferous baker and well known in our small town of Laie, Hawaii.

Basic Roll Dough Recipe

Mix together:

2 cups warm water

2 Tbl. yeast - she recommends Fleishmann's and I concur because I saw how fast it raised.

½ cup sugar

Let this mixture sit for about 10 minutes so you can see if it starts to grow

Add:

2 ½ tsp salt

3 cups flour

Mix well

Then add:

1 egg (optional, but they add flavor, color, strength and nutrients)

¼ cup oil

3 more cups of flour - but add them one at a time and mix between - you don't want the dough to be dry - leave it a little sticky.

When the dough is mixed and has the same consistency throughout, cover top with oil to prevent drying out and cover with a paper towel. Let is raised for 30 minutes. Then form into rolls and let raise 20 minutes. You can use this recipe for many different things including monkey bread, cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, bread bowls and bread sticks.

Rumor has it that Nancy Reagan popularized this treat when she served it at the White House. Although my recipe is not the same as hers, I think it is easy, fast, and you might enjoy it at a your next family gathering.

Ruth Kongaika
Recipe for Yummy Monkey Bread
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