Grandma Coco’s Monkey Bread: World Famous
Grandma Coco’s Monkey Bread is so soft and buttery. It is baked in a bundt pan and the sections just pull apart. It’s a simple bread recipe and a real crowd-pleaser. Grandma Coco always serves her monkey bread on holidays and special occasions. This recipe is a must-try!
TO MAKE GRANDMA COCO’S MONKEY BREAD YOU WILL NEED:
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. dry yeast
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 4 Tbsp. oil
- 7 cups flour
- 12 Tbsp. of butter (for the pan)
This recipe makes TWO bundt pan loaves. You can easily halve the recipe if you would like to just make one, but if you make one you’ll probably wish you had two!
LET’S GET BAKING:
Pour the two cups of warm water into a bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer then sprinkle with the yeast.
Next, add the sugar and salt and let it rest while the yeast develops for 10 min.
Now crack two eggs into a bowl. I assumed you needed a picture of this. 😉
Add the 4 Tbsp. of oil to the eggs and beat them together.
Next, pour the egg and oil mixture into the mixing bowl with the yeast mixture.
Mix until just combined.
DRY INGREDIENTS:
Add the first three cups of flour to the mixer.
Mix until the flour is incorporated.
Now add three and a half more cups of the flour and mix until incorporated. I leave the last half cup of flour for when I roll the dough out later.
TIME TO RISE:
Cover the dough and let rise in a warm place until about double in size. The time it takes the dough to double will vary depending on how warm your house is, altitude, etc. Generally, it will only take about 30 minutes. Once the dough has doubled, dump it out onto a clean floured surface.
Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’
Start by splitting the dough into two equal portions to go into the two pans. Roll the dough out to about ¼ inch thickness. Using a round cookie cutter, or the rim of a glass, cut the dough into circles. Take the scraps and roll them out again, and continue cutting circles until you’ve used all the dough.
Now it’s time for the BUTTER!!! Add 6 Tbsp. of salted butter to each pan. You can melt it and then add it to your pans….
….or add the solid butter to your pans and stick them in the oven while it preheats for a minute and allow the butter to melt that way. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t burn. Remove the pans from the oven as soon as the butter has melted.
STACKING:
Now for the fun part! Take those beautiful little circles of dough, and dip both sides in the warm butter, and stack them like so. Keep going until you use all the dough and both pans are filled.
SECOND RISE:
Now let the dough rise again. The beautiful thing about the warm butter is that it helps these little guys puff up pretty quickly. It is ready for the oven when it looks about like this.
TIME TO BAKE:
Now bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes until the top is golden brown and the center is no longer doughy.
It should smell incredible in your house right about now!
Does it get better than hot, golden, buttery bread???
REAPING THE REWARD:
Allow the monkey bread to cool for a few minutes, then go ahead and turn it over onto a plate to serve. If the pan is still hot, make sure to use hot pads and be careful when turning it over. It is so golden and delicious!
Pull off a piece or two and devour.
BUTTER
And you can always add a smidge more butter if you want. It is great just as it is though. It’s also great topped with jam or honey or used to wipe up gravy from your plate.
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. dry yeast
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 4 Tbsp. oil
- 7 cups flour
- 12 Tbsp. salted butter
- Pour 2 cups of warm water into a mixing bowl or mixer
- Sprinkle yeast on water
- Add sugar and salt and let sit for 10 minutes
- In a separate bowl, beat eggs and oil together
- Add oil/egg mixture to yeast mixture and mix
- Next, add the first 3 cups of flour and mix
- Add 3.5 cups of flour and mix
- Cover and let rise until double
- Dump onto a clean, floured surface using the remaining ½ cup of flour
- Separate the dough into two equal sections
- Knead and roll the dough out one section at a time
- Cut dough with a circle cookie cutter
- Add 6 Tbsp. melted butter in each of the two bundt pans
- Dip each dough circle on both sides in butter and stack around in a circle until you've used all the dough
- Do the same for the rest of the dough in the other pan
- Let rise until double
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
- Bake at 400 for 20 minutes
- Serve warm or cooled
I really hope y’all will give this recipe a try. Maybe it’s because it’s my Mama’s recipe and it tastes like home, or that it is warm, butter-loaded carbs, but I LOVE Grandma Coco’s Monkey Bread!
Thank you, thank you for this recipe!! The ranch cook at my sister-in-law’s ranch used to make this exact monkey bread and I have been searching for the recipe for years!!! This is an almost perfect recipe!!!
I’m so glad it was what you were looking for! It always reminds me of home. 🙂
Mandy
So glad i found your recipe. How long should the dough be kneaded.
Hi Veta! You just need to mix it until it is all incorporated. No need to really knead it. (PUN intended) 🙂 The dough should be soft and not too sticky when you are rolling it out. Just add enough flour to make that happen. I hope you love this recipe as much as we do!
Mandy
Hi can I use bread machine yeast? Thank you!
Hi, Michelle! You can definitely use bread machine yeast, which is basically the same as Instant yeast. It doesn’t need to be activated so you can just add it with the dry ingredients. Also keep in mind that your dough will rise about twice as fast. It may also make the bread a little less flavorful because it won’t have as much time to develop due to the quick rise. That being said, I’m sure the Monkey Bread will still be wonderful!
Mandy
Hi, i wanted to know if i could make an eggless version of the same.
Made one with the egg if turned it beautiful.
But most of us are vegetarians so wanted to know if eggless would be the same.
I love this picture recipe.I am looking forward to trying this recipe. Great work.
Thank you so much for this recipe. The bread came out exactly as your pictures show and you describe. Its soft, buttery and so delicious. I will be keeping this recipe to make again and again…😄
Marcia,
Yay! I am so glad to hear that it turned out so well! Thanks for coming back to comment and let me know. 🙂
Mandy
My family loves this recipe. I make a lot of bread and this is one of their favorites.
Yay! One of our favorites too. Glad they like it. Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂 -Mandy
Do you use self-rising flour?
Hi, Rita! We just use all purpose flour. Hope that helps. 🙂 -Mandy
What size round cutter are you using?
About a 3 inch works great!
Hi..
Reading the recipie makes me want to try it out. Looks and sounds delicious. Any tip on how to manage this without an oven?
I have tried making bread in a normal pan on the stove.
I have never tried anything like that! Wish I could be more help.
-Mandy
Could I make this through layering in pan – cover and transport to my daughters and cook there? From house to house and in oven would be about 4 hours or better to make day ahead and reheat? Thanks
I think this would work if you chill the dough first so it doesn’t rise too much as you travel. We have made it the night and refrigerated then baked. It will continue to rise when cool, but not as quickly. Bring to room temp before baking. I would suggest chilling in the fridge first and transport in a cooler to keep chilled. Let me know how it goes!
Can you cut down the sugar without it having an affect on the baking of this bread?
You could probably cut the sugar down to 1/4 cup. It will be a little less sweet and may not brown as well. Let me know if you try it and it works for you. 🙂
Mandy
The bead is easy to make tastes good 3rd time making it
How could I make this the night before but bake right before the meal.
Hi Kim! You can stick them in the fridge before the second rise and they will continue to rise slowly overnight. We have done this often with success. Cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate. When you are ready to cook them, remove them from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature. Bake as directed. I hope this helps!
Mandy
Had a rough good with the recipes, not sure what I did wrong! I feel like maybe I did too much flour, but I was sure to fluff, spoon, and level the flour so not too sure. I wasn’t really able to get any of the last 1/2 cup of flour in and rolling it was difficult because the dough was so tight. I wonder if I overworked the dough?
I jokingly called them “satan bread” while rolling if out and making circles. They’re tasty little satan breads though, I’ll give them that. Definitely a labour of love, I would try again but maybe with less flour!
I can’t edit my original comment, so my apologies! I googled a bit and I definitely overworked the dough, so that’s 100% on me! Any recommendations on how long to run the stand mixer during steps 6 and 7?
I only mix until it comes together. Hope that helps!
Can you freeze the monkey bread for later use?
I would freeze it before the final rise, then let it thaw and rise before baking. I hope that helps!
Did you use salted or unsalted butter?
I use salted butter. Hope that helps!
I love this recipe! I made pizza dough, pita chips, cinnamon pretzel bites and a few other yummy things. It is so easy and delicious. Oh yes I also made the bread in the bundt pan.
Wow! Those all sound delicious! I’m so glad you love the recipe. ❤
It was good but, I don’t think it turned out like it was supposed to. At first my yeast wasn’t activating ( it was out dated) then my dough kept sticking to the parchment paper. I made it too early so I put it in the fridge before the second rise. I put it on the counter a half hour before I wanted to bake it but, the butter wasn’t even getting soft. I put it in the sink in some hot water. I will definitely try this again. Thanks for sharing.
Do you think that I could make these and put in refrigerator over night then bake in the morning? Also I don’t have a bundt pan so would probably bake it in a 9 x 13 pan.
Yes! You can cover them and let them do the last rise in the fridge overnight. Just make sure to remove them from the fridge for at least half an hour before baking. Let them come to room temp if possible. I have never made them in a 9×13 but it should work fine. Let me know how they turn out!
Could I dip the rounds into cinnamon and sugar after I dip them in the butter?
Don’t see why not! We’ve done a savory version with different cheeses and herbs. Let me know how it turns out!
Delicious! So fluffy and buttery! Thanks for sharing, everyone loves it!😋
So glad you loved it!
I’ve been looking for a recipe that fitted like my mom’s and hallelujah I found yours. Exactly like my mom’s. Thank you so much for sharing ❤️
I’m so glad you found it! Thanks for your comment.
-Mandy
I love this recipe I have added cinnamon and brown sugar to between the rounds and it was so amazing and next time I’m going to make apple pie filling and place it between the rounds to make an apple monkey bread treat.
That sounds delicious! Let us know how the apple pie filling works out. YUM!
How long does the bread usually take to rise?
It depends on several factors such as the temperature in your home and what elevation you live at, but the first rise is generally about an hour. It can rise more quickly if you’re at a higher elevation or if your home is extra warm. The second rise is quicker because the warm melted butter gives it a jump-start. I hope that helps and you love the monkey bread!
Wow! First time making monkey bread and it was SOOOOO GOOD! Softest bread ever! Nice and buttery with ADDED butter when eating it. Thanks, so much, for sharing!
BUTTER!!! I’m so glad Grandma Coco’s Monkey Bread was a hit at your house! No shame in adding extra butter! 🙂 -Mandy
Can’t stop eating this!
I love this bread .it’s a good thing it makes 2 pans my husband and I fight over it. I took it to a holiday dinner now they ask for it.
I’m so glad you love it! It is a hit at our house too. 🙂
I have been home recovering from surgery and decided to go in a mission to find the best bread. I want to replace store bought with all the chemicals.This recipe is so easy! I love it so much! I think this is the winner! I made it in our large loaf pan and it came out beautifully! It rose so much! The flavor is Devine. 🙌🏻 Definitely chef’s 💋
Thanks so much for your sweet comment! I’m so glad you loved the recipe. Wishing you a speedy recovery!
-Mandy
I LOVE this recipe!!! The bread just melts in your mouth!!! So incredibly soft and fluffy. Makes scrumptious cinnamon rolls too!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!! ❤️🍞❤️🍮❤️🍞❤️