This Easy Homemade Loaf Pan Monkey Bread is made with an enriched dough coated in cinnamon sugar, drizzled with a buttery brown sugar sauce, and baked in a loaf pan for a fun pull-apart sweet bread.
Each little ball of dough is like a mini cinnamon roll great for a special treat for kids to pull apart like little monkeys.
While Monkey Bread is typically made in a Bundt pan, this recipe is designed to make the dough from scratch and to fit it in a standard-sized loaf pan. The dough rises quite a bit for the most ooh and ahh worthy visual as you see the cinnamon sugar treat rise just above the edges of the loaf pan covered in sparkling sugar.
Traditionally this Monkey Bread is served inverted so that the brown sugar butter sauce which after being drizzled coats the bottom of the pan gets flipped on top. But this recipe is so impressive inverted or not that even served right side up it's quite the treat.
I love to make this easy monkey bread recipe as a special breakfast or brunch treat just like this Easy Loaf Pan Coffee Cake With Crumb Topping or Glazed Banana Bread. It is an easy recipe perfect for Christmas morning, especially if you let the dough rise in the fridge overnight. But it's also great as an afternoon (or after school) snack, or even as dessert, just like this Lemon Raspberry Loaf Cake in the warmer months.
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🐒 What is Monkey Bread?
Monkey Bread is a pull-apart style bread traditionally made in a bundt pan where small balls of round dough are covered in cinnamon and sugar. It is then coated in a buttery brown sugar sauce and when fully baked it is turned upside down so that the butter sugar sauce that sank to the bottom is now on top.
The pieces can then be pulled and picked apart by lots of little hands, like monkeys for a sweet treat that's just like a miniature version of cinnamon rolls.
It's also great for a special occasion brunch, or holiday treat, like Banana Bread With Crumb Topping.
🌟 Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Enriched Dough: This dough is made with eggs, sugar, and butter for a more flavorful bread, comparable to cinnamon roll dough and not too far off from a brioche dough, worthy of a special sweet treat.
Cinnamon Sugar, Brown Sugar Butter Sauce: Each ball of dough is coated in cinnamon sugar and the entire loaf is drizzled with a brown sugar butter sauce for a sweet and sticky treat.
Pull-Apart Monkey Bread: The dough is divided into 32 balls, which makes it a fun treat to pick apart by hand like monkeys.
🛒 Ingredients:
Below are the ingredients needed to make this Loaf Pan Monkey Bread.
Bread Dough
- Warm Water: Ensure that the water is warm, but not hot. Hot water will kill the yeast and the dough will not rise.
- Granualted Sugar: The sugar is dissolved into the water to create a sweet dough. The sugar also helps to feed the yeast so that it rises quicker than it would without added sugar.
- Instant Yeast: I recommend using Instant Fast Acting Yeast. Combined with the sugar in the dough, this will help the dough rise very quickly.
- Salt: Balances and brings out flavor.
- Eggs: Use large eggs, pasture-raised if possible. It helps to beat the eggs slightly in a bowl before adding them to the bowl of the stand mixer.
- Butter: I use salted butter brought to a warm room temperature (quite soft).
- Flour: Use all-purpose unbleached flour or bread flour if you have it.
Cinnamon Sugar
- Granulated Sugar: Mixed with cinnamon to coat the balls of dough. Also a great combination in this breakfast Dutch Baby.
- Cinnamon: I recommend a high-quality cinnamon, such as Ceylon cinnamon. I use a brand called Simply Organic which can be found at Whole Foods and some specialty grocery stores. It is the one spice that I find makes the biggest difference when using a high-quality version.
Brown Sugar Butter Sauce
- Brown Sugar: You can use either light or dark brown sugar, whichever you have on hand.
- Butter: Use salted butter.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
📝 How to Make Loaf Pan Monkey Bread
Below are the step-by-step instructions and photos for how to make this Easy Homemade Loaf Pan Monkey Bread.
While this recipe does involve making the dough from scratch, it is a fairly simple and easy recipe without much technique involved. If you are able to map out the timing (which does not need to be strict) it is easy to put together.
Note: The recipe card with instructions, ingredient list, and quantities is included further below these step-by-step photos.
Step 1. Activate Yeast: In the bowl of a stand mixer add the warm water and sugar and stir to dissolve. Ensure that the water is warm, but not hot. Add the yeast and allow it to sit until it starts to bubble and foam slightly, about 5-10 minutes.
Tip: Hot water will kill the yeast, so be sure that the water is not too warm before adding the yeast. If the yeast does not bubble or show any sign of activation after 5-10 minutes the yeast is no longer alive. Toss it and use a new packet of yeast. Be sure that it is not past the expiration date.
Step 2. Add Salt, Butter, and Eggs: Add the salt, softened butter, and eggs. Use the whisk attachment to combine in a stand mixer for about 1 minute.
Step 3. Knead the Dough: Add the flour to the bowl. Switch to the dough hook attachment. Knead the dough on low speed for 1-2 minutes until all the flour has been incorporated. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Turn the speed up by 1 and continue to knead in the stand mixer for 6-8 minutes until a rough ball of dough forms. It is okay if some of the dough sticks to the bottom of the bowl as it is being kneaded in the stand mixer.
The dough should be relatively soft. Do not add extra flour, the softer the dough, the lighter, softer, and fluffier the final baked loaf will be, which is the best part.
Step 4. Shape the Dough: Turn the dough out onto a clean lightly floured work surface. Knead by hand for 1-2 minutes, just until it forms a round smooth ball.
Step 5. First Rise: Add the ball of dough to a large bowl and cover it in a thin layer of olive oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth and let it rise at a warm room temperature until doubled about 1 hour, or slightly more.
Step 6. Divide the Dough: Turn the risen dough out onto a clean (very) lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 4. Then divide each quarter of dough into 8 pieces for 32 pieces of dough total. Shape each piece of dough into a small round ball.
Step 7. Cinnamon Sugar: In a small bowl combine the cinnamon and sugar. Butter a 9-inch loaf pan. Roll each ball of dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture then place it in the loaf pan.
Step 8. Layer the Dough: Place the coated dough balls in two layers in the loaf pan. Sprinkle any remaining cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the loaf.
Cover lightly with a kitchen cloth and let rise until doubled in size about 1-1½ hours.
Step 9. Buttery Brown Sugar Sauce: Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a small saucepan combine ¼ cup butter and the brown sugar. Heat on medium heat until the butter is melted and the mixture starts to bubble. Stir occasionally.
Pour the brown sugar butter sauce over the Monkey Bread Loaf. As much as possible pour the sauce such that it does not drip over the edges, but rather fills in the cracks between the balls of dough.
Step 10. Bake: Place the loaf pan on a baking sheet to catch any potential overflow. Bake the bread at 350°F for 35 minutes. It should be a deep golden brown on top.
Allow the bread to cool slightly, then loosen it from the pan and invert it on a serving plate or a cutting board and serve while warm. Or, rather than inverting it can be served as is especially considering the bubble top is so impressive.
🍽️ How to Serve, Store, and Reheat:
- To Serve: Either serve inverted or right side up. If you serve this homemade monkey bread recipe inverted the brown sugar butter sauce that seeped to the bottom will then be on top, which will be extra sticky and sweet. But it is impressive upright too.
- To Store: Store in an airtight container, or covered in aluminum foil at room temperature overnight. It is best eaten the day of, but it can be reheated on day 2 as well.
- To Reheat: Reheat any leftover monkey bread in smaller portions gently in a microwave oven at a low power level in a microwave-safe dish, or bake in the oven at 350°F for 8 minutes to warm through.
✏️ Loaf Pan Monkey Bread FAQs
Yes, follow the instructions until the second rise, after shaping the dough into balls and covering them in cinnamon sugar. Then place the loaf lightly covered in plastic wrap in the fridge and let it rise overnight. Make sure it has risen enough so that bubbles of dough are popping up above the rim of the loaf pan. If needed it can warm up and rise further the next day. Then proceed with the rest of the instructions.
Yes, you can certainly use a can of biscuits and cut it into smaller biscuit pieces to shape the loaf for a successful treat. While homemade dough will take longer, it will be more flavorful.
Yes, this dough is very conducive to adding other flavors, like nuts, small pieces of fresh apple or jam. You may need to adjust the baking time if you are adding extra water content.
Yes, absolutely. You can make this in a square or rectangular baking pan, tube pan, or even a muffin tin, but you will need to adjust the baking time.
Of course, knead the dough on a lightly floured work surface by hand for 10 minutes. Resist the urge to add more flour which would dry out the final dough.
💖 If You're Interested in More Breakfast Treats or Dessert Recipes, You May Love These:
If you've tried this Loaf Pan Monkey Bread or any other recipe on my site, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. I'd love to hear from you!
Easy Homemade Loaf Pan Monkey Bread
Ingredients
Enriched Dough
- 1½ cups warm water
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ oz Packet Instant Fast Acting Yeast 1 standard packet
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- ⅓ cup butter, softened
- 4¾ cups bread or all-purpose flour
Cinnamon Sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tablespoon cinnamon
Brown Sugar Butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup butter
Instructions
- In a bowl of stand mixer combine the warm water and granulated sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Ensure that the water is warm, but not hot. Then add the yeast. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until it starts to bubble.
- Add the salt and beaten eggs and use the whisk attachment to combine.
- Switch to a dough hook and add the flour. Set the mixer on low speed until there is no more dry flour. Pause the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Increase the speed by one and knead in the stand mixer for 6-8 minutes. The dough should come together and form a rough ball.
- Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 1-2 minutes until the dough forms a smooth bowl. Place the dough in a large clean bowl. Coat the dough in a drizzle of olive oil, cover the bowl with a dry towel, and let rise in a warm place for roughly 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Butter a 9-inch loaf pan.
- In a small bowl combine the ¼ cup granulated sugar and ½ tablespoon cinnamon.
- Punch the dough down and turn it out on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into quarters, then divide each quarter into 8 to create 32 pieces of dough. Shape each piece of dough into a ball and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Place each cinnamon sugar ball of dough into the loaf pan, creating two layers. Sprinkle any remaining cinnamon sugar over the top of the loaf. Cover loosely and place in a warm place for 1 to 1 ½ hours to rise or until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a small saucepan combine the butter and brown sugar on medium heat until it starts to bubble. Drizzle the brown sugar butter mixture over the dough in the loaf pan. Try to make sure it goes into the cracks between the balls of dough rather than off the sides of the pan. Place the loaf pan on a baking sheet to catch any potential overflow and bake for 35 minutes.
- Allow the monkey bread to cool slightly. Then invert the monkeybread onto a serving platter or cutting board and serve while still warm. Or leave it in the pan and serve it as is. It is quite impressive with its bubble top right side up too.
Notes
- Yeast: I recommend using Instant Fast Acting Yeast. Combined with the sugar in the dough, this will help the dough rise very quickly.
- Cinnamon: I recommend a high-quality cinnamon, such as Ceylon cinnamon. I use a brand called Simply Organic which can be found at Whole Foods and some specialty grocery stores. It is the one spice that I find makes the biggest difference when using a high-quality version.
- Brown Sugar: You can use either light or dark brown sugar, whichever you have on hand.
- Warm Water: Hot water will kill the yeast, so be sure that the water is not too warm before adding it. If the yeast does not bubble or show any sign of activation after 5-10 minutes the yeast is no longer alive. Toss it and look for a new packet of yeast. Be sure that it is not past the expiration date.
- Rise Overnight: Follow the instructions until the second rise, after shaping the dough into balls and covering them in cinnamon sugar. Cover the loaf lightly covered in plastic wrap then place it in the fridge and let it rise overnight. Make sure it has risen enough so that bubbles of dough are popping up above the rim of the loaf pan. If needed, it can warm up and rise further the next day. Then proceed with the rest of the instructions.
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