Cinnamon Sugar Monkey Bread

I baked this Cinnamon Sugar Monkey Bread on Sunday afternoon together with my younger girl who was bored at home with no one to play with as her elder sister was at her friend's place.

This is a relatively fuss-free sweet bread to make. It was moist, full of cinnamon flavor and still very soft this morning when we ate it for breakfast. Certainly a bread which I will bake again.

When I told my girl that we are making Monkey Bread, she found it amazing. "What is a Monkey Bread? Why it is called a Monkey Bread?' These were the two questions she asked and I had no answer for her. Hence, we googled and get this information - Monkey Bread is also known as Hungarian Coffee Cake or pinch-me-cake. Some believe that when you pinch a piece to eat it, it resemble the eating behavior of monkey. LOL.

I adapted the recipe from Namelymarly. I halved the quantity for a single ring bread and also made some slight variation to the steps. Below is my adapted recipe.

Cinnamon Sugar Monkey Bread

Ingredients:

• 2½ teaspoons instant dry yeast
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2.5 cups all-purpose flour + 1/2 cup more for kneading
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 2 tablespoons of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a small bowl. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until it becomes frothy. Then add the oil and stir slightly.
2. In a large bowl combine 2.5 cups of the flour and the salt. Stir until well combined.
3. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture and stir.
4. Turn the dough onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. I used all the 1/2 cup flour.
5. Place the dough in a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise in a warm place until double; this should take about 1 hour.
6. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out.
7. Prepare a bunt pan by lightly oiling the bottom and sides.
8. Mix the sugar and cinnamon on a plate.
9. Pinch off a small piece of the dough and shape the dough into small ball and roll it in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Drop it into the bunt pan.
10. Repeat step 9 until all the dough are used up. I formed 2 layers of cinnamon sugar-coated dough ball in the pan.
11. Bake in preheated oven at 175 degree C for 25 – 30 minutes.
12. Once the Monkey Bread is done, remove it from the oven and set aside to cool. Invert the pan onto a serving pan to remove the bread from the pan.