Sourdough Monkey Bread
Sourdough monkey bread is made up of little balls of cinnamon sugary goodness that are covered in a caramely brown sugar cinnamon sauce--hard to resist. Made with 100% natural yeast, this is a breakfast that will be the highlight of the table.
Ingredients
Levain (1:10:10, overnight or about 12 hours)
- 11 grams ripe sourdough starter
- 110 grams all purpose flour
- 110 grams water
Sourdough Monkey Bread
- 200 grams levain about 3/4 cup
- 240 grams whole milk about 1 cup
- 30 grams unsalted butter melted and cooled, about 2 Tablespoons
- 55 grams granulated sugar 1/4 cup
- 500 grams bread flour see recipe note, about 3 1/3 cups
- 15 grams salt about 2 teaspoons
Topping
- 230 grams brown sugar about 1 cup packed
- 7 grams ground cinnamon about 1 Tablespoon
- 113 grams unsalted butter melted, 1/2 cup
- pinch of salt
Icing (optional)
- 65 grams powdered sugar 1/2 cup
- 15 grams whole milk 1 .5 Tablespoons
Instructions
Levain (1:10:10/overnight)
- Mix together the ripe sourdough starter with flour and water. Cover and let sit in a warm, 78 degree F place for about 12 hours until bubbly/ripe/doubled in size and has a slight sour aroma. If you prefer to make the levain the morning of mixing the dough, mix together 75 grams ripe sourdough starter/75 grams water/75 grams flour and let sit in warm 78 degree F place for about 3-4 hours before proceeding with the recipe.
Sourdough Monkey Bread
- Kneading the Dough: To the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together ripe levain, whole milk, unsalted butter (melted), sugar, bread flour and salt. Knead for about 8 minutes until the dough is smooth and tacky.
- Bulk Fermentation: Remove dough from the mixer, place in a container and cover. Set the dough in a warm place (78 degrees-80 degrees F) for about 4 hours. The dough will puff up and look like it's risen a bit by the end of 4 hours. If you want a more sour flavor in your monkey bread, let the dough ferment another hour or two.
- Cold Bulk Fermentation: Place the dough in the refrigerator overnight for a cold bulk fermentation. This dough can stay in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. If you prefer to bake the monkey bread the same day, skip the cold bulk fermentation and move straight to shaping the dough.
- Topping: Mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
- Shaping Monkey Bread: Turn the dough out of the container. It will be cold but as you work with it, it will warm up a bit. Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, cut the monkey bread into 8 sections. Cut each section of monkey bread into 6-8 pieces (depending on how large you like the pieces). Roll each piece into a ball shape with your fingers and then dunk into the butter and then the topping mixture. Coat each ball completely in the mixture and place in the bundt pan. Continue until all the balls of dough are covered and the bundt pan is filled up with monkey bread bites. Pour any leftover melted butter/topping over the top of the monkey bread.
- Proofing the Dough: Cover and let the monkey bread rest in a warm place for about 3 hours. I set my bread proofer to 82 degrees F which is a little warmer than usual. This helps warm up cold dough from being in the refrigerator a little more quickly. If you don't have a bread proofer, use your oven with the light on to monitor the temperature of your dough. After about 3 hours, gently touch a dough ball. It should feel airy and light (no longer cold at all). If you press in on the dough ball it should spring back just a little bit. The dough should have puffed up but won't necessarily rise to fill the bundt pan. If your dough is showing all of these signs, go ahead and pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F. If it's not showing these signs, let it continue rising for another half hour to hour. If you want more sour flavor, leave the dough to ferment even longer--another hour or two.
- Bake: Put the sourdough monkey bread in a preheated 350 degree F oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. The monkey bread will puff up while it bakes and the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture will make a delicious coating all over the monkey bread. Pull the sourdough monkey bread out of the oven and let rest for about 5-10 minutes before turning it out onto a large plate.
- Icing: Mix together powdered sugar and whole milk. Drizzle over the top of warm sourdough monkey bread if desired. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
Timing: This recipe takes a couple of days, start to finish. The hands on time is minimal but there is a lot of rising/resting/refrigerated time needed. Use my sample schedule in the post to help gauge the timing and keep the dough temperature at or slightly above 78 degrees F. You can make this all in one day if you mix a 1:1:1 levain in the morning, mix and let the dough rise for about 4 hours, then shape into monkey bread and let rise again for another 3-4 hours in warm 78 degree F place.
Bread Flour: I prefer using bread flour in recipes that knead the dough to develop the gluten. The result is a light and springy texture. If you don't have bread flour, you can substitute all purpose flour.
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