Budget Better Recipes: Monkey Bread

Right now “BlogHer” is inviting women to share their cost-cutting grocery tips, and it inspired me to share one of my mother’s favorite recipes.

When times were tough, Mom could feed a family of six (plus assorted strangers and friends) on less than $50 a week. Whenever she saw one of my bottomless-pit friends pulling in the driveway, she’d whip up a pan of biscuits — or pull out a loaf of her special pull-apart “Monkey Bread.”

If you have a lot of left-over, about-to-turn milk on hand, this is a great way to use it up!

Monkey Bread

4 cups milk, scalded (heated till bubbles form at edges)
1/4 C sugar
4 tsp salt
2 Tbls shortening
2 packages yeast
1/4 C warm water
12 C flour
1 C butter or margerine

To scalded milk, add sugar, salt, and shortening. Cool to lukewarm. In separate bowl, soften yeast in warm water; add to milk mixture. Gradually add flour, using as much as needed to make a stiff dough.

Turn dough onto floured board, and kneed until smooth. Cut dough into 4 pieces and form each into 4 loaf (for small loaves) or 2 bundt pans (for larger loaves); brush lightly with melted butter. Rise until doubled.

When dough is risen, cut each loaf into egg-sized chunks. Dip each in butter, and drop it into a greased loaf or bundt pan (for a real breakfast treat, dip buttered bits into cinnamon sugar before putting them in the pan). 

Let rise a second time. Bake loaves at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, until golden.