Whole Wheat Monkey Bread

A few weeks ago, my friend's facebook status about baking sparked a delicious memory about a whole-wheat, home-baked cinnamon roll I ate ONE TIME after a volleyball match, and have ever since been looking to re-create the taste of in my mouth. This Monkey Bread recipe, adapted from smittenkitchen.com was the closest thing I could mimic. It's a slightly different presentation than the traditional cinnamon roll, but at the heart, it is cinnamon-cream cheese-doughy goodness that doesn't make you feel horrible about eating it because it is made with whole wheat. I highly recommend checking out smittenkitchen's tutorial before making this. For visual learners, like me, the pictures help a lot.

INGREDIENTS

Dough

4 Tablespoons butter, divided (2 Tablespoons softened, 2 Tablespoons melted)

1 cup warm milk (about 110 degrees)

1/3 cup warm water (also about 110 degrees)

1/4 cup sugar

1 package rapid-rise yeast

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface

1-1/4 cup WHOLE WHEAT flour

2 teaspoons table salt

Brown Sugar Coating

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

8 Tablespoons butter, melted

Cream Cheese Glaze

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 Tablespoons powdered sugar, plus extra if needed

2 Tablespoons milk, plus extra if needed

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Get started

Adjust oven rack to medium-low position. Turn oven on to 200 degrees. When it reaches 200, turn it off. Butter bundt pan with 2 Tablespoons softened butter. Set aside.

Make dough

In large measuring cup, mix together milk, water, melted butter, sugar, and yeast. Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well and add the milk mixture. Use a spoon or electric mixer with dough hook to mix until smooth. Knead until smooth and satiny and shape into a ball. Coat a bowl with non-stick cooking spray and place the dough ball into the bowl. Spray the top of the dough with non-stick cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the warm, turned-off oven until dough doubles in size, about 50-60 minutes.

Make brown sugar coating

Make brown sugar coating by placing melted butter in one bowl and brown sugar and cinnamon in a second bowl.

Coat the Dough

Once dough has risen, flip dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into an 8-inch square. Use a pizza cutter or knife to divide the dough into 64 small squares. Roll each piece of dough into a ball and using a fork, dip first into the melted butter, then coat with brown sugar mixture and place into the buttered bundt pan. Repeat this with all 64 squares.

Rise Again

Cover bundt pan tightly with plastic wrap and place in turned-off oven until dough has risen to about 1-2 inches from the top of the pan, about 50-70 minutes. (Having a warm oven really helps with the rising.)

Bake!

Remove pan from oven and turn oven to 350 degrees. Once oven is warm, place pan in oven and bake until top is deep brown, about 30-35 minutes.

Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn onto surface and allow to cool another 10 minutes before applying cream cheese glaze.

Make Glaze

To make glaze, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and light. Add milk and vanilla. Drizzle glaze over warm monkey bread and ENJOY! Serve warm. :)