You might be forgiven for assuming that monkey bread is some sort of bread, that would no doubt be a fair thing to guess!
In fact, though, monkey bread is not bread at all but is rather a dessert. This is a sweet and sticky food that is made with sugar, spices, and pecan nuts. It can be enjoyed as a breakfast treat, or it can be enjoyed as a cake with a hot beverage for afternoon tea.
The name monkey bread refers to the fact that the pastry is a type of finger food. Traditionally, you are supposed to tear bits off and then eat them with your hands – and this is still how many people enjoy the bread today. This makes it ideal for parties and gatherings and also for lazy afternoons with the family in front of the television.
Technically, monkey bread goes by another name however. That is Arany Galuska, which is actually a Hungarian dessert. This dates back to the 1880s, when it is said that immigrants brought the dish to America with them and introduced it to the residents.
A recipe for this bread appeared in a book published by Betty Crocker, under the name ‘Hungarian Coffee Cake’. This began the rise in popularity, with it eventually becoming confused with the term monkey bread – originally another type of cake that would use balls of dough dipped in sugar and butter.
But enough history! How do you go about making this delicious bread? That’s precisely what we’re going to explore in this post.
1 Get the Ingredients
The first step is to gather the ingredients together. For monkey bread, you are going to need:
200ml of semi-skimmed milk
85g of unsalted butter
Two large eggs
Oil for greasing
50g of golden caster sugar
2.5 teaspoons of fast-acting dried yeast
125g of unsalted butter (plus some extra to be used for greasing)
1 tablespoon of ground ginger
1 tablespoon of ground nutmeg
225g of light muscovado sugar
150g of pecans
Take these ingredients and lay them out in front of you so that they will be easy to grab as you need them. Being organized in the kitchen is the secret to successful and stress-free cooking!
Note that you can swap out some of these ingredients as necessary. For instance, if you are trying to make a vegan or dairy-free version of the recipe, then you can easily exchange the dairy milk for almond milk or similar. Do keep in mind though that the milk will behave a little differently and taste slightly different.