If you ‘re like me, I like to make our own baked treats at home but sometimes I don’t want to make everything from scratch. This is a shortcut to making delicious monkey bread using a bread machine for the dough and finishing it off in the conventional oven. I’ve reduced the amount of the caramel sauce by half as I find it is just enough sweetness and buttery richness with half the sugar and fat. The result is a pull-apart bread with evenly distributed caramel/cinnamon goodness as an afternoon treat or dessert.
Here’s a step-by-step on how to make it. The recipe follows below.
- Prepare the dough as per your bread machines instructions. Use the dough only setting.
- Prepare the caramel sauce (with raisins) and set aside.
- Once the bread dough is ready, knead a few more times on a clean floured surface and divide into 4 balls. Make into logs and cut into 12 pieces to make approximately 48 pieces of dough.
- Dip each small ball of dough in the caramel sauce and layer in a bunt pan. Add the nuts (optional) in between layers. Remember to use oil spray on the inside of the bunt pan. Repeat until all balls of dough are in the bunt pan.
- Cover the filled bundt pan and let the dough rise for approximately 20 minutes or until the dough rises to the top level of the bunt pan.
- Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
- While still hot, using oven mitts, carefully put a plate on top of the bundt pan and invert the bundt pan. The monkey bread should easily slide off on to the plate.
Recipe
For the dough
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
For caramel sauce
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
Healthy options and tips
- Flour substitute I substitute up to 3/4 of the white flour to a combination of 1/4 cup oat flour, flaxseed flour (2 tbsp), and whole wheat
- Use only half of the caramel sauce.
- Add a dash of freshly ground nutmeg.
marilou strait 