Monkeying Around With Bread

One of the items on my New Year's must bake list is bread. I haven't baked a loaf or roll since high school -yikes - and would like to start up again./One recipe in yesterday's New York Times intrigued me. Monkey bread. It looks like a fun bake for when friends stop over.

Julia Moskin wrote about this popular loaf that is only about thirty or thirty-five years old. It was Nancy Reagan, former First lady of the nation and California that made this Golden State creation popular. Mrs. Reagan's recipe called for a dinner roll recipe in which two layers of  butter dipped dough balls were placed in a pan and baked. Beaten egg was brushed over the surface to give the top layer a burnished brown color.This version could be used for breakfast with the rolls slathered with butter or jam or a Sunday lunch or weeknight dinner where the rolls could be dipped in gravy. Thirty years later extra's have been added . One of the first combinations were sugar and cinnamon, taken from Hungarian coffee cake that many bakeries made at the time.American home bakers have gone crazy and creative with the recipe. There are savory versions that feature pepperoni in one recipe, while peanut butter figures prominently in another. There's even a gorilla bread that includes cream cheese and canned buttermilk biscuits/ Pastry chef Claudia Fleming of  The North Fork Table and Inn  on Long Island's North Fork gilds her with a maple bacon glaze.

Ms. Moskin  prefers a simple version, opting for the modern classic. Hers is one with  the sandy sweet filling of a cinnamon roll and the coating of pecans and caramel of a sticky bun. It also has the plump majesty of a Bundt cake, resembling an edible crown. It will also be a scratch bread. She advises not using those buns such as Pilsbury's.. It may be an easy and convenient way to make the bread however keep in mind that there will be  that salty flavor, a dough loaded with preservatives and a funny chemical aftertaste. Ms. Moskin uses fellow Food writer, Melissa Clark's, of  A Good
Appetite column bread recipe. It seems simple enough  It's a basic white bread dough. There's no need to go on a hunt for a starter. There are no long risings or unfamiliar flours. It can even be transformed into a pull apart garlic bread with melted garlic butter for the coating and Parmesan cheese and parsley for the filling.As with any bread recipe , it is a labor intensive one.that involves a lot of kneading and proofing. The caramel sauce Ms Moskin gives looks like a fun and tasty one, especially with the addition of a  lot of heavy cream and butter.

Monkey bread is definitely on my radar in the New Year. A sweet version would be great for breakfast or brunch. A savory version would be great alongside pasta or homemade soup. Either way it'll be an interesting bake,