Great British Bake Off: Monkey Bread

Episode 8: Advanced Dough

Recipe (Signature Challenge): Sweet Fruit Loaves

We are in the home stretch! This Signature Challenge kicked off the ‘Advanced Dough’ episode and tasked the competitors to create a free-form enriched bread loaf with fruit. To be honest, I didn’t feel particularly inspired by the competitors’ creations (just not my taste) so I decided to focus on making a more interesting ‘enriched’ loaf. I’m not sure if I discussed what ‘enriched’ dough is (maybe in breads?) but it’s basically a yeasted dough with the addition of oil, milk, butter, sugar, honey, molasses, or egg (ahh, brioche). I decided to try Smitten Kitchen’s recipe for Monkey Bread. It’s been a recipe I’ve had my eye on for a while and my “fruit” twist would be to add in chopped up apple and raisins. Well, guess what? I forgot the fruit! So I guess it’s an excuse to make this recipe again?

It turned out really well and was very easy to make. It does make quite a large loaf in the end, so if you’ve got a brunch to go to or something to contribute, consider a Monkey Bread! It’s basically yeasted dough that you divide into little balls (which are dipped in butter then rolled in sugar – oh yeah) that are placed in a ring mold and then left to rise and then bake. It’s not quite a ‘pull-apart’ bread, but as each ball is individually coated, they separate very nicely and conveniently!

The recipe: https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/02/monkey-bread-with-cream-cheese-glaze/

Dough balls after the second rise in the pan.

Monkey Bread inverted onto a plate – look at that natural glaze from the melted sugar! 

Shot from up top (before the final glaze)

Nice airy dough. When it’s fresh each one of the little nuggets has a tender crunch to it.
You can see the finished glazed product in the background.

I couldn’t imagine a better way to start your weekend with one of these beauties! I would even recommend prepping it the night before and letting it do a slow second rise in the fridge and take it out a bit before preheating your oven.

Overall: 8/10