Blueberry Monkey Bread

One year for Christmas my husband bought me a monkey bread bowl. I had no idea what monkey bread was, but I soon learned: It is similar to cinnamon rolls in flavor and texture, but instead of rolling up the dough into a cylinder and cutting it, you dip small balls of dough in butter and then roll each one in cinnamon sugar and pile them up in a monkey bread bowl (or bundt cake pan.) I adapted this bread in two ways here: I made a smaller batch (it's just my husband and I, so an entire bundt pan full of bread is delicious, but a little excessive), and I added blueberries because the ones I found at the market were so delicious I couldn't resist!

Blueberry Monkey Bread
by Jennifer 

Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, The Best Monkey Bread

6 Tablespoons melted butter, divided
2/3 cup milk, warmed to 110°F
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon rapid rise yeast
1 2/3 cups Bob's Red Mill Organic Unbleached White Flour

1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup light brown sugar, divided
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Mix together 1 Tablespoon melted butter, milk, sugar and yeast in a small bowl. Let sit for five minutes. In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine flour and salt. With mixer running on low, slowly add milk and yeast mixture. After dough comes together, increase speed to medium for about 6-7 minutes, until dough pulls away from the sides but not the bottom of the bowl. Scrape dough onto a floured board and knead by hand for a couple of minutes. Form into a ball and place in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise for one hour. (We have a microwave over our stove. I find that if I put the bowl of dough in the microwave and turn on the light over the stove, the microwave gets to the perfect temperature for letting dough rise and keeps it out of drafts.)

Place 1 Tablespoon melted butter in bottom of a 2 1/2 quart round CorningWare bowl (you could also use an 8-inch cake pan if you have one with 2-inch high sides). Stir two Tablespoons of brown sugar into butter, and sprinkle blueberries over butter/sugar mixture. Sprinkle berries with lemon juice.

Turn dough onto an unfloured counter or board and divide into one-inch balls (you should have about 16, and can make them smaller if you'd like.) Dip each ball of dough in remaining melted butter, then roll in remaining brown sugar. Place dough balls evenly over berry mixture. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise another hour.

While dough is rising, heat oven to 350°F. After dough balls have risen, place bowl or pan into oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Let rest 5 minutes, then carefully invert onto a cooling rack with a jelly roll pan underneath (if your berries are juicy, you may have a good amount of blueberry juice that will drip off - just collect it in the pan and pour back on top before serving!). Enjoy!