Cheddar Jalapeño Monkey Bread

"Cheddar Jalapeño Monkey Bread Recipe"Yeast has been calling screaming out to me for weeks now.  Between the rush of the holidays and the ruthlessness of the flu bug, I just haven’t had the time to rear a yeasted dough through its required stages.  Breads cannot be rushed.  Yesterday, as I rose to greet the early morning hours, I knew I had finally captured a window of time in which to nurture a risen bread to completion.  The weather has been more than chilly in these parts and the first order of business was to warm the house.  The fireplace was lit and the furnace clicked on.  Yeasted dough does not take kindly to a frigid environment.
"Cheddar Jalapeño Monkey Bread Recipe""Cheddar Jalapeño Monkey Bread Recipe"I have written before of the love I have for baking in the early hours of weekend mornings, when H and J are snoozing away in their nearby bedrooms and the solitude of the kitchen belongs to me alone.  No TV, no music, just the quietness of the day before it erupts into the necessary noise of productivity.  Yesterday was that kind of morning.  I knew it was the perfect time to put my hands into flour, water, and yeast and bring up a billowy mound of fermented goodness.
"Cheddar Jalapeño Monkey Bread Recipe""Cheddar Jalapeño Monkey Bread Recipe"I found this recipe among some clippings I have been hanging onto for years, and although I have a laundry list as long as my arm of recipes I am dying to make from all the wonderful cookbooks I was gifted with during the holidays, I am also committed to revisiting the stacks and files of torn pages I have collected for years.  This bread is actually a melding together of two such recipes – hence, I can now remove two bread recipe clippings from my “must try” folder.  However, this combined version of the two will definitely find a place in my permanent files and I will most certainly be making it again.
"Cheddar Jalapeño Monkey Bread Recipe""Cheddar Jalapeño Monkey Bread Recipe"Just a note on pan size.  I love using pieces from my collection of vintage bakeware.  I was determined to use the pan you see in the photos but it was actually too small for the amount of dough I had.  A few balls of dough spilled over the edge of the pan and onto the baking sheet.  No great loss since I was able to snatch them from the oven early and sink my teeth into cheesy goodness before the larger pan of bread was finished baking.  The dimension of the pan stated in the recipe below is the correct size.
"Cheddar Jalapeno Monkey Bread Recipe""Cheddar Jalapeño Monkey Bread Recipe""Cheddar Jalapeño Monkey Bread Recipe"

Source:  Adapted from Real Food-Spring 2011

 




10 thoughts on “Cheddar Jalapeño Monkey Bread

  1. Looks so good Mary! I love the combo of the cheese and jalapeños. I used to love to bake bread. Something so satisfying about it, waiting for it to rise. But since we are on a wheat-free trial right now, not doing any baking. Anyway, sure looks delish!

  2. OMG mary I want this right now! Although I can’t do spicy. Would it be good without the peppers or with mild peppers like those canned chilies we use in quiches ?

    • The mild canned peppers would work just fine. Drain them very well. I think if you use fresh jalapeños but without any ribs or seeds it would give you better flavor and very little heat. Even the amount of ribs and seeds I used did not make for a “hot” bread.

  3. Wow, what a beautiful recipe! I love that it’s a “savory” monkey bread. Very different than the cinnamon and brown sugar version that I’m used to.

    I also LOVE that spreader and the message that’s on it. Will plan to bring this to the next dinner party. 🙂

    [K]

  4. Indescribably delicious! This is butter (yum) and bread (yum) and heat from Jalapenos (phew!) and this combination is absolutely perfect.

    Plus there’s the great fun of pulling apart bite size pieces….

    Make a butter lettuce salad and this bread and that have fun!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *