This Buttery Monkey Bread recipe is NOT the sugar-cinnamon sweet kind. The flavor of this bread is similar to King’s Hawaiian Rolls with its hint of sweetness but it’s baked into a Pull-Apart Monkey Bread. Golden brown outside and pillowy soft inside.
Table of contents
- Step 1 – Dissolve Yeast in Lukewarm Water
- Step 2 – Melt shortening in boiling water to which salt and sugar have been added; cool.
- Step 3 – Add eggs, yeast mixture, and flour. Beat gradually with stand mixer using dough hook attachment.
- Step 4 – Let dough rise until doubled in bulk.
- Step 5 – Knead down and pinch off into tiny balls. Dip each ball into melted butter. Drop in tube pans or Bundt pans. Pour remaining butter over balls in pan.
- Step 6 – Let rise until doubled in size then bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
- Save this Monkey Bread Recipe to your favorite Bread Board or your Homemade Rolls Board.
Disclosure – I may get a small commission for purchases made through affiliate links in this post.
Let’s just walk through the steps to make this delicious Monkey Bread.
Step 1 – Dissolve Yeast in Lukewarm Water
In a measuring cup or small bowl, measure out exactly 1 cup of lukewarm water then sprinkle both packages of yeast on top of the water.
Lukewarm water is approximately 100 degrees F.
Body temperature is 98.6 degrees F so if you feel the water and it’s about the same as your body temperature, you’re probably good.
If you feel the water and you think “that’s hot!” then it’s probably too hot.
If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast.
Let the water and yeast sit on the counter top while you do the next steps.
You should see the yeast starting to get foamy.
If your yeast doesn’t get foamy and still looks like yeast granules sitting on the water, the yeast is not good and you’ll need to start over.
Don’t even bother trying to make Monkey Bread with that yeast because it won’t work.
Step 2 – Melt shortening in boiling water to which salt and sugar have been added; cool.
In a separate microwave-safe bowl or large measuring cup, add exactly 1 cup of water, the shortening, salt and sugar.
Microwave this mixture for 2-4 minutes until the water is boiling and the shortening is melted.
I do this step in my 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup so that I’ll have plenty of room.
But any small microwave-safe bowl will work just fine.
Now, let this mixture hang out until it has cooled.
Remember that yeast from Step 1?
We need to keep it happy so everything you add to the bread dough needs to be about room temperature or less than 100 degrees.
Step 3 – Add eggs, yeast mixture, and flour. Beat gradually with stand mixer using dough hook attachment.
Once the water and shortening mixture has cooled, add it to the bowl of your stand mixer that has been fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment.
Then start gradually adding the eggs, yeast mixture, and flour.
This Monkey Bread dough is really soft and glorious but resist the urge to add more flour to the dough.
It’s going to be soft and that’s alright. Just stick to the plan.
After everything has been combined, continue mixing with the dough hook attachment for 4-5 minutes.
Step 4 – Let dough rise until doubled in bulk.
While your dough is kneading, preheat your oven to 250 degrees F.
After the dough has been kneaded in the stand mixer, remove the dough from the mixer bowl.
Next, clean the bowl and oil it well then place the dough back inside, turning it over to coat the dough with oil.
Then TURN THE OVEN OFF, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place the bowl in the warm oven.
Putting the dough in the warm oven will help it rise more quickly.
You can let your dough rise in a warm place on the counter top if you’d like.
When the dough is doubled in size, it’s ready to go to the next step.
Step 5 – Knead down and pinch off into tiny balls. Dip each ball into melted butter. Drop in tube pans or Bundt pans. Pour remaining butter over balls in pan.
For this step, go ahead and get your two bread pans out and ready to go.
I have two Bundt pans that I use for my Monkey Bread.
My pans are the classic Bundt shape but you can use anything similar to a tube pan.
It needs to be about 10 inches in diameter or 12 cups.
I do not grease my pans since I’m using so much butter in this step, but you can grease yours if you’d prefer.
In a small bowl, melt 1 stick of butter in the microwave and set it aside to cool slightly
Take your dough and punch it down in the bowl to knead it a bit more.
Then pinch off tiny bits of dough and roll them into balls.
The dough is still soft at this point so don’t expect a perfectly round ball shape.
Rolling the dough into balls is what creates the Pull-Apart “Monkey” effect for this bread.
The balls should be about 1 inch in diameter.
Roll the dough into balls then dip them into the melted butter.
I use a fork to retrieve the balls then alternate them between the two pans.
I’ve never counted how many balls go into each pan.
As long as you get approximately half the dough into each pan, you should be good to go.
If you have any butter leftover, just pour it all over the top of the dough in the pans.
Yum! This is perhaps my favorite part.
Step 6 – Let rise until doubled in size then bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
After having all the dough dipped in butter and resting in your two Bundt pans, cover the pans with plastic wrap and set them aside in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size.
This is the hard part!
It’s hard to wait for the yummy bread to rise again.
But it’s so worth it to let the dough get nice and fluffy before you bake it.
This will result in a nice, soft, and fluffy pan of Monkey Bread.
You can let the dough rise in a warm oven again if you’d like.
After the dough has doubled in size, it’s time to bake.
I always bake it for 30 minutes. No more, no less.
Of course, you may need to adjust for your oven but you want the pans of bread to be nice and golden brown but still soft on the inside.
The time and effort it takes to make this homemade Monkey Bread recipe are well worth it when you take that first bite and taste that subtle sweetness.
I hope you’ll give this recipe a try.
Save this Monkey Bread Recipe to your favorite Bread Board or your Homemade Rolls Board.
Monkey Bread
Ingredients
- 2 pkgs active dry yeast
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water.
- Melt shortening in boiling water to which salt and sugar has been added; cool.
- Add eggs, yeast mixture, and flour. Beat gradually with stand mixer using dough hook attachment.
- Let rise until doubled in bulk.
- Knead down and pinch off into tiny balls. Dip each ball into melted butter. Drop in tube pans or Bundt pans. Pour remaining butter over balls in pan.
- Let rise until doubled. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.