Monkey Bread

Hi guys! I am a terrible person. I haven't posted in forever! :( Sorry. I sort of have an excuse. My boyfriend has been visiting from Michigan and between my birthday, July 4th, and driving through what felt like the entire state of Texas, I've been a little busy. It's really been a wonderful week and a half - we even went down to Galveston Island for some sight-seeing. But fear not! We've been doing quite a bit of cooking/baking (including birthday cake! more on that once I have the recipe handy), so there should be plenty to post about over the next few days.

We'll start out with birthday dinner! All of our special-occasion dinners are done out on the grill, by Dad. We definitely had a feast this time! Pork with grilled pineapple, asparagus, onions, and mushrooms. Mmm. Usually, we have toasted bread from the grill as well, but because it was a special occasion we turned to a family recipe: Monkey Bread.

Why is it called Monkey Bread, might you ask? Well, it's because of the way you serve it. It's baked in a bundt pan, but once you flip the bread onto a serving plate, there's no cutting required! Butter is baked into the bread layers, so you can just tear off a piece with your hands.

In the past few years, I have been chosen as the Monkey Bread baker, because my renditions always turn out so well. We have it for most Thanksgivings and Christmas, so it's a family favorite. And it's easy to see why! The bread is soft, moist, and buttery. As a bonus, you can take your leftover pieces and toast them with butter and cinnamon sugar for a divine breakfast the next day! You do have to let the bread rise, but it's so worth it.

This recipe makes 2 bundt pans full of the bread. You could halve the recipe to make just one pan, but it's always so popular we never have many leftovers. :)

Some quick tips on this bread! You may notice that the shortening doesn't distribute completely throughout the bread at first. That's okay! By the time you're done rising, (rocking,) rolling, and baking, it will be fine. No need to pull out a mixer - you just need a spoon. 

As far as the rising goes, make sure you have lots of extra room in your bowl/pan, as you want the dough to double in size. In the summer, you can just put your bread outside! In the winter, we usually use the laundry room (or you can put it in your oven at 100 degrees.

When you roll out your dough, use lots of flour on your hands, rolling pin, and dough so that nothing sticks. :) Onto the recipe!  

Monkey Bread

Makes 2 pans

Ingredients

• 2 pkg. yeast
• 1 c. warm water
• 1 c. vegetable shortening
• 1 c. boiling water
• 5 c. flour
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1.5 t. salt
• 1 t. almond extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 sticks butter

Recipe

Add yeast to the lukewarm water and stir for a few seconds. Let dissolve.
Put shortening in a large bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let cool to room temperature.
Once shortening has cooled, add yeast mixture, sugar, salt, and almond extract.
Beat your eggs and add them in, then stir in the flour. Let rise until it doubles in size.
Flour a flat surface and the dough, then roll out to about 1/3" thickness. Using a floured butter knife, cut the dough into 1" x 3" strips.
Melt butter into a shallow dish. Dip each strip of dough into the melted butter, then arrange into the bundt pans. Use roughly half of the dough in each pan, and try to arrange them into even layers. Pour the excess butter over the top in each pan.
Set the dough out to rise, and allow the dough to double in size in the bundt pan. Be sure to leave space for the bread to rise in the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake bread at 45 minutes or until browned on top. Serve immediately.


Thanks for reading and happy cooking!