Pull apart this savoury monkey bread and eat it just as it is, dunk it into soup, mop up stews with it or use it to scoop up your favourite dip. It’s made with wholemeal flour, yet is still soft and fluffy. And the classic Italian flavours of mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes and basil give it a delicious Mediterranean twist. It’s fun to bake and a joy to eat.

Partial view of pull apart savoury monkey bread with bowl of dip in its centre.

Monkey bread has been on my list of bakes to try for many years now. When it came up as one of the challenges in last week’s Great British Bake Off, it was time to act.

Dive Right In

What Is Monkey Bread Anyway?
Why You’ll Want To Make Savoury Monkey Bread
Wholemeal Monkey Bread With Mozzarella, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Basil
Ingredients, Additions And Substitutions
How To Make Savoury Monkey Bread
Other Savoury Bread Recipes You Might Like
Keep In Touch
Pin It
The Recipe

What Is Monkey Bread Anyway?

Monkey bread is a North American tear and share concept made up of lots of small dough balls. The idea is that everyone dives in and pulls bits off in a monkey like way. Having said that, there’s a school of thought that says the name came about because the finished bread resembles a monkey puzzle tree.

The classic bread is a sticky sweet one and flavoured with cinnamon. But these days, pretty much anything goes – sweet or savoury.

It’s likely the original bake (arany galuska) came to the States via jewish Hungarian immigrants in the nineteenth century. It’s meant to be baked in a bundt type mould, which is very much an Eastern European thing.

Why You’ll Want To Make Savoury Monkey Bread?

Apart from Great British Bake Off inspiration, there are many good reasons as to why you’ll want to make this monkey bread. Here are a few of them:

Comfort food – warm, cheesy bread that’s both rustic and indulgent.
Fun to share – pull-apart bread, also known as tear and share bread is interactive. This makes it perfect for family meals, gatherings or parties.
Hands-on baking – shaping the little dough pieces is satisfying and enjoyable, especially for kids or beginners.
Looks impressive – the haphazard shaped pull-apart loaf makes a fun centrepiece and you don’t need any advanced baking skills to make it.
Mediterranean flavours – mozzarella, basil and sun-dried tomatoes bring a familiar, crowd-pleasing Italian taste.
Versatile to serve – enjoy it on its own, with soups, alongside stews or as part of a snack platter with dips.
Wholesome but soft – made with wholemeal flour for extra goodness without compromising on fluffiness.

Wholemeal Monkey Bread With Mozzarella, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Basil

This savoury wholemeal monkey bread has the most fabulous texture. It’s light and fluffy, with a crisp crust when still warm. Just pull on a piece and it comes away with just the right amount of bread. It has a fabulous flavour too.

Using wholemeal flour to make monkey bread is not only possible, but it makes the bread even tastier. It also has the bonus of being much healthier.

Traditional monkey bread is made up of very small balls of bread dough. Mine are a bit bigger than the norm though. I made twenty, but if you prefer something smaller, you can make up to thirty with the amount I’ve given in my recipe.

Each dough ball is brushed with tomatoey olive oil prior to baking so it soaks into the bread. A quick brush with more of the oil when the monkey bread comes out of the oven gives it an attractive sheen and even more flavour.

A word of warning. It’s very easy to over eat.

The beauty of baking it in a bundt-type pan, is that you can present it the right way up or upside down. Go with whichever side pleases you most.

My savoury monkey bread is delicious eaten just as it is. However, it’s also good for dipping and makes a great accompaniment to soups and stews. We scooped up hummus with it on day one and dipped it into squash soup on day two. On day three we found it was great for mopping up these creamy butter beans and mushrooms. It didn’t make it to day four – oops!

By the way, the bread is just as good on day three as on day one. But it’s at its very best when still warm from the oven.

Ingredients, Additions and Substitutions

Other than the flavourings of sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, the bread dough is a fairly basic one. Using the oil from the sun-dried tomato jar is the only addition that might be unexpected. I’ve highlighted some of the ingredients worth mentioning below.

Flour

Strong wholemeal flour (wholegrain bread flour) is the one to use for this recipe. It makes for a robust bake which is still wonderfully light and fluffy.

I use organic stoneground flour, because that really is the healthiest type of flour you can get.

Mozzarella

Although you could use grated hard mozzarella, soft mozzarella balls are brilliant. They almost disintegrate into the bread dough so that you’d hardly know they were there. Yet you can taste them and I’m sure they contribute to the gorgeously soft texture of this bread.

Other Italian cheeses you could use instead of mozzarella include: Asiago, Gorgonzola, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Parmesan, Pecorino Romano and Provolone. However, none of these are actually vegetarian whereas mozzarella is.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes

If you can get hold of sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, you’ll get a better flavour, but it also means you can use the oil in this bread rather than plain olive oil.

My jar was a mix of sunflower oil and olive oil, but it still works brilliantly in this savoury monkey bread.

Yeast

I prefer not to use instant yeast if at all possible as it usually contains artificial additives. However, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to get hold of dried active yeast, so I do mostly use instant yeast these days.

Luckily, I was able to buy some fresh yeast for this savoury monkey bread and fresh yeast is the best yeast of all.

I’ve given quantities for all three, so go with your preference.

Additions

For a garlicky take on the recipe, add a finely grated clove of garlic to the finishing oil before brushing the dough balls with it.

How To Make Savoury Monkey Bread

My technique for a soft and fluffy wholemeal dough involves a pre-soak. Despite the time taken for soaking and rising, actual hands-on time required isn’t nearly as much as you might think.

Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for cooking temperatures and quantities of ingredients used.

Step 1. Activate Yeast

Warm the milk in a pan over a gentle heat until it’s lukewarm. Pour half of it into your mixing bowl, then add the sugar and yeast. Whisk until smooth, then cover the bowl with a plate or plastic bag and leave to ferment for ten to fifteen minutes. It should look frothy.

You don’t need to do this bit if using instant yeast. Just jump to the next step and add it there.

Step 2. Pre-Soak

Add half of the flour and the remaining milk to the bowl. Stir until well combined, then cover the bowl and leave for thirty minutes.

Step 3. Prepare Additions

Whilst the flour is soaking, prepare the additions. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes into small pieces. Likewise chop the mozzarella and then roughly chop the basil.

It’s best to do the basil last as it oxidises quite quickly and goes brown.

Step 4. Make Dough

Tip the remaining flour into the bowl along with the oil and salt. Then knead. You can do this by hand for ten minutes or use a stand mixer with a dough hook for six minutes. I use a stand mixer as it’s a lot easier.

Add the chopped cheese, tomatoes and basil and knead for a further minute or until the additions are thoroughly incorporated.

Cover the bowl again and leave the dough to rise until its more or less doubled in size.

Step 5. Make Dough Balls

Meanwhile lightly oil your tin or silicone mould. I use a bundt-style silicone mould as I thus don’t worry about anything sticking.

Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a clean work surface. A dough scraper is a great tool for this.

Divide the dough into two, then carefully roll each piece into a sausage shape. Use a light hand and try not to press too much air out of the dough.

Cut each sausage into ten to fifteen pieces, then fold and roll each one into a ball. Again, go as lightly as you can so as not to lose too much air.

Step 6. Prove

Brush each ball lightly with the tomato oil, then lay in the tin, leaving a small gap between each one. Layer them on top of each other as needed. I made three layers.

Unless your balls are completely smooth, go seam side up for the bottom layers and seam side down for the top layers. That way, you can display the bread whichever way up you prefer when you see what it looks like after baking.

Hang on to any remaining tomato oil as you’ll need it once the bread has baked.

Place the tin or mould inside a large plastic bag and leave the dough to rise until it’s nearly doubled in size.

Step 7. Bake

Put the tin on the middle shelf of your oven and turn it on to 220℃ (200℃ fan, 425℉, Gas 7). There’s no need to preheat the oven first.

Bake until well risen and the tops are lightly brown and firm to the touch. If it looks as though the tops are browning rather too much before the bread is baked, cover the tin loosely with some tinned foil.

Remove from the oven and lightly brush the top with tomato oil. Turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool and brush the bottom and sides with any remaining tomato oil.

Ideally, tear and share whilst the bread is still warm. Though it’s almost as delicious at room temperature.

Wrap the bread well and it will stay fresh for at least three days.

Other Savoury Bread Recipes You Might Like

Keep in Touch

Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this savoury monkey bread, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for making share and tear type breads?

Please rate the recipe too. And do tag me @choclette8 on Instagram with your images, I love to see your take on my recipes.

For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?

If you’d like different types of bread recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.

Choclette x

Savoury Monkey Bread. PIN IT.

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5 from 1 vote

Savoury Monkey Bread Made With Wholemeal Flour

Pull apart this savoury monkey bread and eat it just as it is, dunk it into soup, mop up stews with it or use it to scoop up your favourite dip. It's made with wholemeal flour, yet is still soft and fluffy. And the classic Italian flavours of mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes and basil give it a delicious Mediterranean twist. It's fun to bake and a joy to eat.

Prep Time30

Cook Time35

Resting Time2

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Italian

Keyword: basil, bread, mozzarella

Servings: people

Calories: 315kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

Dough

300 ml milk
1 tsp dark muscovado sugar
15 g fresh yeast or 3 tsp dried active yeast (7g instant yeast)
500 g strong wholemeal flour
2 tbsp olive oil from sun-dried tomato jar
1 tsp sea salt
50 g sun-dried tomatoes chopped
200 g mozzarella ball that’s just under 2 standard sized balls
15 g basil leaves

Finishing Oil

2 tbsp olive oil from sun-dried tomato jar
1 pinch fine sea salt
1 clove garlic minced, (optional)

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Unless using instant yeast, warm the milk in a pan over a gentle heat until it's lukewarm. Pour half of it into your mixing bowl, then add the sugar and yeast. Whisk until smooth, then cover the bowl with a plate or plastic bag and leave to ferment for fifteen minutes.
300 ml milk, 1 tsp dark muscovado sugar, 15 g fresh yeast
Once the milk is bubbly, add 250g of the flour and the remaining milk. Stir until well combined, then cover the bowl and leave for thirty minutes.
Add the remaining flour, oil and salt, then knead for six minutes if using a stand mixer or ten minutes if kneading by hand.
2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp sea salt
Add the cheese, tomatoes and basil and knead for a further minute or until the additions are thoroughly incorporated.
50 g sun-dried tomatoes, 200 g mozzarella ball, 15 g basil leaves
Cover the bowl again and leave the dough to rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
Meanwhile oil a bundt tin or 23 cm (8inch) round tin.
Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a work surface. Divide the dough into two, then carefully roll each piece into a sausage shape. Try not to press too much air out of the dough.
Cut each sausage into ten to fifteen pieces, then fold and roll each one into a ball. Again, try not to squeeze the balls so that they lose too much air.
Stir the salt into the oil. If you fancy a bit of garlic, grate it into the oil and mix well.
2 tbsp olive oil, 1 pinch fine sea salt, 1 clove garlic
Brush each ball lightly with the tomato oil, then lay on the tin, with a small gap between each one. There should be enough left over to glaze the loaf when it's out of the oven.
Place the tin inside a large plastic bag and leave the dough to rise until it's nearly doubled in size (about ½ an hour) .
Put the tin on the middle shelf of your oven and turn it on to 220℃ (200℃ fan, 425℉, Gas 7). Bake for 35 minutes. Check how it’s doing after 25 minutes and if it looks as though the tops are browning rather too much, cover loosely with some tinned foil.
Remove from the oven and lightly brush the top with tomato oil. Turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool and brush the bottom and sides with any remaining tomato oil.
Ideally, tear and share whilst the bread is still warm. Though it’s almost as delicious cold.

Notes