Monkeying Around

Pictures of gram negative bacilli oddly bring to mind rich, buttery, cinnamon sugar covered balls of dough. Granted, the first thing to pop into my head when I first started taking notes on Fusobacterium necrophorum was necrophiliacs... however, what with medical pathophysiology being compared to food, I only thought it would be a good idea to post up something sweet, like ketone breath, and buttery, like the pools of liquid adipose (perhaps I shan't go one), and yeasty.

At the end of last semester as one of my first forays into the world of yeast and breads, I came across Smitten Kitchen's monkey bread recipe. It looked gorgeous, covered in melted butter and sugar and cinnamon, like a giant cinnamon roll without the effort and I couldn't resist. It was gone in less than an hour, took much longer, but the time to make the bread was worth every second, every minute and every harrowing hour of rising.

Monkey Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

Dough
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) unsalted butter, divided (2 tablespoons softened for the pan, 2 tablespoons melted for the dough)
1 cup milk, warm (around 110 degrees)
1/3 cup water, warm (also around 110 degrees)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 package or 2 1/4 teaspoons rapid rise, instant or bread machine yeast
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
2 teaspoons table salt

Brown Sugar Coating
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick or 4 ounces), melted

Cream Cheese Glaze
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (1 brick of cream cheese)
2 cups powdered sugar, plus extra if needed
1/4 cup milk, plus extra if needed
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make dough: In a large measuring cup, mix together warm water, 1 tbsp sugar, and yeast. Let it sit for about 10 minutes to make sure the yeast is alive and producing gas.

Mix flour, rest of the 1/4 cup of sugar, and salt in large bowl. Make a well in the flour, then add yeast mixture, milk and melted butter to well. Using wooden spoon, stir until dough begins to come together. Turn out onto lightly floured work surface and knead until dough is smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes. Shape into taut ball and proceed as directed.

Coat large bowl with a tablespoon of oil (like canola). Place dough in bowl and roll around in oil to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in warm oven until dough doubles in size (about an hour)

To prepare the bundt pan - coat in the 2 tbsp of softened butter.

Make brown sugar coating: Place melted butter in one bowl. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in a second one.

Form the bread: Flip dough out onto floured surface and gently pat into an 8-inch square. Cut dough into 64 pieces.

Roll each piece of dough into ball. Working one at a time with a fork, dip balls in melted butter, allowing excess butter to drip back into bowl. Roll in brown sugar mixture, then layer balls in Bundt pan, staggering seams as you build layers.

Place pan in warm oven until dough balls are puffy and have risen 1 to 2 inches from top of pan, 50 to 70 minutes.

Bake bread: Take pan out of oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake until top is deep brown and caramel might begin to bubble around edges, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out on platter.

Make glaze: Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add milk and a cup of powdered sugar. Mix until smooth, adding more powdered sugar to taste and until desired consistency is reached. Add vanilla at the end and incorporate.

Drizzle the glaze over warm monkey bread, letting it run over top and sides of bread. Serve warm.