Fresh Cherry Monkey Bread #TwelveLoaves

Fresh Cherry Monkey Bread | Bakewell Junction

We’re at the end of June and I almost missed the #TwelveLoaves party.  I had another recipe failure last week otherwise I would have posted this last week.  It’s another addictive and sweet Monkey Bread.  Last week the bread was undercooked and didn’t hold the shape of the bundt pan after it was inverted onto a plate.  I revised how many cherries I used and a couple of other minimal changes.  So now I have a delicious recipe to share with you.

This recipe is gooey, addictive and delicious.  The cherries negate all the sugar and butter – right?  Each dough ball has cherry in it.  You can see the layer of cherries in the middle of the ring in the picture below.  I used the red cherries in the recipe and the white and blush colored cherries are Rainier cherries and they are so sweet.

I’ll be making this again for the 4th of July.  What will you make?

 Fresh Cherry Monkey Bread

Yield:  6 to 8 servings                Cook Time:  40 minutes

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup milk, warmed to 110 degrees
• 1/2 cup water, warmed to 110 degrees
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 3 1/4 cups flour, plus extra for work surface
• 2 teaspoons salt

Coating and Filling:

• 1 to 1 1/2 packed brown sugar (I used 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 8 to 12 tablespoons (1 to 1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons Kirschwasser or cherry liquor
• 40 large sweet fresh cherries plus more for snacking, pitted; 32 halved and 8 roughly chopped

Icing:

• 4 ounces mascarpone cheese, softened
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons Kirschwasser or cherry liquor
• 1 teaspoon or more milk

Directions:

Step 1:  For the dough:  Mix the milk, water, melted butter, sugar and yeast in a two cup measure.  I used a microwave safe glass measure and heated the milk and water at full power for 1 minute, 20 seconds to reach 110 degrees.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour and salt.  Using the dough hook attachment, start the mixer on low.  Add the milk mixture slowly.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed until the flour is incorporated.  Increase the mixer speed to medium (raised my KA to the 5 setting) and let it knead for another 6 to 7 minutes.  If the dough looks overly wet, add 2 tablespoons of flour at a time and continue mixing until the dough forms a mass.  Spray a large bowl with cooking spray.  Transfer the dough to the bowl and spray the dough also.  Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and use my tip below to aid the rise.  Let the dough rise until doubled.  If using my tip, it will double in 45 to 60 minutes.  For this version of Monkey Bread, I let it rise for 60 minutes using my tip.  If not, it may take 1 to 2 hours.

Step 2:  For the coating:  As the dough rises, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.  Place the melted butter and Kirschwasser in a small bowl.  If you would like to dial back the sweetness and gooeyness of the recipe, use the lesser amounts of sugar and butter.  Set aside.  Pit and halve 32 cherries.  Pit and roughly chop 8 cherries.  My 40 cherries weighted .75 of a pound.

Step 3:  For the shaping the dough balls:  Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour.  Transfer the dough onto the floured surface.  Spread and press the dough into about an 8 inch square.  Cut the dough into 8 by 8 slices with a bench scraper or knife.  This will give you 64 pieces.  Shape each dough ball around half a sweet cherry and shape into balls and place back on the counter.  Repeat with the remaining dough balls.

Step 4:  Spray the bundt pan with cooking spray.  If any of the dough balls have reopened, pinch them together to fully enclose the cherry and create a uniform ball shape.  Dip each dough ball into the melted butter mixture individually and let excess drip back into the bowl.  Then roll them in the brown sugar mixture until they are well coated.  Place the dough ball into the bundt pan.  Layer the dough balls so they are offset and the dough ball on top is placed on the seam of dough balls below.  Repeat preparing the dough balls until about half are in the pan.  Sprinkle the chopped cherries on top of the dough balls.  Continue preparing the dough balls and layering them on top of the chopped cherries until they are all in the pan.  If there’s any remaining melted butter mixture or brown sugar, set aside.

Step 5:  Cover the bundt pan with a clean dish cloth or plastic wrap.  Let rise until puffy and until they are about an inch or two from the top of the pan.  Mine rose to the top of the pan.  If using my oven tip below, let rise for 50 minutes.  If not, let rise for 1 to 2 hours.  If there’s any remaining melted butter, drizzle it over the top of the dough balls.  If there’s any remaining brown sugar, sprinkle it over the top of the dough balls too.

Step 6:  Bake unwrapped 40 to 45 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven with a cookie sheet underneath the pan.  I’ve found that at least one or two dough balls try to escape during baking and the cookie sheet prevents them from burning on the bottom of the oven and causing a ton of smoke.  This time I had many that escaped but the hubby loves these, so no harm done.  When done the top should be browned and the coating begins bubbling a bit.  Let bread cool in the pan for a maximum of 10 to 15 minutes.  Any longer and it may be difficult to depan.  Invert bread onto a large plate.

Step 7:  For the Icing:  While the dough cools to almost room temperature, add butter and mascarpone cheese to a large mixing bowl.  Beat 2 minutes.  I beat them on high using a hand-held mixer.  Beat in vanilla extract, Kirschwasser and cinnamon.  Mix in the powdered sugar at a lower speed (this prevents having powdered sugar everywhere).  Mix in the milk.  If you want a thinner icing, add more milk in teaspoon increments until you reach desired consistency.  Spread the icing on top of the bread – the icing will drizzle down the sides of the dough.  Serve warm or cold.

Enjoy!

Recipe inspired by Cooks Illustrated.

Tips:  If your house is chilly like mine always is and your dough doesn’t rise, you can boil a pot of water while preparing the dough and place the water and dough in a cold oven.  The boiling water will create a warm moist environment in the oven for the dough to rise well.  Leave the oven light on and it will add to the warming effect.  I use this tip even during the warm weather months.

This month, the #TwelveLoaves bakers are baking with CHERRIES!

Looking for a bread with cherries inspiration?  Check out these recipes by our very talented Twelve Loaves bakers:

• Buns with Cherries and Beetroot wrapped in Bacon from Luisa of Rise of the Sourdough Preacher
• Cherry-Almond Focaccia from Lora of Cake Duchess
• Cherry Almond Sweet Rolls from Renee of Magnolia Days
• Cherry Almond Twists from Dionne of Try Anything Once Culinary
• Cherry English Muffins from Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Cherry Chocolate Hazelnut Muffins from Alice of Hip Foodie Mom
• Cherry Cream Cheese Danish from Heather of girlichef
• Cherry Oatmeal Muffins from Kathya of Basic N Delicious
• Cherry Quick Bread from Holly of A Baker’s House
• Cherry Sweet Bread Twist from Stacy of Food Lust People Love
• Cherry Swirl Overnight Sweet Rolls from Donna of Cookistry
• Double Cherry Muffins from Liz of That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Dried Cherry and Mahlab Scones from Felice of All That’s Left Are the Crumbs
• Gluten Free Cherry Almond Muffins with Streusel Topping from Sherron of Simply Gourmet
• Sweet Cherry Rolls with Almond Cream Cheese Glaze from Renee of Kudos Kitchen by Reneé

#TwelveLoaves June:  Cherries.  The month of May was filled with lovely onion breads!  We have chosen cherries for our June theme.  Choose a recipe including cherries (fresh, dried, canned, jam, or preserves).  Whatever you bake, (yeasted, quick bread, crackers, muffins, braids, flatbreads, etc.) have fun and let’s have a delicious month of bread with cherries.  Let’s get baking!

#TwelveLoaves June:  Cherries

If you’d like to add your bread to the collection with the Linky Tool this month, here’s what you need to do!

• When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post.  This helps us to get more members as well as share everyone’s posts.  Please make sure your bread is inspired by the theme.
• Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog.  It must be bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.
• Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this June, 2014, and posted on your blog by June 30, 2014.

#TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess.

#TwelveLoaves runs smoothly with the help of our friends. Thanks to the wonderful Renee Dobbs and Liz Berg for their help this month!

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