Orange Scented Monkey Bread Recipes

Hi everyone, I hope all of you had a wonderful New Year celebration. Year 2010 was a pretty interesting year for me. Many things happened, some good and some not so good. But it was over and done with and I am looking forward to new 2011. Like all the past years I am not going to make any resolutions or goals. I know myself; I will make resolutions on January 1st and abandons it by January 8th so why bother. Instead, I am going to make list of things that I would like to do. Anyway, thank you all for visiting, support and also taking the time to comment. I really appreciate all your encouraging words.

Let start of the New Year with something gooey and sweet. I know, what a name for something so deliciously good, right. I tried to find the origin of the name ‘monkey bread’ and I can't really find the definitive background of it. I baked this for our breakfast and share some with our neighbor. We love this bread especially the taste of orange, cinnamon and brown sugar. The flavors are perfectly blended into the sweet and sticky buns. Best of all we get to pull the pieces apart when we eat it.

Ingredients:
Dough recipe adapted from: Smitten Kitchen

3 tbsp butter - melted
1 cup milk, warm (around 110 degrees F)
1/3 cup water, warm (also around 110 degrees F)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 package or 2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeas
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
1 teaspoons table salt
1/2 cup of raisins - optional

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp orange zest

Brown Sugar Syrup

1/2 cup dark brown sugar
4 tbsp orange juice
4 tbsp butter

1. Greased a Bundt pan generously with butter. In a large measuring cup, mix together milk, water, melted butter, sugar and yeast. Mix flour and salt in standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Turn machine to low and slowly add milk mixture. After dough comes together, increase speed to medium and mix until dough is shiny and smooth, 6 to 7 minutes.
2. Turn dough onto lightly floured counter and knead briefly to form smooth, round ball. Oil large bowl, place dough in bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area until dough doubles in size, 50 to 60 minutes.
3. While the dough is rising, get ready the coating mix. Mix brown sugar, orange zest and cinnamon together in a Ziploc bag. Set aside.
4. To form the bread: Gently remove the dough from the bowl, and pat into a rough 8-inch square. Using a bench scraper or knife, cut dough into 64 pieces. Drop half of the cut pieces of dough into the Ziploc bag. Toss it around until the dough is well coated with cinnamon mix.

5. Remove the dough and layer the dough into the Bundt pan. Scatter some of the raisins around it. Do the same to the rest of the dough. Cover the Bundt pan with a plastic wrap and let it rest at a warm place until double in size.
6. In the meantime get ready the brown sugar syrup. Combined all the ingredients in a small saucepan, slowly melt the butter and brown sugar and bring it up to a boil. Let it cool down slightly.
7. Heat up the oven to 350 degree F. Drizzle the brown sugar syrup into the Bundt pan and bake for 40-45 minutes until brown and bubbly around the edges. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, and then turn out onto a platter. Allows to cool about 10 minutes before devour into it.

Note: Because of our cold temperature I made the dough the night before and let it raise overnight. You can omit the raisins or replace with different type of nuts. If the bread get too dark before it is done, just cover it with some foil and continue to bake.

Apple Cranberry Tea Ring Recipes

Weather is so cold and snowing outside and the best way to warm up the house is doing some baking. But it is definitely not a good idea to make bread. Wrong move on my part and because of the cold making this loaf of bread took me over 6 hours from start to finished baking. It just refused to rise. I even stick it into the warm oven to help with the proofing. The end results, I would prefer it to rise a bit more and softer. Nevertheless, it tasted good. I think this tea ring will be great for Christmas breakfast or brunch.

Ingredients
Dough recipe adapted from Taste Of Home recipe book.

3/4 cup warm milk (70°F to 80°F)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons water (you might not need it)
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3-1/3 cups bread flour
2-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

FILLING:

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp of sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup of chopped fresh apple
1/2 cup dried cranberry
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Egg wash

1 egg -beaten

Glaze

1/2 cup confections’ sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Place all the dough ingredients except for the water into a mixer attached with the dough hook. Mix the dough until comes together. If it is too dry add in the extra water a tablespoon at a time.
2. Continue to knead until the dough is smooth. Place it in an oil bowl, cover it with a cling wrap and leave it in a warm place to rise double in size for about 1 to 2 hours (depend on the temperature of your environment)
3. For the filling, combined sugars, cut in the butter until crumbly. Stir in the dry cranberries, raisins and walnuts and set it aside.
4. When the dough is done, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll into a 20” x 10” rectangle, sprinkle with the sugar mixture and top it with the chopped apple within 1” of the edges.
5. Roll it up tightly like a jelly-roll, starting with a long side; seal ends. Place in a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan; bring both ends together, seal it to form a ring.
6. With scissors, cut from outside edge two-thirds of the way toward center of ring at 1-in. intervals. Separate strips slightly; twist to allow filling to show. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour. Brush it with egg wash.
7. Bake in a preheated at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and let it cool complete on a cooling rack. Mix the glaze and drizzle it all over the ring.

Note: To prevent overbrowning you can cover it with foil during the last 10 minutes of baking.

I am submitting this bread to Yeastspotting

Apricot and Apple Braid Recipes

This braid is very similar to my Blueberry Cream Cheese Loaf but this time I made the dough from scratch rather than using the store bought kind. I mix the dough and let it rise overnight and in the morning I just shape it up and we have freshly bake bread for our breakfast or brunch. It might takes some time to prepare this bread but the results are worth the extra effort.

Ingredients:

2 ¼ cups bread flour
¼ cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 packet (7 gram) dry yeast
1 egg
½ cup + 2 tbsp milk
¼ cup butter

Egg wash:

1 egg - beaten

Fillings:

3 apples – peel and sliced thinly
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp butter
¼ cup raisin
4 tbsp apricot jam

Glaze:

½ cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

1. In a mixing bowl combined flour, sugar, salt and yeast.
2. In a saucepan melt the butter, turn off the heat and then add in the milk. Let it cool down and beat in the egg.
3. Add the milk mixture into the flour and knead into smooth dough. Cover the dough and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight.
4. To prepare the filling. Melt the butter and sugar; add in the apple and lemon juice. Cook until the apple is soft and the juice nearly evaporated. Turn off the heat and add in the cinnamon and raisins. Mix well and set it aside to cool down.

5. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly flour work surface. Roll out the dough to about 18" x 12” rectangle. Spread the apricot jam down the middle and top it up with the apple filling.
6. On each long side, cut about 1” wide strip and about 2” into the center. Starting at one end, fold alternative strips at an angle across the filling. Pinch end to seal tight. Cover and let it rise for 30 minutes.
7. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F, brush the braid with egg wash and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and let it cool completely on wire rack.
8. Combined the glaze and drizzle all over the braid.

I am submitting this bread to Yeastspotting