Pumpkin Monkey Bread with Chocolate

Pumpkin Monkey Bread with Chocolate Dough

By Irvin Lin

Monkey bread, sometimes called sticky bread, monkey puzzle bread, bubbleloaf or pinch-me cake is made of chunks of sweet yeasted dough rolled in brown sugar and pumpkin spice. It’s easy to make and fun to eat. If you don’t have pumpkin spice, use 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, allspice and cloves and mace in it’s place. This version of pumpkin monkey bread is a alternating mix of chocolate and pumpkin dough, which is easy to make by first making a sticky pumpkin dough and then splitting it in half, kneading a little extra flour to one half and a little cocoa powder to the other half. So easy, even a monkey can make it!

Ingredients
Dough
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup (50 g) white granulated sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 1/4 teaspoon (7 g or 1 package) active yeast
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups (455 g) all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup (35 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

Coating
1/2 cup (115 g or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (220 g) dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin spice (see headnote above)

Directions
1. Place the milk in a small pot and heat it up over medium high heat for about 5-10 seconds or until it’s warm to the touch but not hot. Remove from heat and add the sugar and melted butter, whisking together. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and beat with a fork to dissolve. Let sit for 5 minutes until foam starts to appear on the top of the milk.

2. Place the milk in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the pumpkin puree and the vanilla to the milk along with 3 cups of the flour (reserving the 1/4 cup or 35 g for later) to the bowl. Stir on slow speed until a sticky dough forms. Add the kosher salt and stir again on slow speed until incorporated. Divide the dough in half and reserve one part of it in a medium clean bowl. Leave the second part in the mixer bowl and replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook attachment. Add the reserve 1/4 cup (35 g) flour to the dough and knead the dough for 2 minutes on medium speed.

3. Swap the doughs, moving the stickier dough back to the mixing bowl and the already kneaded dough to the reserve bowl. Add the 1/4 cup (35 g) cocoa to the bowl and knead for 2 minutes on medium speed. Remove the chocolate dough, and give the bowl a light coating of cooking spray, then place the chocolate dough back in the greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and repeat the process with the pumpkin dough in the reserve bowl, greasing and covering with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the dough has doubled.

4. While the dough is rising, prep the bundt pan by brushing it with some of the melted butter from the coating. Make sure to brush the entire inside of the pan. Place the brown sugar, salt and pumpkin spice in a medium bowl and toss with a fork until combined. Once the dough has risen, Cut each dough into about 30 small bite size pieces, 60 pieces in all. Roll one piece of pumpkin dough in the butter and then in the sugar mixture and place in the greased bundt pan. Repeat with a piece of the chocolate dough, alternating chocolate and pumpkin dough in the bundt pan until all the dough is used up. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour or until the dough has risen to the top of the bundt pan and is poking against the plastic wrap.

5. Once the dough looks like it’s almost there, preheat the oven to 350˚F. Once the dough has completely risen, place in the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the top of the monkey bread looks golden brown. Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes then invert onto a serving plate and remove the pan immediately. Don’t let the bread cool in the pan too much or it’ll stick. Pick apart and eat the chunks as soon as it’s cool enough to eat!

Makes 8-12 servings. Or two adults with no willpower.