Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

When I was little a lady from my home town would make this bread that we called "Monkey Bread". It was so named because it looked like Monkey Brains. Really it was just Cinnamon Sugar bread that was rolled into dough balls and smashed together in a bundt pan and looked funny to us kids. So when i found this recipe for Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart bread (Thank you Annie's Eats) it brought back lots of good memories... without making me think i was eating Monkey Brains when it came out of the oven.

Ingredients:
For the dough:
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2¼ tsp. instant yeast
- ½ tsp. salt
- 4 tbls. unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs

For the filling:
- 4 tbls unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

To make the dough, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Combine the butter and milk in a small saucepan and heat just until the butter is melted.  Set aside and let cool briefly, until about 115-125˚ F.  Add the milk mixture, water, vanilla and eggs to the mixer bowl.  Mix on low speed until a cohesive dough forms.  Continue to knead until smooth and elastic, adding additional flour as needed 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and is tacky but not sticky.  Knead about 3-5 minutes.  Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat, and cover.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.


While the dough rises, add the butter to a small saucepan and melt until browned.  Set aside.  Combine the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and mix well.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate. Roll into a ball, cover with a clean towel and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough out into an approximately 12 x 20-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with the browned butter.  Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the dough in an even layer.  (Yes, really, use all of it.) Slice the dough vertically into 6 even strips. Stack the strips on top of each other and again cut again into 6 equal slices. Lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Stack all the squares on top of each other and set into the prepared loaf pan.  Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place, 30-45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Transfer the loaf to the oven and bake 35-40  minutes, until the top is golden brown.  (If the top seems to be browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil at the end of baking.)  Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan 20-30 minutes.  Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen and carefully turn the loaf out, transferring to a serving plate.  Serve warm.