Best Pull-Apart Sourdough Monkey Bread Recipe - A Quaint Life (2024)

This pull-apart sourdough monkey bread recipe is soft, delicious, and filled with the warm flavor of cinnamon and brown sugar.

When my daughter was very little, I stumbled across a recipe on the internet for pull-apart monkey bread. I made it the first time and she was hooked. Asking for it at least once a week, though I had to say no most of the time. This bread is a complete treat and as such I would save it for a special occasion or a random surprise on a Saturday morning.

Nowadays I make it completely from scratch with my trusty sourdough starter. So even though it is a treat to make on occasion, it makes me feel good that I am using whole ingredients and healthier fermented dough to recreate it.

As far as delicious recipes go this one is hands down a keeper. Sourdough monkey bread is soft, filled with sweet cinnamon and brown sugar throughout, and pulls apart which makes it fun to eat.

Sourdough Monkey Bread Is…

• Soft, sweet and satisfying
• Easy to make
• A great recipe the whole family will love
• Perfect for bringing to gatherings
• Filled with the goodness of sourdough bread
• Great for breakfast, dessert or the perfect treat Christmas morning

Ingredients

Sourdough Starter- Use an active sourdough starter for this recipe. It should be nice and bubbly before starting this recipe.

Bread Flour- Bread flour creates a nice fluffy texture and puffs up nicely when long fermented. I love to use it in all my sourdough recipes and prefer to use King Arthur unbleached bread flour. If you don’t have bread flour on hand you can use all-purpose flour.

Butter- I prefer salted butter to give the dough balls a little contrast but unsalted works fine too.

Coconut Oil- This is a great oil to bake with and not only permeates the dough with a lovely lightly sweet scent but also helps it maintain moisture. The dough is so soft and velvety to work with.

Cinnamon- Ground cinnamon is an absolute must for this monkey bread. Don’t skip it!

Brown Sugar- I like to use brown sugar over white with its subtle molasses notes and moisture content. You can use light brown sugar or dark for this monkey bread.

What You Will Need To Make It

3 cups bread flour

1 cup active sourdough starter

2 tbsp raw honey

1 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 cup packed brown sugar

5 tbsp melted butter

1 tbsp cinnamon

Tools

Cuisinart Stand Mixer (or you can hand knead)

Bench Scraper

Bundt Cake Pan

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Directions

In a stand mixer bowl, combine the flour, active starter, salt, coconut oil, honey, and water. Mix until the shaggy dough just comes together. Place a dough hook on and knead on low for 5 minutes. Place the dough ball into a greased bowl and cover with a tea towel. Allow it to rest at room temperature on the kitchen counter for 8 hours or overnight for the first rise.

The next day, punch the dough to release the air and place the dough onto a work surface. Don’t flour the surface. The dough should be tacky, not sticky. Use a bench scraper, or sharp knife to cut small pieces from the dough. Roll the pieces into about 1-2 inch small balls. Continue doing this until all the dough is rolled.

In a small bowl combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Place the melted butter near the cinnamon sugar mixture to form sort of an assembly line.

Dunk the balls of dough into the butter first and then into the brown sugar mixture.

Place each ball into an awaiting greased or sprayed bundt cake pan.

Continue until all the dough balls are dunked and in the bundt cake pan. Pour any leftover brown sugar mix or butter over the balls.

Allow the monkey bread dough to sit in the bundt cake pan for 1 hour covered with a tea towel for the second rise. It helps to put it into a warm place in the kitchen. The little balls will almost double in size.

Bake at 350℉ for 30 minutes until golden brown. Allow it to cool slightly before removing. To remove, place a large plate centeredover the top of the panand turn the pan onto the plate. The monkey bread should pop right out.

Baking Notes

• Be sure to start with an active sourdough starter.
• Using bread flour creates a fluffier dough.
• Placing the dipped dough balls in a warm area of the kitchen will allow them to rise more quickly. I like to put them on my stovetop as it preheats. If you have a really cold kitchen, you may need to wait an extra hour for the second rise.
• Be sure to dunk the balls individually and not in a plastic bag like other monkey breads instruct. The dough for this is tacky and will stick together quickly when added to a plastic bag.
• Spray the bundt pan with baking spray or grease it with a little butter before adding the balls of dough.

FAQ

Can I use all-purpose flour instead?

You can substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour. It will have similar results however, the bread flour seems to create a softer end result.

Can I use sourdough discard for this recipe?

You can, however you will need to add a packet of active dry yeast to the start of the dough. Rise times will vary if doing so.

How To Store

You can place the monkey bread in a glass cake stand to store however it will dry out a little quicker that way. I like to use plastic wrap over a plate to help seal in the moisture. I reheat it in my toaster oven on low or in a microwave when serving later.

More Sourdough Recipes

• Sourdough Maple Glazed Donuts
• Homemade Sourdough Croutons
• Easy Sourdough Flatbread

Why Sourdough?

The natural origin of sourdough is one of the oldest forms of leavened bread that dates back to the days of ancient Egypt.Adding sourdough to a recipe is one of the best ways to increase the nutritional value of not only bread but baked goods like this one as well.

Sourdough is filled with beneficial bacteria and phytic acid which helps our bodies predigest the bread (or baked goods) being consumed. The natural process of sourdough allows the bread to maintain its original nutrients something normally processed out of other types of bread.

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