Fall's lazy Sunday

I've been craving a lazy Sunday and dying to try a new recipe.

So, I pre-scheduled today to be just that in order to complete both.

I'm so happy I did!

Today's recipe came from (yup, you guessed it) Pinterest.  It is Pumpkin Pull Apart bread with salted maple glaze.  Oh my goodness! It was a little more time consuming than I anticipated ( I really have to learn to read through recipes before I begin them...) but still completely worth it!  Just to let you know, the original recipe I followed does not have directions for the salted maple glaze, that came from another recipe, so I'll include it in the recipe below, along with a few more minor tweaks I made while cooking.  Also, don't be deceived by the pumpkin as you can't really even taste it.  A bit counter-productive if you ask me, but it still tastes great!

Pumpkin Pull-Apart Monkey Bread with Maple Glaze

yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

for the dough
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup warm milk
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons melted butter, cooled
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 2/3-3 1/3 cups bread flour ( I used whole-wheat flour and it turned out fine)

for the coating
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

for the glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons milk
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In large stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, stir milk, water, yeast and sugar together ( I stirred mine with a spoon, to fully dissolve the sugar). Let it sit for 5-10 minutes to proof yeast. If mixture is foamy, then you can continue (I kinda skipped this stage....who has the time?). 

Stir in salt, egg, butter, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, and half the flour and mix. With mixer on, pour in remaining flour bit by bit until dough pulls away from the sides and is sticky but when touched doesn’t really stick to your hands. Once you reach this stage, turn mixer on for 4-5 minutes to knead. Lightly grease dough and bowl and cover to rise for 1 hour. Stick it somewhere warm and draft-free.

Lightly grease a bundt or angel food cake* pan with non stick cooking spray and set aside. Create a coating station by placing sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl and melting the butter in another bowl. Punch down dough and remove from bowl. Cut dough into small pieces about 1 tablespoon in size. Roll in butter, coat in cinnamon sugar and place into prepared pan. Repeat until no dough remains. If there is extra butter or sugar, pour over the top of the dough pieces in the pan. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let rise another hour in a warm spot in your kitchen.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake monkey bread for 25 minutes or until the top begins to brown slightly. Remove from oven and cool 20 minutes.

While monkey bread is cooling, prepare glaze by mixing powdered sugar, maple syrup, milk, salt and vanilla together in a small bowl until smooth.

Remove warm pull aparts onto serving dish and drizzle with glaze. Serve warm.

*I used an angel food cake pan that had a removable bottom and some of the butter and sugar mixture leaked out of the bottom and made a mess of my oven! If you are going to use a similar pan, make sure to place on a baking sheet, or wrap the bottom of the pan with foil.

We had our pull-apart bread along with some turkey bacon as part of our very unbalanced but truly delicious breakfast.

It is so worth the effort if you feel like you want to try this recipe!