Some monkey bread for my monkeys. So good. So fun to make. And very pleasing to peel off the hunks of brown sugary, buttery goodness to eat. We have spent the last three afternoons sitting on the back porch swing, watching those powerful mists of rain coming down, doing just this. Nothing makes me feel more electric and alive as an afternoon rain in the south. It doesn’t just come down here. It dumps. It pours. It greens up the earth so quick you can see the colors brighten before your very eyes. Clouds rolling in with bolts of lightning so big you feel like your living inside a cracking eggshell. Thunder so immense and often your knees are left knocking. I promise.
Well around here we enjoy these sort of events with class. Well, that is if you consider eating delicious baked goods classy of course. I do. Here is another one from old Mr. Beard.
Monkey Bread From Beard On Bread
Combing 4.5 tsp. of yeast with one cup sugar and 1/2 cup of warm water. While its proofing stir one stick of mostly melted butter with 1 cup of warm milk and one tablespoon of salt. Add the yeast mixture and crack in 3 eggs plus 2 yolks. Beat it until its nice and creamy and add in about 7 cups of flour one at a time until its smooth like cake batter. Turn onto a floured surface and start kneading, adding a little flour as you go until it’s not too sticky anymore. Knead for a full ten minutes. Cover it up and let it double in bulk.
Punch it down, and shape it back into a nice ball then let it rise for five more minutes. Meanwhile butter a tube pan (the kind that comes apart is easiest). In a saucepan melt another stick of butter with 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of currants (I just used raisins because that is what I had on hand). Break off golf ball sized pieces of dough and roll them into your buttery mix then line your tube pan with them. Once this is complete lick the sauce pan. It’s so damn good.
Let the dough rise to the top of the pan and then bake in a preheated oven of 375 for about an hour. Serve warm and often.
MamaRise 