Monkey bread

Monkey bread (also known by other names including pull-apart bread and bubble bread)[2] is a soft, sweet, sticky pastry served in the United States for breakfast or as a treat. It consists of pieces of soft baked dough sprinkled with cinnamon. It is often served at fairs and festivals.[3]

This article is about the breakfast pastry. For the fruit, see Adansonia.
Monkey bread
Alternative namesPull-apart bread, bubble bread, Christmas morning delights
TypeBread or pastry
CourseBreakfast
Place of originHungary
Serving temperaturebaked at 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit), then left 10 minutes to cool
Main ingredientsbread flour[1]
Food energy
(per serving)
352 kcal (1474 kJ)
Nutritional value
(per serving)
Protein4 g
Fat15 g
Carbohydrate51 g

Name
Monkey bread having been pulled apart with a fork

The origin of the term "monkey bread" comes from the pastry being a finger food; the consumer would pick apart the bread as a monkey would.[2]

Other names for the bread include Christmas morning delights,[2] monkey puzzle bread, monkey brains, sticky bread, Hungarian coffee cake, golden dumpling coffee cake, pinch-me cake, pluck-it cake, bubble loaf and funky bread.

Origins

What most people know as monkey bread today in the United States is actually the Hungarian dessert arany galuska ("golden dumpling"). Dating back to the 1880s in Hungarian literature, Hungarian immigrants brought this dish with them when they immigrated to America and began introducing it into the country's food landscape when Hungarian and Hungarian Jewish bakeries began selling it in the mid-twentieth century.[4]

In 1972, a cookbook published by Betty Crocker included a recipe for arany galuska, which they referred to as "Hungarian Coffee Cake". As it became more popular in America, arany galuska came to be confused with monkey bread in which the balls of dough are not dipped in cinnamon and sugar but only in butter. "Monkey bread" soon became the more common name for this Hungarian Jewish dessert.[5]

Recipes for the bread first appeared in American women's magazines and community cookbooks in the 1950s, but the dish is still virtually unknown outside the United States.

During the 1980s, Nancy Reagan popularized serving monkey bread during Christmas by making it a staple of the Reagan White House Christmas.[6] According to food historian Gil Marks, Nancy served her husband monkey bread the night before his Iran–Contra affair Congressional testimony, with former President Ronald Reagan purportedly remarking, “Mommy, I may go to prison, but I’ll always remember this monkey bread.”[7][8][9]

Preparation

The bread is made with pieces of sweet yeast dough (often frozen), which are baked in a cake pan at high heat after first being individually covered in melted butter, cinnamon, sugar, and chopped pecans.[10] It is traditionally served hot so that the baked segments can be easily torn away with the fingers and eaten by hand.[11]

See also

References
  1. "Monkey bread recipe". taste.com.au. 7 July 2015.
  2. Olver, Lynne. "The Food Timeline: history notes". The Food Timeline. Retrieved October 4, 2008.
  3. "House of the Rising Bun". Good Eats. Season 10. Episode EA1003. April 7, 2006. Food Network.
  4. Romanow, Katherine (2011-03-30). "Eating Jewish: Aranygaluska, or "Hungarian monkey bread"". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  5. Gil Marks (17 November 2010). Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. HMH. ISBN 978-0-544-18631-6.
  6. Atwood, Food for Thought Heather (2016-03-08). "Remembering Nancy Reagan and her monkey bread". Salem News. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  7. Marks, Gil (2013-12-29). "Monkey Bread - History and Recipe". Tori Avey. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  8. Atwood, Heather (2016-03-08). "Remembering Nancy Reagan and her monkey bread". Salem News. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  9. Kappel, Ashley (2014-04-03). "Throwback Thursdays: Monkey Bread". MyRecipes. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  10. Brown, Alton (2006). "Overnight Monkey Bread". "Good Eats" Recipes. Food Network. Archived from the original on September 20, 2007. Retrieved September 10, 2007.
  11. Boodro, Michael (2003). "Just Say Dough". "FOOD" Magazine. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
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