Monkey bread...AND cinnamon buns

Lately, I've had the urge to bake bread. There's something about kneading dough that is cathartic, therapeutic even.

Maybe I'm nesting? Who knows? Baking bread, as soul-soothing, as it can be, is a long arduous process, dotted with kneading, rising, more kneading and often more rising.

Monkey Bread Enter the stand mixer, with it's constant whirring, and bread making is not such a challenge anymore. I used my KitchenAid to make brioche dough this weekend because I was inspired by a recipe on the blog Smitten Kitchen. Strangely, I find the hypnotic whir of my KitchenAid almost as cathartic as kneading the bread myself. And truly with a brioche dough, warm hands can wreak havoc, so the machine is often the best way to go.

Monkey Bread has had a surge in popularity lately. It's gone from being a virtual unknown cake/pastry up here in Canada, to having William's Sonoma carry special mixes and pans for baking this sugar-crusted treat.

When I saw the recipe and photos at Smitten Kitchen, I read through her blog post. One of the recommended ways to make the bread was with a brioche dough. I knew how to make brioche dough, so I figured I would try it that way.

I used this recipe, for the dough which yielded enough for two batches of monkey bread, or, a batch of monkey bread and a small batch of cinnamon buns (I opted for the latter).

The recipe also called for a cream cheese icing, which is also found with this dough recipe, so it was a perfect combo.

Here's what you need.

1/2 portion of brioche dough

1/2 cup of melted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

Grease a bundt pan well with butter. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl.

Roll our your portion of chilled brioche dough into an 8 x8 inch square and cut into 64 pieces. Seperate the dough, before it warms. Roll each piece into a ball. Dip with a fork into melted butter, then coat with sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Stagger coated balls into bundt pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for one hour. Preheat oven to 350F. Bake for 30 to 35 min.

Coat with a cream cheese icing.

1/3 cup butter (room temperature)

1/3 cup of cream cheese

1 cup of icing sugar

zest of one orange

1/4 tsp almond extract

1-2 tbsp milk

Cream together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy with beaters. Add in icing sugar and incorporate well. Mix in zest and almond extract. If necessary, add milk to achieve desired consistency.

Verdict:

Although fun to pull apart the crusty little bite sized pieces of cinnamon dough, the outer layer was too crisp for my liking. I personally think the cinnamon buns are a much better use of brioche dough. The family agreed.

So I whipped up a half batch of these babies alongside the Monkey Bread, since I had the extra dough. I used walnuts instead of the standard pecans, but boy where they tasty. There's nothing like a good brioche dough. Even though I've never actually used it make brioche.

Why would I when I can make these instead?

 

Comments

[Bread Making Machines]

Thanks for the recipe!