Overnight Sourdough Monkey Bread
The best monkey bread - made with sourdough! Each piece of dough is rolled in cinnamon sugar, and covered in caramel sauce before baking. Let this do the second rise overnight, so in the morning you can make the caramel sauce, bake it, and have warm monkey bread within the hour!
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 320 grams whole milk
- 135 grams active sourdough starter
- 65 grams sugar
- 665 grams all purpose flour
- 17 grams salt
For the Cinnamon Sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
For the Caramel Sauce
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Making the Dough + First Rise
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add in the milk. Continue cooking over low heat until any butter solids that formed after adding the milk have melted again. Feel it to make sure it's not too hot - It should feel like bath water.To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the warm milk and butter, starter, and sugar. Mix to combine. Add the flour and salt and mix until no dry flour remains. Switch to the dough hook and knead on LOW speed for 5-8 minutes, until the dough begins to look smooth.(You can do all of this by hand - no mixer required - if you like.)Shape dough into a ball, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise until significantly puffed up - about 6-8 hours.
Shaping the Monkey Bread + Second Rise
- Grease a 12-cup bundt pan. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl.Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll to ¾-inch thickness and cut into 1-inch squares. Take a handful of squares at a time and toss them in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Transfer to the prepared bundt pan. Repeat until all the dough pieces have been used, arranging them evenly in the pan. Sprinkle any remaining cinnamon sugar over top, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 6-8 hours more, until the dough is about 1-inch away from the rim of the pan.
Caramel Sauce + Baking
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and sugar together in a skillet over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla. Pour over the bread. Bake for 35-40 minutes, tenting with foil halfway through if the top is browning too quickly. If you're using a thermometer to determine doneness, you want this bread to be at 190 degrees.Let cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a plate or platter to serve. Enjoy it warm!Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat before enjoying!
Notes
Rise times: In the winter, to give a quicker and more predictable rise, I do BOTH rises for this bread in the oven with the light on. If you keep a cooler house and let your dough rise at room temperature, just be aware the rise times will likely need to be increased.
My timetable typically looks like this:
3 PM - start the dough.
11 PM - shape the dough.
7:30 AM - preheat the oven, make the caramel sauce + bake.
8:30 AM - eat monkey bread!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!