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This Homemade Monkey Bread Recipe is so good and so easy that it made it into my cookbook! Throw away the cans of dough you guys and make this from scratch! My 14 year old son just made the actual monkey bread that you see in the updated photos, so if he can do it, so can you! This is a great recipe for those bakers that are just beginning to bake with yeast breads and anyone that is wanting a sweet, carb-loaded treat! I have a monkey bread recipe roundup if you are looking for more monkey bread recipes!
Homemade Monkey Bread From Scratch
Listen, I LOVE a good canned dough recipe. I have no problem using them in camping foods or in a pinch. But this Monkey bread is so easy that just seems wrong to use a canned dough. If I am going to indulge in something this amazingly bad for me, I want it to be homemade and the best it can be.You need a lovely homemade sweet dough to start and please do not let that scare you away. This is SO easy, I promise that it only takes one run through of the recipe and the second time you are a pro!
How To Make Monkey Bread
I am going to go step by step through this recipe for you guys, with some photos to show you what’s going on as well! Like I said, my son made this and while you would think he’s a super baker and cook because I’m his Mama, he’s still learning! Onward, bakers!
Sweet Dough
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup of milk, warmed to 115 degrees
1/3 cup water, warmed to 115 degrees
1/4 cup white sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons of bread machine yeast or rapid rise
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for your work surface
2 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of toasted pecans
1/2 cup of plumped up raisins ( boiled or soaked in water)
Brown Sugar Coating
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup of melted butter
Preheat your oven for rising, turn it on to 175 degrees then turn it off when it’s heated, this is as warm as it should get.
In large measuring cup, mix together milk, water, melted butter, sugar, and yeast.
This recipe is as easy to do by hand as it is by mixer, so pick your poison.
If you would like to use a stand mixer, mix flour and salt into the mixer bowl that is fitted with a oiled dough hook. Oiling the hook makes sure the dough doesn’t climb the hook and go all crazy on you. Works like a charm!
Using the lowest setting, start the dough hook going and slowly add the milk mixture. After dough comes together, increase speed to medium and let your dough hook do the work until the dough is shiny and smooth, about 5-6 minutes. The dough should be slightly sticky but if it is too wet to come together into a ball, add an additional 2 tablespoons flour. It should just barely stick to your hands, nothing more. Turn dough onto lightly floured counter and knead briefly to form a smooth, round ball.
If you are ready for a workout and want to do this by hand or don’t own a stand mixer, mix the flour and salt in large bowl. Make a well in the flour, then add the milk mixture, pouring into the well. Using a wooden spoon, stir until the dough is difficult to stir and it’s almost a ball in the middle of the bowl. Turn out onto lightly floured work surface and begin to knead, incorporating any loose scraps back into the dough. Knead until dough is smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes, giving those arms a workout and a half! Shape into a round ball.
Take the ball of dough and place in a well oiled bowl, covering it up. Put it the oven and let the dough rise until doubled in size, anywhere from 45-60 minutes.
When that is done, grease your bundt pan and set aside.
Step by Step Photos for Making Monkey Bread
Take out the dough and on a lightly floured work surface roll it into a 8 inch by 8 inch square. Yes, I measured. With a measuring tape. Once you have that 8×8 square, mark off 8 sections, each way, so you are ending up with 64 lovely little squares.
See? It’s easier than it looks! I know that I sound crazy that I cut the dough into 64 pieces, but it works!
Cut the squares apart,making sure to separate them as you cut, they love to stick back together which defeats the purpose entirely. I usually just scoot them to the side of the cutting board so that they are out of the way.
Melt the 1/2 cup of butter in a bowl. In a larger bowl combine the brown sugar and 2 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Roll a dough square into a ball, dip it in the butter, dip it in the sugar mix then place it in the bundt pan.
Stagger the layers until it looks like this. Build like you would build a brick wall, staggering the “bricks” so that the seams are not in the same place ever, building a lovely wall of dough. Sprinkle a few raisins and pecans between each of the layers, however you want. Ok, not quite like this, this is AFTER it rose, but you get the point. To get to this literal point now, you have to once again place the dough somewhere warm, the oven works perfectly.In about 45-50 minutes the dough will rise almost to the top of the pan.
Time to bake! After you remove the pan from the oven preheat it to 350 then get those babies back in there to bake. This took about 22-25 minutes in my oven. The bread will look slightly dark – watch out, you can overcook this!- and crisp on the outside.
Flip onto a beautiful plate and serve to very grateful recipients! You can frost this with plain icing, cream cheese icing or anything you want, however serving it without makes it less cinnamon bun- like. It’s like one, big, amazing pile of homemade doughnut holes this way, NOT a cinnamon bun. We don’t ice it in the slightest, if I wanted cinnamon buns I would just make them.
Karlynn’s Tips & Tricks for Making Monkey Bread
- I said 64 squares, but the monkey bread pictured had 54 or so. It’s really a flexible recipe, what you are aiming for is pieces that aren’t too thick and are about an inch wide and roll into an inch wide ball of dough. That size bakes up nicely!
- You can add pecans, walnuts, anything that your heart desires into your monkey bread. We love raisins the best, so this one pictured is plain raisins.
- If you are looking for an icing recipe, try my Buttery Vanilla Glaze, it works perfectly!
More Monkey Bread Recipes for You to Try
I have a ton of monkey bread recipes on this site! Try some of these:
- Chocolate Stuffed Monkey Bread
- Babka Monkey Bread
- Cheater Skillet Monkey Bread
- Christmas Monkey Bread
This is a new family favorite, perfect for Sundays at home with the kids, I can’t wait to make it again!
Happy Baking!
Love,
Karlynn
Monkey Bread Recipe
- Prep Time
- 1 hour
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Total Time
- 1 hour 20 minutes
- Course
- Breakfast
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 6
- Calories
- 703
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
Sweet Dough
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 cup milk warmed to 115 °F
- 1/3 cup water warmed to 115 °F
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast or rapid rise
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus extra for your work surface
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup toasted pecans
- 1/2 cup plumped up raisins boiled or soaked in water
Brown Sugar Coating
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat your oven for rising, turn it on to 175 degrees then turn it off when it’s heated, this is as warm as it should get.
- In a large measuring cup, mix together milk, water, melted butter, sugar, and yeast.
- This recipe is as easy to do by hand as it is by mixer, so pick your poison.
- If you would like to use a stand mixer, mix flour and salt into the mixer bowl that is fitted with an oiled dough hook. Oiling the hook makes sure the dough doesn’t climb the hook and go all crazy on you. Works like a charm!
- Using the lowest setting, start the dough hook going and slowly add the milk mixture. After dough comes together, increase speed to medium and let your dough hook do the work until the dough is shiny and smooth, about 6 to 7 minutes. The dough should be slightly sticky but if it is too wet to come together into a ball, add an additional 2 tablespoons flour. It should just barely stick to your hands, nothing more. Turn dough onto lightly floured counter and knead briefly to form a smooth, round ball.
- If you are ready for a workout and want to do this by hand, mix flour and salt in large bowl. Make a well in the flour, then add the milk mixture, pouring into the well. Using a wooden spoon, stir until the dough is difficult to stir and it’s almost a ball in the middle of the bowl. Turn out onto lightly floured work surface and begin to knead, incorporating any loose scraps back into the dough. Knead until dough is smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes, giving those arms a workout and a half! Shape into a round ball.
- Take the ball of dough and place in a well oiled bowl, covering it up. Put it in the oven and let the dough rise until doubled in size, anywhere from 45-60 minutes.
- When that is done, grease your bundt pan and set aside.
- Take out the dough and on a lightly floured work surface roll it into a 8 inch by 8 inch square.
- Once you have that 8×8 square, mark off 8 sections, each way, so you are ending up with 64 lovely little squares.
- Cut the squares apart, making sure to separate them as you cut, they love to stick back together which defeats the purpose entirely.
- Melt the 1/2 cup of butter in a bowl.
- In a larger bowl combine the brown sugar and 2 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.
- Roll a dough square into a ball, dip it in the butter, dip it in the sugar mix then place it in the bundt pan.
- Stagger the layers. Build like you would build a brick wall, staggering the “bricks” so that the seams are not in the same place ever, building a lovely wall of dough. Sprinkle a few raisins and pecans between each of the layers, however you want.
- In about 45-50 minutes the dough will rise almost to the top of the pan.
- Time to bake! After you remove the pan from the oven preheat it to 350 degrees then get those babies back in there to bake.
- This took about 22-25 minutes in my oven.
- The bread will look slightly dark so watch out, you can overcook this!- and crisp on the outside.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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mldingler says
We just finished having a hot cocoa tea party with this, and it’s AMAZING! I didn’t add in the nuts or raisins ( I didn’t have nuts and i don’t like raisins!) My husband said it was the best monkey bread he had ever had, and I agree! Simply perfect!
thekitchenmagpie says
mldingler So glad that you liked it! Funny enough I made it this past weekend as well.
mldingler says
thekitchenmagpie is there any way you can make this in advance? I am hosting an Origami Owl party on Saturday, and I am having a monkey bread bar for the food. I would like not be rushing around last minute, but I really want to make this amazing bread!
SharonThomas says
I’ve been looking for this recipe for awhile, found others but they didn’t quite seem the same or as close to my Mum’s. As a child, we had this on the table Christmas morning to nibble on while we waited for everyone to get up. The only difference ~ Mum would put mixed peel, red & green cherries as well as pecans instead of the raisins! I can hardly wait to have this on my table Christmas morning ~ Thank you!
thekitchenmagpie says
SharonThomas Oh, I just baked that up! I’ll blog it soon! Thanks for the idea?
big_E says
Just made this last night. It was absolute perfection. My family ate the whole thing. Not a piece made it till morning. Thanks for the recipe.
Al says
Hi Karlynn.
The recipe looks great. I just have 1 small correction in your instructions.
In your step about brown sugar
‘In a larger bowl combine the brown sugar and 2 1/2 tsp of brown sugar’
– as you can see, the 2 1/2 tsp should be cinnamon. This slight error is obviously not a problem since many have made your Monkey cake without any issue.
I’ll have to try this.
Regards: Al
Rachael Jane Willie says
Courtney Willie. For you in case you don’t have a recipe yet.
kbieschk says
how would you store this for, like the next morning?
KerenE says
this is incredible! I have long been making cinnamon rolls and my family loves them. But this is the new request! these are so good and such fun to make together.
Karlynn Johnston says
Oh man…send some my way! I am so glad you like the recipe, and isn’t the oven warming the best? I use it all the time too, everything rises so lovely! Thanks for the kind words Cayla and welcome!!
Cayla says
Hi Karlynn! I adore your Monkey Bread recipe! I’ve made it four times since finding it, um, two months ago…I might be a little addicted. 🙂 But I wanted to thank you specifically for the oven-warming tip at the beginning of the recipe; I now use this method any time I need a warm place to store a yeasted dough (monkey bread, regular sandwich bread, pizza dough) for its first rise. Thank you, thank you!
sandyc says
What size Bundt pan is used? I think mine is 12 cups; this looks smaller. Thanks.
grammyof4boys says
Another great looking recipe I need to try! I was also very, very excited when you said to grease the dough hook so it doesn’t creep up and over the top. I will definitely do this, as it can drive a person quite mad!! I stand there with a rubber spatula and hold it flat against the top of where the hook goes into and try to catch it before it comes up and over! Thanks a million for the tip and your blog is really wonderful!
thekitchenmagpie says
@grammyof4boys thanks for the lovely words! I am so glad you found my little nest on the web 😉 Welcome and hope you enjoy the recipes!
Karlynn says
Thank you!! That’s great to hear!
Becky says
I made this for a brunch with some girlfriends yesterday morning – hands down, BEST monkey bread I’ve ever made. My goodness – UNREAL! There was 4 of us. We consumed the entire thing. Thank you!!!
Emily says
No egg in the dough, correct? I know it doesn’t have one in the recipe, but I’ve just seen similar recipes with the egg.. Just wanted to make sure 🙂
Karlynn says
Nope, no egg! But you are right, some recipes are an eggy dough.
Sarah Galvin (All Our Fingers in the Pie) says
This is something I will be making for Christmas this year. Thank you for this great recipe.
Karlynn says
We make it for Christmas brunch!
yummy killingspree says
awesome recipe. i must say i enjoyed it very much. =D
Karlynn says
It’s one of my favorites, glad you enjoyed it!
Priscilla says
I live a way over in New Zealand .. never ever heard of this yummy bread,
we love home made baking .. this will certainly be my next family “Treat”
A thousand thanks for your recipe ..Priscilla
Karlynn says
Oh Priscilla, this is the tastiest bread for a weekend morning ever. It’s our family favorite, for sure. I hope you enjoy it!
Cheri Witmer says
Yummmmm! In my oven now… So can’t wait. Never tried rolling it in the brown sugar mixture. Can’t wait till it is out of the oven and in my mouth!
Karlynn says
I am jealous…send some to my work 😉 I could use some on a Saturday night!
Karlynn says
I would try more butter and make sure you get a good layer of sugar on each one. The raisins sorta stick, sorta don’t, they can be hit or miss. I was thinking of attempting a remake of this that has raisins IN the dough, actually. But for the shine, definitely make sure you coat each little ball very well.
Kendyl says
This is an awesome find! I made some, bagged it up and handed it around, everyone was commenting on it. However, I’m not sure if I did the last part right (rolling them in butter and brown sugar), because all of my nuts and raisins basically just fall off, and it doesn’t have that amazing yummy sticky shine to it that yours has throughout. Any suggestions? More butter perhaps?
John Schneider says
monkey bread rules! I cannot wait to try this out. It looks amazing. Thank you so much for sharing.
polwig says
I love the step by step tutorial. I have made Monkey bread before but never ever by starting it from scatch. Looks very easy and delicius.
Mary @ Delightful Bitefuls says
Ohhhh my! Thanks for the great directions – this is definitely a must try!!
Great blog; happy I found you!
Stephanie Calvin says
If you love this then you should try Gorilla Bread. It is to die for!
Here is the link for the recipe I use:
https://thecreativekitchen.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/gorilla-bread/
Susan from Colorado says
I’m drooling all over my computer desk! This looks sinfully deelicious! I’m printing this out as I write. Thanks so much for posting!!
foodies at home says
Oh no… I didn’t listen to your warning…and now I’m hooked….I MUST MAKE NOW!!!
Jenn {Cookies Cupcakes Cardio} says
Look away? No way! It is too beautiful not to stare at. I have been meaning to make monkey bread since before Christmas thanks for the reminder 🙂 I hope it looks (and tastes) as good as yours.
Claudie says
Oh my. Look away? After spotting that pic on tastespotting? That’s impossible! I’ve never had monkey bread in my life, but if it tastes just half as good as it look, it must be really really good.
I will try it out as soon as I start training for half-marathons again 😀
Vicki @ Wilde in the Kitchen says
I LOVE monkey bread! A friends mom made it years ago and I was amazed. I’ve never tried making it myself, it seems pretty straightforward. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Karlynn says
Make it Vicki! I can’t stress how once you do it the first time, you are a PRO the second time around! This is honestly something that I think everyone should have in their back cooking pocket to pull out for weekend brunches. The ingredients are almost always on hand and it’s super easy AND fun to do with the kids.
Thanks for visiting!
A Canadian Foodie says
This is the most detailed and most tantalizing tutorial I have ever seen about monkey bread. You are breakin’ my heart.
YUMMMM!!
It is the season for bread making, for sure, and I have been doing quite a lot of that lately.
You make me want to drive my little mini over these crusty rut infested frozen lethal roads just to get to some of that monkey bread…
YUMMERS!
Lucky kidlets!
Valerie
Karlynn says
Valerie, winter just calls for bread, doesn’t it? The carbs, the heat of it, it’s all good. This has to be my favorite new recipe by far and will remain in rotation!