Back in the day, when we still lived in Manhattan (and by back in the day, I mean 14 years ago . . . ), I went to City Bakery as often as possible. And whether it was breakfast time, the lunch hour, or even close to dinner, I always got the same thing: the baker’s muffin. Truth be told, we called it the “bubble muffin,” for its “bubbly top” and the fact that as you pulled it apart, small, individual, round(ish) pieces of dough (aka “bubbles”) came off in your hand. I now know that the bubble/baker’s muffin is really a monkey bread muffin (and honestly, I wish I’d been calling it “monkey” muffin, rather than “bubble” muffin for all these years – much cuter name), and I also now know how to make monkey bread, thanks to Claire Saffitz and Erin McDowell.
The dough here is all Erin (with a tiny tweak or two) and all brioche. The recipe is from her new book, The Fearless Baker, and it is fantastic: easy to make and spectacularly delicious. The monkey bread-making method is all Claire and all Bon Appetit. And the combo of Erin’s brioche and Claire’s technique is all that and then some.
Full disclosure: I have not made a ton of brioche in my day, save for some recipe testing for Matt and Nato years ago, so you can trust me when I say it is not hard to make: it just takes a while to incorporate ALL that butter. This particular monkey bread is not super sweet, as I do not call for making a caramel sauce and pouring it atop the bread post-bake, as many recipes do, including the Bon Appetit one, but if your jonesing for more sweet, which, incidentally, I will love you for, check out the caramel sauce recipe here.
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