Making my own bread has been a great way to save money for my family.  One item that has made bread making easier for me is my bread machine.   My bread machine allows me to be doing other jobs while the machine does the work for me.  The machine I chose was about $50 and I more than paid for it with what I have saved in making bread for my family. I will admit that I do use the dough cycle on the machine, shape the dough and then cook in my regular oven rather than cooking the bread in the machine itself.  It still is a great time saver and helps me prepare great tasting bread for my family.

Recently I made monkey bread dough in my machine.  Monkey bread recipes started appearing in Women’s magazines in the 1950’s and has continued to be popular in the US.  It is not really known where the bread got its name but there are several ideas.  One is that it resembles the monkey puzzle tree.  Another is that the act of several people pulling at the bread is reminiscent of monkey behavior.   Monkey bread is also called sticky bread because the sugar and butter come together when heated to make the bread seem sticky.  This recipe for monkey bread is different because you do not use the brown sugar, so it will not seem as sticky.  It resembles buttery yeast rolls to me. This bread is so good that once you serve it the bread will not last long. Another great thing about this recipe is that I usually have everything on hand in my kitchen. Here is the recipe if you want to try making it at home for your family.

Bread Machine Monkey Bread

Ingredients

1 cup warm milk ($0.15)

1 ¼ teaspoon salt

1 large egg ($0.10)

¼ cup butter, softened ($0.40)

3 tablespoons sugar ($o.o3)

3 ½ cups flour (plus extra if needed) ($0.42)

2 ¼ teaspoons bread machine yeast ($0.25)

¼ cup butter ($0.40)

Directions

Place all the ingredients into the bread machine in the order listed for your machine.  Select dough cycle and start the machine.  At the end of the cycle, remove the dough to a floured surface.  Roll to about ¾ inch thick.  Using a pizza cutter cut into 1 inch diamonds or squares, don’t worry if the are not all perfect.  Melt ¼ cup butter and dip each piece in the melted butter. Layer the buttered pieces into a Bundt pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Cover and let rise until doubled.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Cover with foil the last 15 minutes of cooking time to prevent the top from burning.