Baking Friday - Bread # 9

And it's not cheeseburger sliders.  And it's not muffins.  It's Monkey Bread!

Who doesn't love monkey bread?  You can make it using canned biscuits, cut them up into fourths, dip the pieces in melted butter and then cinnamon sugar and then bake them in a round cake pan or a Bundt pan.  Easy.  Yummy.  Winner!

This isn't the canned biscuit version.  This is based on yeast dough, and I will give you the recipe of how I would do it next time.  But this was a hit nonetheless!  One man said that he thought it was the favorite thing he'd tasted that I'd brought into my taste testers.

BUT - one man, my friend from Scotland - asked the most provocative question.  Why is it called Monkey Bread?

Now, I'd never wondered that myself, so I didn't have any answer for him!  Another friend close by said it was because it resembled the Monkey Puzzle Tree.

Uh, what?  Really?  I dismissed that answer almost immediately.

HOWEVER....he was right!  Yet another friend, my self-appointed Food Historian Research Analyst went into full research mode and found this informative background on this famous breakfast bread.

Food Historian Research Analyst:

As for the Monkey Bread, (although I agree, it’s a funny name) this tasty treat has actually been around since about 1903, (though it’s barely known outside of the United States) and though there are several different stories on how it got its strange name, the most believable one is also the simplest.

This cake bears a striking resemblance to the fruit of the Araucaria araucana or Baobab tree, (commonly called the monkey puzzle tree, monkey tail tree). 

The fruit from this tree is fruit is called Monkey Brain Fruit, or Monkey Orange.

(This is what they look like when they fall on the ground)

 The outside isn’t very appealing, I’ll grant you, but the inside, (I think you will agree), looks a lot like the treat we enjoy as Monkey Bread. 

Deb Insert:  Ok, now that is starting to make sense!  Right?

Back to our Food Historian Research Analyst:

And although this tasty Breakfast Bread goes by many names…  Whether you call it Monkey bread, monkey puzzle bread, sticky bread, African coffee cake, golden crown, pinch-me cake, pluck-it cake, bubble-loaf or monkey brains, (after the fruit) we can all agree on one thing. There should be a lot more of it.  It was incredibly delicious, and one of the better offerings I’ve seen, in the arena of Monkey Bread.  (Ah, thanks for that endorsement Food Historian Research Analyst!)

To that end, here’s a little more, as I was just looking it up, (to double-check myself) and found that other possible etymologies out there include the fact that the act of several people pulling at the bread is reminiscent of monkey behavior.   Also the packaging of a stoneware "Monkey Pot" made by Boston Warehouse in 1981 claimed that "monkey bread was named by that unique and whimsical comedienne, ZaSu Pitts, (1894-1963) who so referred to it because, as she said, "you have to monkey around with it."  

Here’s ZaSu Pitt’s original recipe for Monkey Bread, (dating back to 1945)

"Monkey Bread” (by ZaSu Pitts)
1 12/ cup cakes compressed yeast
1 cup milk scalded and cooled to lukewarm
1 tablespoon sugar
3 to 4 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt

Method: Dissolve the yeast and the sugar in the lukewarm milk. Add the butter, then flour, eggs, well beaten and the salt. Beat well. Let rise and beat again. If the dough should rise too quickly, place in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. Roll out very thinly and use a small diamond shaped cutter. Butter each piece individually and fill a ring half full. Let rise to double in bulk and bake in a moderately hot oven (425 degrees F.) for about 20 minutes."

---"Culinary Clinic: ZaSu Pitts Just Loves to Cook," Winnipeg Free Press Canada [Canada] February 8, 1945 (p. 11)

It was also said that some food historians believe it could be a Middle Eastern recipe since they were the first to make sweet rolls with butter and cinnamon.  But it also has been closely linked to the German bread “Affenbrot” (in German, this literally meaning “ape bread"), or Gorilla Bread.  But either way, it’s been a staple in cookbooks since the 1950’s, and the earliest known reference to monkey bread was (pain de singe in French) in De Wildeman 1903.

It’s also been a favorite dessert served in the White House by first ladies.  The first was Pat Nixon, (who served it regularly) and the most notable was Nancy Reagan, (who served it at Thanksgivings and Christmases at the White House).  Nancy has been quoted several times, (directly stealing the ZaSu line from 1945) “It’s called Monkey Bread, because you have to monkey around with it…”  

How's that for thorough?  I do LOVE me some good history.  And food history is the tastiest!  (Ba-dum-chink!)

Ready for the recipe and the pics that I did, which was not ZaSu Pitt's version, which is probably a very good version, too!  It is based on this recipe from the King Arthur website.

1 cups + 2 T. milk

4 T. butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup potato flakes

1-1/2 t. salt

1/3 cup water

1 t. vanilla

1/3 cup. cake flour

3-1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I used 3-1/2 cups and found it a bit too stiff so I suggest cutting back)

2-1/2 t. yeast

I threw all of that in my Kitchen Aid Mixer with the dough hook and let it knead.  I found it a bit too stiff, so it took quite a while to rise.  I pretty much just let it rise while I went to bed and checked on it about 4am.  I punched it down and let is rest about 10 minutes before starting to shape.

I dipped the pieces in about 4 T. of milk, but next time I would dip in melted butter.  Because...butter. The cinnamon sugar was about 3/4 cup of sugar with 1 T. +/- cinnamon mixed together.  

My final prep step was to pour about 1/4 cup of maple syrup in the baking pan.  I used one 10" pan to take into work and one 6" pan to leave for G, but the recipe will make enough for two 8" - 9" pans or one Bundt pan.  Oh and I sprayed the pans with baking spray.

I began to make my pieces.  I used my bench knife, cause I just plain love my bench knife...

Split in half...

...and then fourths...

...and then random pieces.  See my bench knife?  Now those are some photography skills, let me tell ya!

See all these pieces?

Dip in the milk (but use melted butter instead!)

And then in the cinnamon sugar...

And then in the maple syrup lined pan.  Now that's some potential yum right there, folks!

Lather, rinse, repeat until your pans are full!  (Are you bored yet?)

Don't worry.  They look a little chintzy here, but I covered them with a towel and let them rise about an hour.  See?  Lo and behold!  Puffy!

This is when I added the melted butter...

...and then I baked them at 350 for 20 - 25 minutes until our proverbial golden brown and delicious!

I let them cool for about 3 minutes before inverting on a plate.  YUM!

Let's get a closer look!

Are you hungry yet?  How about if I add a light drizzle of a powdered sugar glaze...just cause...glaze.

And presentation.  Cause people eat with their eyes first after all.

You can totally do these.  How about for breakfast tomorrow?  Cause...Saturday.  Weekend.

No holiday this time, but we can simply call it Monkey Bread Day, right?

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you stop by tomorrow for our Baking Bread Cookie # 9....a peanut butter cookie throw down....hope to seeya then!