Pumpkin Monkey Bread

Ahh, my favorite time of year is when I get to break out the pumpkin!  I'm a chocolate girl but the closest rival to chocolate for me is pumpkin desserts.  I saw this recently at Sugar Crafter and the second I saw it I knew I had to have it, and fast!  This bread was such a huge hit in my house.  Not a single complaint from anyone.  We ate it all pretty quickly too.  The next morning there was none in sight.  This was pretty easy to do, and if you have kids they love making a million little dough balls and helping out.  I always enjoy a recipe that I can include them in.  Plus they were able to help dipping the dough balls into cinnamon and sugar and tossing them into the pan too.  Definitely a hit that we'll be having many times over.

Pumpkin Monkey Bread

Dough:

3 1/4 cups flour, plus extra for kneading

1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup warm milk
1/4 cup warm water
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Coating:

1 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 stick melted butter

Glaze:
2/3 c. powdered sugar
2 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tbsp. milk

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and spices.  In a separate bowl combine the yeast and warm water (make sure it isn't too warm so you don't kill your yeast).  Add 1 tsp. of sugar and allow to sit for a few minutes to active your yeast.  Add in the butter, milk,  pumpkin puree, and remaining sugar.  Add the wet ingredients into the flour and using a wooden spoon stir to combine.  You should have a very sticky dough.  Cover your work surface with flour and place sticky dough onto flour and knead until a smooth ball of dough.  Place in a large butter greased glass bowl (covered) and allow to rise until doubled in size, roughly 1 hour.    Now go ahead and get your coating prepared by melting the butter in one bowl and combining the cinnamon and sugar in another.  Pull off tablespoon size pieces of dough and roll them into a ball between your hands.  Dip them into the butter, then the sugar and place in a buttered bundt pan.  Start placing the balls all around in a circle, one on top of another.  You should end up with about 35-45 balls.  Like picture above.  Allow to rise covered for another hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 28-35 minutes or until golden and just done.  You can stick a knife in to see if it comes out clean.  Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before inverting onto a serving platter.  In a bowl that has a pouring spout combine the powdered sugar, syrup and milk and drizzle over the bread.  If glaze is too thin add more powdered sugar, too thick at more milk.