One Hour Homemade Monkey Bread – With this recipe, you can have homemade Monkey bread made from scratch in no time! Oozing with it’s warm, sweet sauce, it’s simply irresistible.
The secret to the recipe is using a microwave to rise the dough.
Imagine, homemade monkey bread just one hour! I don’t mean with packaged, or store-bought dough – I mean homemade. I know this is dangerous because you’ll want to make it all the time, but with my quick rise dough method, you can indeed have homemade monkey bread in less than an hour!
I made this for a friend’s birthday. Her favorite thing in the world is sticky buns so I thought this would make the perfect birthday cake for her. I made it and she picked it up to serve to her family after her birthday dinner.
Meanwhile, in my house when my six-year-old son finished his dinner he promptly asked for a piece of sticky bun cake for dessert. Crap! Cinnamon buns and sticky buns are also my son’s very favorite things in the world. What was I thinking? Why didn’t I make two? When I explained that I made it for my friend’s birthday and not in honor of her birthday and that I already gave it to her, he broke out in tears, went to his room and hid under the covers in heartbreak! Luckily, I was able to make another batch in less than an hour and made my son one happy boy!
You may have seen my recipe for Quick Rise Cinnamon Rolls where I use a microwave to rise the dough. If so, you already know how I do it. If you haven’t. here’s how.
NOTE: Before attempting this method, please see the baker’s tip at the bottom of this post for a microwave test. I wouldn’t want you to ruin dough you spent a lot of time on in a microwave that won’t rise dough.
I made the dough as I always do, but instead of leaving the dough to rise in a warm place, I put it in a bowl, covered it in plastic wrap, and set it aside while I put a mug full of hot water in the microwave on high for 3 minutes (just to add some moisture to the oven).
This is what the dough looked like before I started.
Then I put the microwave on the lowest possible setting (10% power) and put the bowl with the dough in it in for 3 minutes (this is a good time to start the sauce for the monkey bread). After the 3 minutes, I left the dough to rest without touching it in the microwave for another 3 minutes. This is what it looked like after that…
I was pretty impressed.
I then repeated the process, but this time I left the dough to rest for 5 minutes. and this is what it looked like after that…
Pretty amazing right?
Next, punch down the dough. I know after all the trouble of getting the dough to rise, this may seem absurd, but go ahead and punch it down.
Pour a little of the sauce into the bottom of a bundt pan.
Form dough into approximately 1 inch balls and layer to cover the bottom of the pan using ½ of the dough mixture.
Pour over ½ of the remaining sauce. Continue to layer 1 inch balls of dough until it is gone. Pour remaining sauce over the mixture.
Place on a baking sheet to catch any overflow of topping and bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and wait 5 minutes to turn out onto a large plate and serve.
Baker’s Tips:
- I highly recommend checking your microwave owner’s manual to see if proofing is recommended. If you don’t have your manual handy, just do the following test before trying it on the dough you spent a lot of time on: Place two tablespoons of cold, stick margarine in a glass cup in the center of the microwave (don’t use corn oil spread or shortening sticks). Cook uncovered on 10% power (low) for 4 minutes. If the margarine doesn’t completely melt, your microwave can proof yeast dough. If it does melt then your microwave is just too powerful and will kill the yeast and make your dough rock hard.
UPDATE NOTES: This recipe was originally published in April of 2015, but was republished with information on how to test your microwave before making the recipe.
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Let's Make One Hour Homemade Monkey Bread
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1¼ cups hot milk about 110F/ 43C
- 1 package active dry yeast 2-¼ teaspoons
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- ¼ cup butter melted
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the sauce:
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 cup butter melted
Instructions
- In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in a ¼ cup of the hot milk and set aside.
- In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg.
- Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle.
- Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes. Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
To rise:
- Place an 8-ounce cup of hot water into the microwave and heat on high for 3 minutes to moisten the oven.
- Remove the mug and place the bowl with the dough into the microwave and heat on its lowest setting (10% power) for 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce by melting the butter then add the cinnamon and sugar. Set aside.
- Then let the dough rest in the microwave for 3 minutes.
- Heat the dough (still on its lowest setting) for another 3 minutes.
- Then let the dough rest in the microwave for 5 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375F/180C
- When doubled in size, punch down dough.
- Stir the sauce to make sure it's fully combined. Pour a little of the sauce into the bottom of a bundt pan.
- Form dough into approximately 1-inch balls and layer to cover the bottom of the pan using ½ of the dough mixture.
- Pour over ½ of the remaining sauce. Continue to layer 1-inch balls of dough until it is gone. Pour remaining sauce over the mixture.
- Place on a baking sheet to catch any overflow of topping and bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and wait 5 minutes to turn out on a large plate and serve.
Madeline says
I did The exact measurements and times and when I got The dough out of the microwave it was already cooked! I am Very frustrated
Erren Hart says
Hi Madeline, did you do the test I suggested in the post to see if your microwave is suitable?
Elizabeth Calloway says
Just real quick ya’ll this may work for this recipe but don’t think you can do this with any bread dough. especially where texture matters. Because no matter how low you do it or how long you do it it messes with the gluten structure which is what makes bread bread and gives it its texture. It’s not something i would recommend ever but especially not for more complicated breads that usually need longer proving times.
Kristy says
This worked perfectly! I took a picture and it really looks as good as yours! Thank you! I love not having to wait hours for bread dough to rise. Super yummy! We added chopped pecans to the sauce and we thought is was wonderful! Thank you!!
Erren says
I’m so glad it was a success! Thanks so much for letting me know! 🙂
Elise Davies says
Wow, I didn’t believe that I could rise dough in the microwave. So, I did the “test” and it came out right. So, then I dove in and made the 1-hour monkey bread. And. It. Was. Fabulous. My brother was visiting for the weekend and I wanted to make something special for him before he left Sunday morning. This nailed it. He loved it. And now I have a new “go-to” recipe when I have company for brunch. I’ve been baking homemade breads, sourdoughs and pizza doughs for years, and I’m thinking of trying the microwave rise on my next bread.
Erren says
Hi Elise, wanna hear a crying shame. The microwave in my current kitchen (that’s built in) is too powerful so for the last 2 years, I haven’t been able to do rise my dough this way. 😞 I miss it. I’m glad to pass it on to my readers and you feel the same way about it as I do!
Dolly says
So i used butter, found that I had to up my power, not sure if that was because it was butter or my microwave. Other thing, you didnt say if i needed to remove the plastic wrap or not when putting it in the microwave. With the sauce I had a hard time getting the sugar to dissolve, would it be better to melt it all together? Also a tidbit for anyone having trouble getting any dough to rise, putting a damp cloth over the top of the bowl helps a lot!
Jeanne Rem says
to check if my microwave is okay can I use 2 tablespoons of cold butter rather than margarine?
Erren says
Hi Jeanne, I did a lot of research on the microwave test and all the information I found said to use margarine not butter, corn oil spreads or shortening sticks. I’m assuming this is because of the different melting points. My new microwave failed the test (my old one that I used to create the method died) so I can’t try butter to tell you the difference.
Michelle says
Do you know if anyone has attempted this recipe without the egg in the dough? My son has an egg allergy.
Shawna says
Could the dough be left to rise the old fashioned way and punched down? And prepped the day before for baking the next morning? And one package of yeast is approx 1/4 oz or 2 1/2 tsp? We don’t have a functioning microwave at the moment…thank you!
Erren says
Yes, it can definitely be done the old fashion way!
Lera says
Hi! If this recipe needs the second rise as buns? And if I do the second rise would it be flaffier, how’d you think? Thanks!
Erren says
You mean after you add it to the sauce? No, it will rise again in the oven.
Andrea Kirch says
When you read the list of ingredients it says 4 cups flour but when you read how to make it, it says 2 cups so which one is it?
Erren says
Hi Andrea, the instructions state ‘Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add the yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle.’ It’s 4 cups total.