The Secrets of Great Pull Apart and Monkey Breads

By Dennis Weaver

Pull apart loaves, bubble loaves, money bread, and pull apart rings—they are all similar. All are made with dough pieces baked together into a loaf or ring. Usually but not always, they are made with yeast dough but sometimes with a biscuit-type dough. The real difference is in the glaze. They can be glazed with sugar and cinnamon concoctions as in classic monkey bread or with jams and nuts or even savory coatings. Some are frosted. Gorilla bread has a chunk of cream cheese in each bubble.

We’ve been making monkey bread for ages. (We even sell monkey bread mixes.) Over the years, we think we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work. For example, don’t bake your monkey bread or pull apart ring in an angel food cake pan or springform pan; the glaze will melt and run all over creation. (We only did that once!)

But what does work? We’ve concocted eight secrets for great monkey bread and pull apart loaves. Here they are:

1. Go hygroscopic. It took us a while to discover that adding hygroscopic ingredients (those that absorb moisture from the air), made for a moister, tastier monkey bread that remained fresher longer. We now add potato flour to the dough and brown sugar to the glaze in nearly all of our recipes and mixes. (You can buy potato flour on our site.)

2. Get gooey. Use plenty of butter and a sugary glaze. Again, a little brown sugar helps.

3. Use the right pan. Most recipes call for you to invert the dessert onto a plate and lift off the pan. The pan has to release easily and smoothly. A good quality, nonstick finish is almost essential. For good measure, spray some oil into any corners.

4. Keep the pieces small. Smaller pieces of dough and flat pieces have more surface area to dredge in your sugary coating. Chunks should be no larger than a walnut.

5. Cover with foil. The sugary glaze caramelizes and the top may burn while baking. The simple solution is to drape a sheet of aluminum foil over the top of the pan during the last ten minutes of baking. The foil will reflect the heat.

6. Use a thermometer. Just because the top of the loaf is brown doesn’t mean the center of the loaf is cooked. The best way to tell is with a thermometer. When the center of the loaf reaches 185 to 190 degrees, the bread is done. (You can buy an insta-read thermometer for around $10 online or at a hardware store.)

7. Get it out of the pan on time. When your dessert comes out of the oven, the glaze is sticky and gooey. If you invert it too soon, it’ll run all over the counter. If you let it sit too long, the glaze sets up and acts like mortar cementing your prize to the pan. Set the timer. Five minutes seems about right but set the timer for three and check. The glaze should be soft but set.

8. Eat it fresh. Still warm is the way to go. Like all bread products, day old is not as good. You can try reheating it in an oven at 250 degrees but some glazes may become runny if heated too long so watch your monkey bread carefully.

There you have it. Follow the recipe—or the directions on your mix--and you should be making great monkey bread.

This article was excerpted from “A Handbook for Making Monkey Bread” which is free at The Prepared Pantry. Dennis Weaver is the author of “How to Bake”, a free 250-page e-book. The Prepared Pantry sells monkey bread mixes and other baking mixes and offers a free “Monkey Bread Center” with recipes and techniques.