By Genevieve Ko
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus rising
- Rating
- 4(358)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Maple syrup gives an autumnal feel and subtler sweetness to traditionally sugary monkey bread. Any grade of maple syrup works: B and C will give you a more robust maple flavor, while Grade A will deliver a more delicate, refined sweetness. Here, the syrup is mixed with brown butter and used to glaze extra-rich brioche dough rounds and toasted pecans. It all caramelizes together into a fluffy yet chewy pull-apart bread punctuated with the crunch of nuts. If you prefer a rustic look, you don’t have to roll the pieces of dough into balls. Just cut them into even pieces and coat with the cinnamon sugar. This recipe is at its soft and gooey best the day it’s made, but it can be kept at room temperature overnight and reheated in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.
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Ingredients
Yield:12 servings
- 3½cups/450 grams all-purpose flour
- 1tablespoon instant yeast
- 2½teaspoons fine salt
- 4large eggs, at room temperature
- ½cup/120 milliliters plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1¼cups/285 grams unsalted butter (2½ sticks), cut up and softened, plus more for the bowl and pan
- ¼cup/50 grams sugar
- 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1cup/100 grams pecan halves, toasted
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)
450 calories; 27 grams fat; 13 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 46 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 15 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 251 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix flour, yeast and 1½ teaspoons salt on low speed to blend. Add eggs, 2 tablespoons syrup and 3 tablespoons warm water, and beat on low speed until the mixture comes together. Switch to the dough hook and beat on low speed. While beating, add ¾ cup/1½ sticks softened butter, a few pieces at a time, until fully incorporated. Continue beating, scraping bowl and hook occasionally, until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (If the dough doesn't come together easily after a few minutes and remains shaggy, dry, or tough, add warm water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms a smooth, soft ball.)
Step
See AlsoYeast Free Fruit Loaf RecipeDan Leader's 4-Hour Baguette Recipe on Food52Quick 45 Minute Cinnamon Rolls - The Recipe CriticSoft & Buttery Mashed Potato Bread Recipe - Butter with a Side of Bread2
Lightly butter a large bowl. Turn dough into bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 1½ hours. Gently press the dough down. If it feels very soft or greasy, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until slightly firmer, about 15 minutes and up to 1 day.
Step
3
When ready to assemble, melt remaining 8 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until dairy solids turn golden brown and butter smells nutty. While stirring, add remaining ½ cup maple syrup and 1 teaspoon salt in a steady stream. Bring to a boil, stirring, then remove from the heat.
Step
4
Mix sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Butter a 10-inch Bundt or tube pan. Turn dough out onto a clean work surface and roll into a 2-inch thick rope. Cut into 8 even pieces, then cut each of those pieces into 8 pieces for 64 pieces total.
Step
5
Gently roll a piece into a ball and drop in cinnamon sugar. Repeat until you have a single layer of balls at the bottom of the bowl. Shake the bowl to evenly coat the balls with the cinnamon sugar. Put the sugared balls in the pan and repeat until you have a single layer in the pan. Scatter some pecans all around. Repeat until all the balls and pecans are in the pan. Drizzle the brown butter syrup all along the sides of the pan and over the top of the balls. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until puffed and an inch away from the top of the pan, 30 to 45 minutes.
Step
6
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover pan and bake until golden brown on top, 35 to 40 minutes. Put pan on a wire rack and let stand for 5 minutes. Center a large plate over the pan, grip the plate and pan together, and quickly and carefully flip both together. Carefully lift off the pan. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.
Tip
- After the first rise, the dough can be deflated, covered tightly, and refrigerated for up to 24 hours. The assembled monkey bread can be covered tightly and refrigerated for up to 12 hours. Bring to room temperature before baking. The brown butter syrup can be refrigerated for up to 1 week. Warm to room temperature, whisking to emulsify, before using.
Ratings
4
out of 5
358
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Cooking Notes
Tini
This is wonderful. But great shortcut..... use frozen bread dough that has been thawed. Cut into appropriate sized peevesEasier yet use Grands biscuits. Cut up.
Jonathan
It may be a shortcut, but biscuits are not brioche. -- heck, biscuits are not even bread, technically speaking. (The key to biscuits is to minimize gluten production, the opposite of bread.) You would be much wiser to use frozen bread dough if you want to create a shortcut. But be aware, as mentioned in the intro, this dough as prepared is a brioche -- more eggs and butter than a standard bread dough -- so the favor your final product will differ *significantly* from the original.
Georgette
Recipe says “While beating, add 3/4 cup/1 1/2 sticks softened butter”. Are we using 3/4 cup of the butter?
SURA
Sorry, but I do not think that store-bought biscuit dough can ever substitute for extra-rich brioche dough. It truly will not be the same.
QTPie
I like the idea of the Grands biscuits as a real time and effort saver. However, having never bought those, how many packages should I use for this recipe? And, do I just go to step 3 and skip the raising or do they need raising?Sorry if this seems intuitive to you, but I'm not a baker!!! : )
ERS
We made this recipe this weekend and it didn't come out well - the dough took a long time to come together so then it was tough and dry. I would go with the Grands biscuit suggestion and keep the maple and pecan components.
Ann
This is insanely delicious and easy too. Rises further in the oven to make a very pretty and very full Bundt pan. Freezes nicely if there's any left. Making ahead and refrigerating does work very nicely.
LRD
This is wonderful. But great shortcut..... use frozen bread dough that has been thawed. Cut into appropriate sized peeves Easier yet use Grands biscuits. Cut up.
nary contrary
Dry, too salty, threw it away before guests arrived :(
Ann
This did not turn out well for me, despite all the butter it was dry and had no maple flavour at all. Only change I made was to use walnuts instead of pecans, because I was out. It rose fine though, I will say that. I found it not sweet enough and actually a bit too salty.
Jon H
I wanted to love this recipe! I always run into an issue with brioche-type bread where after I add the butter, the butter does not fully incorporate into the flour mixture & the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl while kneading. I tried adding more flour to have the sticky/wet dough mixture come together. This helped bring the mixture together, but the result was a dough that didn't rise at all after an hour+. Any suggestions for how to remedy this?
Molly C
Lots of discussion and argument over prepackaged grands vs homemade brioche. I made homemade brioche, but I’m sure grands would be just fine. The real thing to discuss here is the flavor. And wow, what a magnificent one at that! It was a comfort that felt nothing short of true joy. It was the embodiment of that indescribable fuzziness that you feel around the holidays. A warm moment by the fireplace while snow falls gracefully outdoors. To be less poetic, the flavors are delicious!
mayely
Welp, just threw away the second failed batch of brioche dough. All my ingredients were fresh from the store. Both batches developed chunks and would not come together. Added water incrementally as directed and both batches became lumpy gluey messes that never came together. What a waste of good ingredients.
LAS
Made following recipe and it was good as is. The “top” which became the “bottom” when flipped, was a bit dry - will easily remedy next time w a few less minutes in the oven OR a double batch of butter/maple mix - but probably both! Quite good and fun for family to participate in the ball rolling!
Jeanne
3/4 c. butter IS 1 1/2 sticks butter.And pop-n-fresh biscuits are NOT brioche. That is not a shortcut; it’s an inferior recipe meant for someone who cannot bake.
TriciaPDX
Someone who can't bake has to start somewhere. If they use store-bought biscuits (sigh) to try an interesting recipe that could easily be an inspiration to try something harder next time!
phillycook
This was good but not gooey enough. My husband also found it a tad salty. If making again, would reduce/eliminate salt in the butter syrup combo, and would pour some syrup in with each layer of the balls.
m
If you are using salted butter, you can eliminate the salt.
Lorelei
Note on the pan: if you use a tube pan make sure it does not have a removable bottom. Most of the maple butter leaked out and the end result wasn’t monkey bread gooey. Also, kneaded the dough by hand after the dough hook wasn’t picking up much. It was sticky but got to the right consistency after several minutes.
TA Nelson
Note that recent grading recalibration has transformed the formerly Grade B maple syrup into Grade A - Dark Robust. Just a nomenclature change. I'm in Kansas City and have had no luck finding Grade C locally, which is frustrating, as it's my favorite for nearly every use (I like the deep, slightly bitter flavors).
Diane
This is so good my family of 4 ate half of it in a night. It turned out like more of a cake for me--you could pull it apart but you could also slice it. The brioche is really different than bread or biscuit dough so sub at your own risk it'll be good but different. I let it rise longer than recommended (lazy/distracted) so that could have something to do with its cakiness. The glaze is amazing and I would use more next time cause there is no such thing as too sweet/gooey for me.
Alice
I used the sticky bun monkey bread dough recipe because I didn’t want a brioche texture. I also think that the butter and syrup shouldnt be mixed since that much butter won’t incorporate into syrup. If making again I will roll dough balls in brown butter then dip into cinnamon sugar, drizzling maple syrup at each layer.
annalise
dough did not rise very well, so i was a bit worried, although i may have been using old yeast. ultimately it turned out fine, but it was not as fluffy as i would have expected. also slighty salty for my taste
Jenny
Don't be like me and misread the recipe-- I put all the salt in the dough. Not a good result! Doh!
Jess
The dough was tough and dry for me as well.
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