Easy Garlic Monkey Bread
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Making homemade monkey bread requires understanding a method more than a recipe. Take pizza dough, divide it into small balls, brush those balls with a flavored butter, cram those balls together into a vessel, top with grated cheese, and bake until golden. Simple and delicious! 🍞🍞🍞
This past fall, a friend who was traveling, cooking and eating her way through Italy, sent me the loveliest book: Pasta, a collection of recipes from the kitchen of The American Academy in Rome. She had learned about the book and the story of the Rome Sustainable Food Project during her travels, and found the recipes in the book, many of which she made during her stay, matched the food she was eating out and about on a daily basis.
The story of the RSFP begins in 2006, when the AAR decided it was time to step up its game in the kitchen, which had been surprisingly poor given its location in a city with traditions deeply rooted in its food. And so the AAR reached out to Alice Waters, who said she would help provided her efforts would lay the foundation for a movement, a sustainable model other institutions could replicate. And so was born the RSFP, a teaching kitchen in which interns learn the basics of Italian and seasonal cooking.
The layout of Pasta mirrors how the RSFP teaches interns, beginning with simple pasta dishes, graduating to more complex. I have made several recipes now, including a macaroni with slow-cooked cauliflower, anchovies, garlic and rosemary, a baked pasta with tomato sauce and mozzarella, and this spicy tomato sauce with onions and guanciale — the sauce for the book’s bucatini all’amatriciana — all of which have been delicious.
Soon I will make the bucatini all’amatriciana, but in the meantime, I will continue polishing off skillets of this garlic-and-thyme monkey bread, each bite accompanied by a dollop of smoky, spicy sauce.
Easy Garlic Monkey Bread
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Description
Monkey Bread Dough recipe adapted from the pizza recipe in my cookbook, Bread Toast Crumbs.
Making monkey bread requires understanding a method more than a recipe. Essentially, you take pizza dough (about a pound for a standard 9-inch skillet or baking dish), divide it into small balls, brush those balls with a flavored butter, cram those balls together into a vessel, top with grated cheese if desired, and bake until golden.
You can bake monkey bread in Bundt pans, too — you might need as many as two pounds of dough for a Bundt pan. Adjust butter, garlic, thyme quantities to taste.
Notes:
If you don’t want to make the dough from scratch, you can use a pound of store-bought pizza dough in its place.
If you make my pizza dough recipe, this is half the recipe, so if ever you find yourself with two rounds of dough stored in your fridge, you can use those two rounds in this recipe.
Sauce recipe: Pasta: Recipes From the Kitchen of the American Academy in Rome
Ingredients
for the monkey bread dough, see notes above:
- 2 cups (256 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) instant yeast
- 1 cup (227 g) lukewarm water
for the garlic butter:
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic
- pinch red pepper flakes
- fresh thyme leaves, a tablespoon or more
- sea salt
- Parmigiano Reggiano
for the tomato sauce:
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 6 oz. guanciale, pancetta or bacon, cut into ½-inch dice
- 1 large onion, diced
- coarsely ground black pepper to taste
- 28-oz can canned whole San Marzano-style tomatoes, puréed with hand blender or food processor
- 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (or less if you are sensitive to heat)
Instructions
- Make the monkey bread dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. Add the water. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the water is absorbed and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball.
- Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in bulk. (If you are making the tomato sauce, jump down to step 7 and get going on that :)).
- Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Butter a 9-inch cast iron skillet or baking dish. Cover a work surface or cutting board liberally with flour — use at least 1/4 cup and more as needed. The dough is very wet, so don’t hesitate to use flour as needed. Turn the dough out onto your floured surface and use a bench scraper to divide the dough into 18 to 20 small portions (or 12 to 14 larger portions). With floured hands, roll each portion into a ball, using the pinkie-edges of your hands to pinch the dough underneath each ball. Transfer the balls to the prepared skillet, and let sit for at least 30 minutes without touching.
- Make the flavored butter: Place butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Finely mince the garlic — I suggest using your garlic press here if you have one — and add to the butter. (The more finely minced the garlic, the less it will burn.) Add a pinch of red pepper flakes. Mince the thyme leaves and add to the butter. Once butter is melted, remove the pan from heat.
- Brush the seasoned butter over the bread balls, being sure to reserve a few tablespoons for brushing the rolls out of the oven. Season with a pinch of nice salt. Grate a thin layer of cheese over top — I used my microplane here.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the balls are puffed and beginning to brown. Remove from the oven and brush with the reserved garlic-herb butter. Let cool briefly before serving with spicy tomato sauce on the side.
- To make the sauce: Put the olive oil and guanciale in a 14-inch sauté pan over medium heat. After 3 minutes, add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally until they are translucent and the guanciale has started to brown. Season with coarsely ground black pepper.
- Add the tomatoes and the hot pepper flakes and simmer the sauce at low heat until it has reduced by about two-thirds, or until it’s a consistency you like. Turn off the heat. Taste. Salt may or may not be necessary depending on the bacon and tomatoes you are using. Set sauce aside.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
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39 Comments on “Easy Garlic Monkey Bread”
Holy smokes, this looks amazing! I have never seen a savory monkey bread before. I grew up making it with cinnamon and sugar, which I still love. Can’t wait to make this version.
This is my first monkey bread creation, sweet or savory. I am dying to make a sweet version now. I’m imagining the same method: butter, cinnamon, sugar, maybe a pinch of salt? And I just had a thought…pearl sugar might be really fun and pretty! Yay for monkey bread!
Do you have a recipe for sweet monkey bread?
Sounds fantastic
I have a recipe for cinnamon and sugar monkey bread in my cookbook … it’s a favorite!
This looks really good. I love carbs! Tried to give them up but I just can’t. I am going to make this for dinner tonight. Curious, which do you prefer when making a pasta sauce, guanciale or pancetta?
If you like the bucatini all’ amatriciana recipe once you have tried it would you mind sharing it, please? I have been trying to recreate one I had in a restaurant but I have had no success.
Thanks for the Super Bowl food ideas. It’s like another Thanksgiving in terms of food. Yum! Oh, it’s the Seahawks vs Patriots!
Stay warm!
Of course! I will be making the bucatini all’ amatriciana, soon, and will be sure to share my results 🙂 I still need to try it with guanciale, and there is an Italian market nearby that I am planning on visiting soon — I can’t find it at a regular grocery store. Both pancetta and bacon work well, but it would be fun to try it with the real thing.
Thanks for the heads’ up re Seahawks vs. Patriots! Theskimm gave me the lowdown this morning 🙂
That spicy tomato sauce though….
This looks delicious! I love Italian cooking. I generally uses fresh simple ingredients and is delicious!
I had no idea the RSFP had come out with a Pasta book, what amazing news! I already have the Biscotti and Zuppe books and love both of them. I have a soft spot for the RSFP and the AAR after spending a month in Rome while I was at architecture school. Our program used the AAR as a home base of sorts, although we were only able to eat there once. Oh my goodness the food was so good, and the space so beautiful. What a life for those lucky Rome Prize winners. And heck for the kitchen interns too!
And this monkey bread looks delish! Happy weekend Ali!
So fun, Talley! I wish I had known about the RSFP in 2007 — I watched a video on the AAR website, and the life of these interns looks pretty fantastic. I’m sure it’s hard work, but the environment is pretty hard to beat. Yes, what a life! Happy weekend to you, Talley!!
we have (another) snow day and I have leftover leahy pizza sigh in my fridge!!
Yay!! so exciting 🙂
I really love this take on monkey bread! I’d love to try this out with my next pasta dinner
Hi Alexandra,
Apologies for referencing an older recipe but I’m wondering for the No Knead Thyme Dinner rolls, it calls for sugar for the yeast mixture — I’m hoping to omit the sugar for health reasons; would the recipe still work without it? Alternatively, could I substitute honey? I’m worried the yeast won’t rise if I use honey. Thanks in advance for your help!
Hi! No worries. I think the recipe will work just fine without it — some of my favorite bread recipes (including the one used for this monkey bread) call for just flour, water, yeast and salt. You could definitely use honey. I say go for it! You can still check your yeast without using the sugar or honey, too, just fyi: sprinkle the yeast over slightly warm water (1.5 cups cold mixed with .5 cups boiling is a good mix for lukewarm water) and let it sit for 15 minutes or so. It should look nice and foamy if it is alive. Hope that helps. Let me know if there is anything else!
Thank you so much for your detailed answer! I ended up using just one teaspoon of sugar instead of two and it worked out well. My parents devoured 3 thyme rolls each tonight. What a hit! You’re the best! THANK YOU!
ps. I love that the recipe does not use oil or eggs. Low in cholesterol and if I just use veggie oil to coat the pan, it’s actually vegan!
Yay! So happy to hear this, Diana! So easy, too, right?
Wow! Made this for my Super Bowl party today and it was terrific! The few leftovers doubled as dinner rolls! Carb heaven…
So happy to hear this! Love the idea of making dinner rolls, too. Yum!!
What size “small” cast iron skillet did you use for the 1/2 lb of dough please?
They’re a little over 6 inches in diameter. They are made by Lodge, but I can’t seem to find them on their website anymore. Let me know if there is anything else!
I would eat this and nothing else for dinner. Too special—–
Honestly, you are a food genius.
Made these for the superbowl and they were a HUGE hit. They quickly overcooked, so good to just keep an eye on them. But seriously everything you make is the best.
So happy to hear this, Amanda! And thank you for your kind words 🙂
Should I let the dough sit before baking? If so, for how long?
Yes, and I should edit the recipe — 10 to 15 minutes or until the balls look a little puffed is what I usually do.
I love Italian cooking. I generally uses fresh simple ingredients and is delicious!
Regards,
Shan
Can you prep this ahead of time to the step of putting the balls in the skillet, and then refrigerate?
Yes! I did this recently in fact. And just a heads up, if you make this in a standard 8-inch cast iron skillet, it might feel like not enough dough, but once proofed and baked, the dough fills the pan.
This is crazy easy and super delicious! Wondering if you could you stuff the little balls with cheese or cured meat before baking?
That sounds amazing! Go for it.
Hi. I want to make this for a potluck. If I use a 13 inch cast iron skillet, should I double everything?
Hi Debbie, yes, I would double everything!
Can I use active dry yeast instead of instant. I just haven’t gotten the instant I ordered from the peasant bread recipe yet. And I have a ton of the active packets that I’d hate to waste. The peasant bread turned out perfect, BTW!! Absolutely loved it and the tip for active yeast was perfect.
Hi! And yes. Apologies for the delay here. You’ll want to sprinkle it over the lukewarm water first and let it stand for 10-15 minutes or until it gets foamy. Great to hear about the peasant bread! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
I love that monkey bread but I love that sauce more, it’s become my goto sauce. I add in harissa and Aleppo pepper for the heat and there is something satisfying about crushing the whole plum tomatoes by hand. I use this sauce on toast, pizza, tacos, the monkey bread and even pasta. Thank you for this one Ali!
Frank! Yay. It’s so nice to read this. I’m so glad you like this one. I’ve been meaning to revisit it since I saw you first post it.
I make this tomato sauce all the time and use it as my pizza sauce but I stop cooking when reduced by a third and purée the mix with an immersion blender. Harissa works as the spice too.
So smart Frank! I love your love for this sauce 🙂