Onion Mustard Monkey Bread | Twisting Traditions

Monkey bread , a sweet sticky yeasted pull out  bread or breakfast pastry is quite popular. I too have tried my hand at this and you can get an orange cardamom version here. Originally from America, no one is quite sure about how it got its name.

But as long as the bread is perfect you can add your own version to the existing stories. I have tried a savoury twist to the sweet bread adapting the recipe from Food & Wine. It came out as a perfect all time snack. 

Ingredients:

Butter : 8 tbsp or 1 stick or 100g

Milk: 1.5 cups

Sugar: 2 tbsp

Instant yeast: 1 envolope or 2.24 tsp

All Purpose Flour: 4 cup

Salt: 1 & 1/2 tsp

Onion: 1 medium finely chopped

Mustard: 3-4 tbsp

Chives/ Spring Onion/Scallions: 2 tbsp

Chopped Thyme: 1tsp . Or dried 1/2 tsp

Salt: a pinch

Preparation:

Melt 3 tbsp o f butter in a saucepan. Add milk and sugar and heat until just warm. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the uyeast and let it sit until foamy, 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and salt until a sticky dough forms. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead unil smooth.

Oil the bowl and return the dough into it, turning once to coat and let it sit wrapped in plastic sheet until doubled for an 1 hour. Heat 1 tbsp  of butter in a skillet/pan/kadai, add onion and cook until softened,stir in the mustard,chives and thyme. Add remaining 4 tbsp of butter to this and stir until melted. Season lightly with salt. Transfer to a large bowl to cool slightly.

Meanwhile butter a 10-inch bundt pan lightly. Punch down the dough and divide into 2 pieces. Roll each piece into a 12-inch log and cut into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. 

Add the dough balls into the buttery onion  bowl so that they get coated with the onion mixture. 

Arrange the balls in the bundt pan. Repeat till all the pieces are over. Cover loosely with a plastic wrap and let it stand until risen about another hour.

You can make uptil this step and refrigerate the dough and bake it within 2 days letting it rise slowly in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 425°F or 218C. Bake the bread in the lower third of the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until golden. Cover the pan loosely with foil, reduce the oven temperature to 375°F/180C and bake for 20-30 minutes longer, or until risen. Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Set an inverted plate on top and turn the bread out onto it. Set another plate on top and invert the bread so it's right side up. Break into rolls or cut into slices. Else simply break out pieces... attack.. forget the manners.. !!

 I went for initial temperature of 210C and when it became golden at the top, after 16 minutes, covered with a foil and then continued baking at 150C for another 15 -20 minutes. Keep an eye after 15 minutes.

A Simple and delicious savoury bread. It could be overtly buttery if you are using total 8 tbsp of butter. You can make adjustments regarding this and go for less butter. I reduced it very much still the rolls turned out soft savoury and perfect.