Go Back
+ servings
SOURDOUGH DISCARD MONKEY BREAD WITH CINNAMON SUGAR AND VANILLA ICING

Sourdough Discard Monkey Bread Recipe

This delightful sourdough discard monkey bread combines everything you love about cinnamon rolls into a show stopping cinnamon pull apart loaf!
4.54 from 26 votes
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Proofing Time 3 hours
Total Time 4 hours 20 minutes
Course Bread
Cuisine American
Servings 1 Loaf
Calories 5886 kcal

Equipment

  • Digital Scales
  • Bundt Pan (12 cup capacity)

Ingredients
  

Monkey Bread Dough

  • 250 g Milk Warm
  • 50 g Sugar
  • 7 g Instant Yeast or active dry yeast
  • 100 g Sourdough Discard unfed sourdough starter (see notes)
  • 500 g Bread Flour or All Purpose Flour
  • 10 g Salt
  • 60 g Butter room temperature

Bread Ball Coating

  • 100 g Butter Melted
  • 200 g Sugar granulated
  • 5 g Cinnamon Ground (2 tsp)

Butter & Brown Sugar Sauce

  • 120 g Brown Sugar
  • 5 g Vanilla Extract
  • 100 g Butter Melted

Vanilla Icing

  • 120 g Confectioner's Sugar (icing sugar)
  • 45 g Milk
  • 5 g Vanilla Extract

Instructions
 

BREAD DOUGH

  • Add the yeast, sugar and warm milk to a bowl and allow them to get frothy.
  • Now add the sourdough starter and mix until well combined.
  • Now add the flour and salt and mix into a rough dough. You can use your hands to do this or a dough scraper - whatever you find more natural to you. Allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes.
  • Now it's time to knead in the butter. Add the butter a little at a time to ensure that it incorporates more easily (see notes for extra tips on this step).
  • Cover the dough and allow it to rise. You want it to double.

ASSEMBLING THE MONKEY BREAD

  • Before you can assemble the monkey bread, you need to prepare the melted butter and cinnamon sugar mixture listed in the ingredient list above.
  • Take the dough that has doubled and turn it out onto the counter. You need to form the dough into small balls. I have chosen 30g per ball, but anywhere between 20 to 30g is perfect.
    Weigh each piece and form into a small ball. They don't have to be perfect as they will expand inside the bread pan.
  • Dip each of the balls into the melted butter, then into the cinnamon sugar and then layer the balls inside a well buttered bundt pan until you've used all the balls.
  • Cover the pan and allow the dough balls to proof and rise again.

ADDING THE SAUCE

  • Once the dough has risen in the bundt pan and is light and fluffy, it's time to add the sauce and bake the monkey bread.
    I recommend preheating the oven at this stage, so it's ready once you've added the sauce. Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
  • Melt the butter and then stir in the brown sugar and vanilla to create the brown sugar and butter sauce.
  • When you're ready to bake the sourdough monkey bread, pour the sauce all over the dough balls. Gently tap the bundt pan on the counter a few times to ensure that the sauce goes all the way through the dough.
    If the sauce seems like it's too much, you don't have to add it all. The amount you need will depend on the size of bundt pan you use.

BAKING THE MONKEY BREAD

  • PRO TIP - If the bundt pan is quite full, place it on a cookie sheet before placing it in the oven so that the base of your oven doesn't get sugar sauce dribbled on it.
  • Bake the sourdough monkey bread on the lowest shelf of your oven for around 40 minutes - or until it's baked through. Keep an eye on it as the top will burn really easily!
    If it's burning easily in the oven, pop a sheet of aluminium foil over the pan to protect the top.
  • When the monkey bread is cooked, take it out of the oven and let it sit for around 15 minutes. Be very careful as the sugar sauce will be very bubbly and hot!
  • Place a wire rack on the base of the bundt pan and carefully invert the sourdough monkey bread. If you want to catch all of the caramelised sauce, use a plate instead of a wire rack.

ICING

  • Mix together the sugar, milk and vanilla until it forms a thick paste. Drizzle this all over the sourdough monkey bread.

Notes

Butter - I always use salted butter in my recipes unless otherwise stated. You can use either salted or unsalted, it will not make any difference.
 
Sourdough Starter or Discard - This recipe is a "sourdough discard" recipe - so it's based on using unfed sourdough starter that you accumulate when you're building a sourdough starter or when you feed it ready to bake. If you do not want to use commercial yeast, use active sourdough discard instead and adjust the rise time to suit your sourdough starter.
 
Kneading the Dough - you absolutely can make this recipe by hand. I do prefer to use a stand mixer because I find it much easier to get a silky, elastic dough.
It's also easier to add the butter when the machine does it for you. But if you don't have a stand mixer - or you just don't want to use one - you absolutely can mix by hand. Just follow the recipe as it is.
The only thing I would say you might want to change is to add the butter in small dots when you are hand kneading. If you add it all at once it can sometimes be hard to knead in thoroughly.
The butter might seem like it's making the dough "slimy" or "greasy" but just give it a chance and it will absorb into the dough.

Nutrition

Calories: 5886kcalCarbohydrates: 890gProtein: 78gFat: 230gSaturated Fat: 140gPolyunsaturated Fat: 12gMonounsaturated Fat: 58gTrans Fat: 9gCholesterol: 594mgSodium: 5715mgPotassium: 1276mgFiber: 17gSugar: 501gVitamin A: 7000IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 659mgIron: 6mg
Keyword Sourdough Discard, Sourdough Recipes, Sourdough Rolls
Tried this recipe?Share your creation with us @ThePantryMama or tag #thepantrymama!