It’s fall y’all, well maybe not here in Florida. We don’t actually get fall. We get summer, a little bit cooler summer, a month of “ summer winter”, and back to summer.
That being said, I tend to force the feeling in our house, and pretend there are actually leaves falling in crispy fall air by baking up all things autumn. That includes all things pumpkin.
I have attempted monkey bread several times with epic failure and then I discover my error was the dough. I had made all previous attempts with a biscuit type dough instead of a simple yeast dough. So I took our artisan bread dough recipe and jazzed it up a little, and it was like instant monkey magic.
I know there seems to be a lot of ingredients in this bread but most are staples in my house anyways. You will use almost one full can of pumpkin puree. This recipe seems complicated at first, but it’s not.
The hardest, or most time consuming part is rolling all the little dough balls, but if you have kids, this is your chance to have them help you in the kitchen. My kids love helping with this!
This bread is perfect to take to a pot luck or party because you literally just pull pieces off, no cutting required! Its sweet, nutty, gooey, and most importantly, it taste like fall! Even if you live in a place that doesn’t really offer you all of the seasons! So if you love monkey bread and fall flavors, this recipe is a must try! Pumpkin spice for life!
INGREDIENTS:
6 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1 and 1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice ( or you can add 1/2 teaspoon each nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and clove)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Coating For Dough
3 tablespoons vegan butter
2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons maple syrup or agave
3/4 cups sugar
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Glaze
2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoons cinnamon
teaspoon milk if you need to thin the mixture out some
INSTRUCTIONS:
In the bowl of stand mixer, add all of the ingredients for the dough. If you do not have a stand mixer, add all of the ingredients to a large bowl.
Use a spoon to mix the ingredients together, well. If using a stand mixer, attach the dough hook and let the mixer run on medium speed for a few minutes to knead the dough. If mixing by hand, make sure are the ingredients are mixed well, then knead the dough by hand for several minutes on a clean floured surface. If you dough seems too dry and is not coming together you can add a few extra tablespoons of water, if it seems too sticky, add a few tablespoons of four.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Place the dough in a warm place and allow it to double in size. This take about an hour.
Coat an angle food cake, fluted pan ( a round cake pan with a hole in the middle. Not a bunt pan. you want smooth sides) with some vegan butter.
Melt 3 tablespoons of butter, then add 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree, and 2 tablespoon maple syrup . Mix well. In a shallow dish combine the 3/4 cups of sugar and 1- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Once dough has risen pinch of pieces and roll golf ball size balls with the dough. Coat each ball in the butter, pumpkin mixture then roll them in the sugar and cinnamon. Place balls into the pan in a single layer. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the chopped nuts over the first layer of dough, then repeat another layer of dough balls and cover with remaining nuts. You should have two layers of dough balls stacked into the pan.
Cover the cake pan with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise once more. This should only take about half and hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the pan on the center rack of the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester or skewer inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.
Let the monkey bread cool for about 10 minutes on a wire cooling rack, then run a knife carefully around the edges. Flip the pan carefully onto a plate. Mix up the ingredients for the glaze and drizzle over the monkey bread. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge.
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