Chocolate Monkey Bread isn't really traditional in the UK but it should be! Made in tray bake form for more even cooking, this sweet chocolate bread is really easy and fun to make.
Add 90ml of fairly warm (not hot) Water to a small bowl and add 14g Fast-Acting Dried Yeast and 50g Caster Sugar. Whisk to combine a little (it won’t combine properly) and set aside.
Measure 500g Strong White Flour and 1 tbsp Sea Salt Flakesinto a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.
Add 40g Salted Butter, 2 Eggs, the by now frothy yeast and water mix and 140ml Milk to the flour. Stir until a dough is formed.
Knead the dough until is it smooth and super stretchy. A good 10 minutes if kneading by hand, if not a bit longer. About 5 to 7 minutes if using an electric mixer.
Leave the dough in a large covered bowl somewhere warm for about 1 hour to rise.
The dough should roughly double in size. (How good and smooth does that dough look!)
Make the Filling
While the dough is rising, make the filling by finely chopping 200g Finely Chopped Dark Chocolate and thoroughly mixing with 250g Cream Cheeseand 50g Icing Sugar.
Put the filling mixture into the fridge to chill back down and firm up a little while the dough continues to prove.
Make the Coating
Prep the coating by combining 40g Cocoa Powder and 80g Granulated Sugar in a shallow bowl. Set aside.
Assemble & Bake
Once the dough has doubled, take off the covering and give the dough a good punch. You don’t actually need to be aggressive but these opportunities are rare so go for it.
Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and give it a quick light knead. No need for electric power here.
Split the dough into thirds and roll each third into a long sausage. Aim for about the thickness of a 2p piece. Cut each sausage into about 15 pieces. The exact number is not cause for concern.
Roll each piece of dough into a very rough ball and place out on a floured work surface (you could do this in two batches if needed).
Press each ball down a little and make a small indent in the middle of each to receive the filling.
Take the cream cheese and chocolate mixture and put about half a teaspoon into the indent in each dough ball. (I did this en-masse rather than one at a time as I wanted to make sure that my cream cheese mix was evenly(ish) distributed though all the dough balls.)
Pick up each piece of dough and wrap the dough around the cream cheese mix so that it is fully(ish) enclosed.
Roll each of the dough balls in the cocoa/sugar mixture and place into a large roasting tray, or two smaller ones, or one smaller one but double layers. Or a bundt tin - whatever you fancy.
Gently cover the tray and leave for about 40-45 minutes in a warm place to rise again.
Meanwhile, add a little boiling water to the remaining cocoa/sugar mix until the sugar has mostly melted and it is the consistency of thick hot chocolate. Set aside.
10 minutes before the end of proving, pre-heat the over to 200c or the equivalent.
Remove the cover from the tin and drizzle the cocoa and sugar syrup over the balls then put them into the hot oven.
Check after 10-12 minutes and removed from the oven when all puffed up and cooked through (check a middle one).