Maple Syrup Monkey Bread

There are times when I wish our senses could transcend the written word. Like right now. If you could smell the warm, sweet, maple syrupy smell coming from my kitchen at this moment, you'd be in love. Just like me. And it doesn't just smell good - the taste is even better!

This Maple Syrup Monkey Bread is gorgeously squidgy. It has its first blanket of maple syrup when it's just out of the oven and then another one a few minutes later when it's turned out on the plate. I think mine looks like it's swimming in it :)

The recipe comes from James Martin's Sweet which I highly recommend if you're looking for lots of sweet delights to bake. I love James Martin and his recipes (whether from this book or his other savoury ones) always turn out brilliantly. They're easy to follow and always work. Win win. And there are lots of beautiful photos to inspire you!

This is simple to make but, as with all bread, you do need a little patience for the proving. The dough itself is straightforward - the milk is warmed in a saucepan, the yeast is added and then it's mixed with breadcrumbs made from flour, sugar, salt and butter. I mixed the breadcrumbs by hand but then I used my standalone mixer and dough hook to combine all the ingredients. You can work the dough by hand if you don't have this equipment - it will just take you 15 minutes rather than the 5 minutes with the dough hook. But you get bonus points for giving your arm muscles a workout!

When the dough is tacky to the touch, it's put into a bowl, covered and left for around 2 hours in a warm place until doubled in size. When it's ready, butter a 23cm savarin mold. I didn't have one of these so I used an 8 inch cake tin. You're going to make 30-35 dough balls with your dough so weigh the dough and then work out how much each dough ball should weigh. I kept my scales to hand and weighed out each amount of dough and then formed it into little balls. Then each ball is dipped into melted butter and rolled in a mixture of demerara sugar and cinnamon. By the time I formed my last ball the sugar was a complete gunky mess, clumped together with the butter, but keep going. Then place the balls into your cake tin. My bottom row was 2 balls wide (leaving a hole in the middle as it would have with a savarin mold) and then 1 circle of balls on the top layer.

The dough is left to prove again, lightly covered with some oiled clingfilm, for around 45 minutes. I generally leave my dough to prove for the second time overnight which I did with this bake but you need to ensure that you don't leave it in too warm a place as the butter will melt. I found that happened a little with mine (it didn't affect the final outcome as far as I can tell) but I suggest you place it on a baking tray when proving otherwise you might get a sticky trail when you come to pick it up!

When you're ready to bake it, preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Bake it on the baking tray for around 25 minutes until it's golden brown. I did find that the the middle hole disappeared as it baked and because I wasn't using a savarin mold, the middle dough balls underneath aren't cooked quite as well as the outer ones, so a savarin mold is preferable if you have one to hand, but not absolutely necessary.

When it's out of the oven, it's coated with 100 ml of maple syrup, left for 2 minutes and then turned out on a plate. Mine was pretty sticky and did try to come apart when being lifted from the tin to plate but I managed to get it there in one piece. It's crucial that you remove it from its tin this quickly. Then it's bathed in another 100ml maple syrup.

It is a thing of beauty. Simply delicious and especially good straight from the oven. 

I'm looking forward to trying other variations of Monkey Bread but wanted to try this one first. We are firm maple syrup lovers in this house so I know it will be a big hit when the boys come home.

If there's any left by the time the boys come home ;-)

Maple Syrup Monkey Bread

from James Martin's Sweet

Ingredients

• 300ML MILK
• 500G STRONG BREAD FLOUR (plus extra for dusting)
• 75G CASTER SUGAR
• 5G FINE SEA SALT
• 50G SOFTENED BUTTER (plus extra for greasing your tin)
• 2 TSP FAST-ACTION DRIED YEAST
• 200ML MAPLE SYRUP
• 250G DEMERARA SUGAR
• 1 TBSP CINNAMON
• 200G MELTED BUTTER

Method

1. Gently warm the milk in a saucepan until it's warm but not boiling
2. Place the flour, sugar and salt in a standalone mixer with a dough hook and mix to combine
3. Add the butter and mix together until you have the consistency of fine breadcrumbs - I did this by rubbing it between my fingertips
4. Then sprinkle the yeast over the warmed milk and add to the breadcrumb mixture
5. Mix together with a dough hook on your standalone mixer on a medium speed for around 5 minutes
6. The dough should be soft, sticky and shiny and tacky to the touch but definitely not dry
7. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave it to prove for 1-2 hours until it's risen, spongy and doubled in size
8. Then butter your savarin mold (23cm) or cake tin (20cm)
9. Turn out your dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 1 minute
10. Weigh the dough and divide it by 35 and then make 35 dough balls of equal size
11. Mix the demerara sugar and cinnamon in a bowl
12. Dip each dough ball into the melted butter and then coat in the sugar mixture
13. Place it in the mold/baking tin - I had enough for 2 circles (one inside the other) on the bottom of the tin, leaving a hole in the middle, and then another circle on top
14. Cover with oiled clingfilm and leave to prove in a warm place (not too warm though otherwise the butter will melt) for 45 minutes until the dough is well risen - I left mine overnight
15. When you're ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 180 degrees
16. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the balls are golden brown
17. Remove from the oven and immediately coat the balls with 100ml maple syrup
18. After 2 minutes, remove the monkey bread from the tin and place onto a plate - it's important to do this now otherwise the bread will stick to the tin and be very difficult to remove without breaking
19. Once on a plate, bathe the monkey bread in another 100ml maple syrup
20. And enjoy (but not so much that you eat the entire thing in one sitting!!)

Swedish Cinnamon Buns

I've never had much success making dough. So many people tell me it's really easy, but for some reason, mine never seems to work out that well. I love eating it, so I guess I'm just going to have to knuckle down and practice a lot to get good at creating it too! I found this pin on Pinterest from Cakelets and Doilies with these gorgeous Swedish Cinnamon Buns. Belle's blog is full of delicious bakes that look simply stunning. And I LOVE cinnamon buns! Win, win. I've put aside my fear of yeast to give these little buns of delight a go.

The recipe is very straightforward and instructions clear. I really like each little bun in its own wrapper, but this would also work if you popped them into a round baking tin and cooked them together as a pull-apart round. The biggest skill you need to learn is patience whilst the dough proves twice, but it's definitely worth the wait. I was a little concerned about the cardamom as I'm not a huge fan especially when you get a bite of one in a curry. However the cardamom enhances the flavour of the milk without being overwhelming so it's definitely worth keeping this in. Even though I had my trusty tape measure to hand, my buns were a little uneven in size but that's just more practice needed and doesn't affect the taste of them at all. They are definitely best served warm and for me,  are enhanced by the addition of maple syrup soaked through to keep them a little more moist.

These really are delicious and I'm delighted to say this is my most successful yeast bake EVER. Yay! Can't wait to try them out on the boys later :)

Swedish Cinnamon Buns Makes 12 (from Cakelets & Doilies)

Bun Ingredients

• 300ML WHOLE MILK (I used semi-skimmed milk as this was what I had to hand)
• ¼ TSP GROUND CARDAMOM
• 50G BUTTER, CHOPPED
• 425G PLAIN FLOUR
• 7G FAST ACTION YEAST
• 60G CASTER SUGAR
• ¼ TSP SALT
• 1 EGG, BEATEN LIGHTLY 

Filling Ingredients

• 75G BUTTER
• 50G DARK BROWN SUGAR
• 2 TSP CINNAMON
• ½ TSP SALT 

Topping Ingredients

• 1 EGG, BEATEN LIGHTLY
• SLIVERED ALMONDS

Method

1. First of all, to make the buns, put the milk and cardamom in the small saucepan and heat it until it's almost but not quite boiling
2. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, then leave to infuse until it's just warm
3. Put all the dry ingredients into a mixer fitted with a dough hook and then add the milk and egg
4. Combine all the ingredients with the dough hook on a slow speed for around 10 mins (the dough should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl by now)
5. Lightly grease your hands and a bowl - shape the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl, then cover it with clingfilm
6. The dough should be left somewhere warm and draught-free and you want it to double in size which should take around 30 mins to an hour (mine took around 45 mins)
7. Press the dough with your fingertip and your finger should leave a slight indentation when it's ready
8. Now make the filling, by melting the butter and then setting the bowl aside
9. Combine the dark sugar, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl
10. When the dough is ready, punch the middle of it to deflate the dough and then cover it again with clingfilm and leave it for 5 mins
11. Then roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to make a rectangle roughly 60cm x 25cm
12. Brush the dough with butter and then evenly sprinkle the sugar mixture over the top
13. Roll the dough from the long end tightly like a swiss roll and you should end up with  very long sausage shape where the seam is underneath
14. Cut off the ends and discard
15. Cut the roll into 12 equal slices
16. Put 12 muffin wrapper into a cupcake | muffin  tin and then pop a slice into each one, side up so you can see the swirl of the cinnamon on the top
17. Cover the muffin tin loosely with clingfilm and proof for the second time, again until the dough has doubled in size which should take another 30 mins to an hour
18. Press the dough with your fingertip and your finger should leave a slight indentation when it's ready
19. Heat the oven to 180 degrees (fan)
20. Brush the top of each cinnamon bun with the beaten egg and then the slivered almonds
21. Bake for 25 mins or until golden brown
22. Enjoy with a drizzle of maple syrup :)