This sweet bread recipe is a fantastic celebration of cinnamon. Whilst it takes some time to prepare, you will be rewarded with a deliciously sticky and spiced dessert or brunch recipe!
NB Cooking Notes: plus rising and cooling
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
For the dough
- 200 ml whole milk
- 75 g unsalted butter, chopped, plus extra to grease
- 600 g strong white bread flour
- 2 x 7g sachets fast action dried yeast
- 75 g caster sugar
- 3 medium eggs
To assemble
- 125 g unsalted butter, chopped
- 175 g light brown soft sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 50 g pecans, roughly chopped
For the glaze
- 60 g icing sugar, sifted
- 1 Tbsp. whole milk, at room temperature
- 15 g butter, melted and cooled
- 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste
- Step 1For the dough, heat milk and butter in a small pan until butter melts. Cool until just warm.
- Step 2Mix flour, yeast, sugar and 1½tsp fine salt in a freestanding mixer fitted with a dough hook to combine. Alternatively, do this in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Whisk the eggs into the cooled milk mixture, then add to the flour bowl and mix to combine. Knead by machine or hand for 5-10min, until dough is springy and elastic.
- Step 3Return dough to a greased bowl if kneaded by hand. Cover bowl with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for 1hr, until risen and doubled in volume.
- Step 4Grease a 2.5 litre bundt tin with butter. To assemble, melt butter in a small pan. Spoon 2tbsp into the base of the tin. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar and spices. Scatter 3tbsp of the sugar mixture into the base of the tin. Scatter in ⅓ of the pecans.
- Step 5Punch dough down in the bowl. Roll into rough 20g balls (you’ll have lots). Working a few balls at a time, roll in the melted butter, followed by the spiced sugar. Arrange in base of tin in an even layer, pressing them gently together to stick. When you have a solid layer, scatter over a few more pecans (if your bundt is quite squat, you may only get 2 layers of balls, in which case, scatter over all the remaining pecans). Repeat until all the balls are in the tin, aiming for a flattish surface. If there’s any butter and sugar left, mix together and drizzle over the top of the dough. Cover with greased clingfilm, butter-side down, and leave to rise again (prove) for 30min, until visibly puffed.
- Step 6Preheat oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan) mark 4. Uncover tin and bake for 40min, until risen and deeply golden. Allow to cool for 5min in tin, then invert on to a board and leave to cool, until just warm.
- Step 7For the glaze, mix icing sugar, milk, butter and vanilla. Drizzle over the monkey bread. Allow to set for 5min, then serve bread just warm or at room temperature.
GH Tip
If you’re a fan, add some ground cardamom to the spiced sugar mixture.
Per serving:
- Calories: 476
- Protein: 9g
- Total fat: 20g
- Saturates: 11g
- Carbs: 64g
- Total sugars: 27g
- Fibre: 2g
The GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurst is our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Our GH Kitchen Manager Linzi Pucino is our very own Italian food expert (originally hailing from the North East of Scotland!) and can be found working her way through midweek recipes that cover all bases, from haggis to ragu! Our Kitchen Editor Nadine Brown loves digging into the stories behind her favourite foods and enjoys applying her eclectic tastes to more modern, flavour-forward recipes - just don't give her too much chilli! Our Junior Food Content Produce Frankie Prichard combines a love of beautiful presentation and flavour-led, seasonal cooking in her recipe development, along with a passion for bringing people together through food. With a wealth of professional kitchen experience between them, they’re dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work every single time
