Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread #BundtBakers

This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

We are super fans of garlic bread in our house so when our host for this Bundt Bakers event proposed the key ingredients “herbs” I decided to make a garlicky herby bread instead of a cake or quick bread. It was a good decision!

Once it came out of the oven, all golden, fragrant and delicious, I said to my husband, “You know what would be nice? Pizza sauce to dip the monkey bread in!” He heartily agreed. Fortunately, I almost always have homemade pizza sauce in the freezer. I warmed it up and we enjoyed this pretty little loaf as supper with a salad. I suggest you do the same!

Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread

We want lots of springy fluffiness for this soft monkey bread so while the sourdough starter is there for flavor, I use active dry yeast as well to make sure these puff right up. For the herbs, I used a mix of fresh oregano, rosemary and Italian parsley. Use your favorite fresh herbs!

Ingredients

For the bread dough:

3/4 cup or 155ml milk

3 tablespoons or 42g butter, plus extra for greasing the Bundt pan

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 cup or 57g sourdough fed starter 

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 1/2 cups or 312g flour, plus extra for kneading

Several sprigs assorted herbs, stems discarded, leaves chopped

For baking: 

1/4 cup or 57g butter 

1 clove garlic, smashed and minced

(1/2 the herbs from above)

Optional for serving:

1/8 cup or 28g butter, melted, for brushing on finished bread

Method

Put the milk in a large microwaveable vessel and add in the butter. Microwave until the butter is mostly melted. Let it cool for a few minutes.

Put the yeast and sugar in your mixing bowl and pour in the warm milk/butter mixture and set aside for about 10 minutes. You are hoping that the yeast activates and gets all bubbly. If it doesn’t, you need to buy some new yeast and start over.

Now add the sourdough starter, the egg yolk and the salt along with about half of the flour to your mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until all of the flour is incorporated.  

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to mix in any flour left there. It’s a very runny batter at this point.

Continue mixing and add the remaining flour by spoonsful until all is incorporated. Now it should be wet and soft sticky dough but that’s what is needed for soft and tender rolls.

Now add half of the herb mix and knead for 3-4 minutes, changing to the dough hook, if necessary, to help develop the gluten.

Cover the bowl with cling film and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles in size. If it's cold in your kitchen, you can partially fill the sink with hot tap water and put the bowl in it for warmth.

Meanwhile, grease your 6-cup Bundt pan liberally with butter.

Add the other half of the chopped herbs and the minced garlic to a microwave safe bowl with the butter. Microwave on high until the butter is melted, stirring once or twice. This takes just a minute or so. 

Once the first rise is done, punch the dough (620g) 17 balls about 26g each down and knead it briefly on a floured surface. Cut the dough ball into small pieces about the size of golf balls. Roll the dough pieces into balls, pinching them from underneath to stretch the tops so they are nice and round. 

Roll them in the herby butter then put the balls, side by side, then on top in another layer, pinched side down, filling your prepared Bundt pan as you go. 

Spoon any leftover herb garlic butter over the dough balls. 

Put the whole baking pan in a clean, new garbage bag, capturing some air before you clip it shut, so that the bag doesn’t touch the top of the dough. Allow the monkey bread to rise in a warm place for about an hour.

About 15 minutes (or however long your oven takes) before the second rise is completed, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Bake the monkey bread in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until it is golden brown all over. I like to put the Bundt pan on another larger pan to make it easy to 

Allow to cool for a few minutes then invert the pan and decant the monkey bread. Brush with more butter, if desired. (Do it!)

Serve warm, if possible.

Enjoy! 

It’s the third Thursday of the month so that means it’s time to bake something in a Bundt pan! Our original host for this event is Lara of Tartacadabra. We send her our best wishes for good healthy and well-being and thank Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for stepping in to take over the hosting duties! Check out all the Bundt bakes with herbs below!

• Blueberry Citrus Thyme Bundt Cake from All That’s Left Are The Crumbs 
• Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread from Food Lust People Love
• French Kissed Mini Bundts from A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Bundt from Magical Ingredients 
• Lime and Thyme Mini Bundts from Passion Kneaded
• No Knead Pizza Bundt Bread from Sneha’s Recipe  
• Sweet Peppermint Bundt Cake from Patyco Candybar

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

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