Enjoy this vegan monkey bread, made with a simple homemade dough and coated with lots of cinnamon and sugar! Sweet pieces of yeast bread can be pulled one bite at a time and as a favorite morning treat!
Combine yeast, brown sugar, and water in a small bowl. Let sit for 3 minutes until frothy. Add ¼ cup olive oil and stir slightly.
In a large bowl stir together all-purpose flour and salt. Pour yeast mixture into the flour mixture and stir well. The dough should be slightly sticky.
Turn dough onto a clean, well-floured surface and knead in whole- wheat flour, about 5 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky.
Place dough in a large well-oiled bowl and cover with a cloth. Let dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan by pouring the remaining 1⁄4 cup oil in the bottom and using your fingers to run it up the sides and in pan crevices.
Place granulated sugar on a large plate. Punch down dough and tear it off in small pieces, shaping it into balls. Roll balls in sugar and then drop into Bundt pan. Repeat until there’s a layer of dough at bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with ½ tablespoon cinnamon. Repeat dough and cinnamon layers until ¾ of the pan is full.
Bake 30 minutes until golden on top. Once done, set aside to cool for about 10 minutes. Use oven mitts to invert the pan onto a large serving dish.
For the Glaze:
Combine powdered sugar with milk. Drizzle glaze over top of monkey bread.
Store entire loaf or broken-up sections in large sealed containers in refrigerator up to 7 days or freezer up to 2 months. If frozen, let sit on the counter for 10 minutes to defrost before serving. To serve, preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C and bake for 10 minutes on an ungreased baking sheet.
Notes
Quick Monkey Bread:Here are some tips for making your monkey bread faster:
Use this recipe, but raise the dough in a fraction of the time in the microwave. You can use your microwave's defrost setting to raise the dough quickly. To do this, heat a cup of water in the microwave until hot and steaming (to add moisture), then turn the power setting down to 10%, then heat the dough for 3 minutes. Let the dough rest in the microwave for 3 minutes and repeat this process one more time. Your dough should be fully risen at this point. Amazing!
Substitute 2 cans of vegan biscuits for the dough (see my tips of accidentally vegan products) or use a known vegan brand such as Annies.
Use frozen bread dough in place of the bread dough in this recipe. I've had good luck with frozen bread dough, although I don't think it's quite as good as homemade. Follow the instructions on the bread dough package to defrost it and then use it in this recipe.