How to Make Delicious Tear and Share Breads
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If you already make your own bread (or even if you don’t!) then why not try making a “tear and share” loaf for a change?
Also known as pull apart bread, bubble bread and monkey bread (although this last term is often associated with cinnamon tear and share bread – recipe below) this is a great way to make tasty and sociable bread.
There are loads of recipes out there for tear ‘n’ share garlic bread, often involving cheese, but there are so many different combinations of ingredients can be used to make any sort of bread you fancy, including sweet breads. So, in keeping with this blog’s reason for being, spontaneous cooking, here are some guidelines, suggestions and even recipes for making all sorts of these pull apart loaves.
My normal bread recipe produces approximately 25-30 balls and needs 75-100g butter or oil for dipping plus maybe a little more to pour over the top of the loaf before baking.
~ Use any bread recipe you like but if you don’t have a favourite here is a quick and easy loaf I make frequently.
~ After the dough has had its first rising, knead a little (it will deflate considerably) then divide it into walnut sized pieces – roll them into balls or just keep them random.
~ Dip these pieces into flavoured oil or butter (more info below). Once you have dipped your balls (no pun intended, of course) you can roll them in something before assembling the loaf, ideas below
~ Layer up in an oven-proof dish, loaf pan, cake tin or bundt pan – they all work.
~ Cover cling film/plastic wrap, foil, or a clean towel and set in a warm place for about half an hour during which the loaf should have doubled in sized.
~ While the dough is rising preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/180ºC fan/gas 6.
~ When the bread has risen drizzle with a little more oil or butter and/or sprinkle with something appropriate; grated cheese for instance or seeds or breadcrumbs which give a nice crusty top (panko crumbs for a crunchier finish) pop in the oven and bake for about half an hour till risen, golden and delicious.
This a good way of introducing more substantial additions to the bread; chunks of cheese (mozzarella, feta or blue cheese are good), nuts, bacon or chorizo, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, chocolate, dried fruits etc.
~ After the dough has had its first rising, knead a little and form into a rectangle about 6mm thick.
~ Brush with melted butter, maybe a flavoured butter or even with something else; cream cheese, Nutella, pesto, mincemeat, honey etc. Sprinkle with additions and roll up Swiss-roll style.
~ Slice and assemble the loaf placing the pieces cut side down and overlapping a bit if you wish) in an oven-proof dish or on a baking tray.
~ Cover lightly with cling film/plastic wrap, foil, or a clean towel and put in a warm place till doubled in size.
~ Drizzle with a little more butter and bake in a preheated oven as above.
Breakfast Breads!
Alternatively, for either method you can do the second rising in the fridge overnight and bake the bread for breakfast!
Flavoured Oils and Butters
Garlic butter is an obvious suggestion but what sort of garlic? Fresh garlic, black garlic, roasted garlic? Or maybe some other deliciously flavoured butter. How about bacon butter, caramelised onion butter or anchovy butter? Lots of garlic and other compound butter ideas and recipes here.
There are plenty of flavoured oils available; garlic, chilli, truffle etc. or you could make your own – here’s three delicious flavoured oil ideas.
Cheddar & Chill Bread
Using method 1 coat the dough balls in olive oil seasoned with a few chilli flakes and a generous pinch of crunchy sea salt and then roll in grated cheddar. Layer up and sprinkle the top with more cheddar and some fresh breadcrumbs. Drizzle over any remaining oil.
As above but use roasted garlic oil and grated blue cheese and here’s a handy hint – if you freeze hard blue cheese you can grate beautifully which makes is coat the dough very easily. A nice touch is to toss together a little more blue cheese and some fresh breadcrumbs, stir in a spoonful of roasted garlic oil and sprinkle over the top of the bread for a crunchy finish.
Caramelised Onion Bread
Gently cook 2 thinly sliced onions in 100g butter in accordance with the onion cooking instructions here, which is the very best way to cook onions IMHO.
Cool to room temperature, season then dip and swirl your dough balls in this before assembling the loaf.
Using method 2 spread the dough rectangle with whatever you normally spread on a pizza base – tomato sauce, pesto, um … ???! and scatter with your favourite pizza toppings such as chorizo, ham, bacon, roasted vegetables, caramelised onions, olives, sautéed mushrooms (I don’t think raw would work very well) plus cheese of your choice; diced mozzarella or feta or goats cheese for instance. Just before baking drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with finely grated Parmesan.
Most bread doughs are fine for making sweet tear and share bread but if you want to go a step further this is a softer, sweeter alternative.
Sweet Bread Dough Recipe
500g strong bread flour
1 x 7g sachet of easy blend yeast
75g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
275ml milk
50g butter
1 large egg
~ Bring the milk to the boil and then off the heat and stir in the butter. Set aside to cool a little to lukewarm.
~ Mix all the dried ingredients either on low in the mixer or just stir it all up.
~ Mix the egg into the cooled wet ingredients and then add this to the dry ingredients.
~ Slowly mix this into the dry ingredients till you have a soft manageable dough. Either mix on low in the mixer for 3 or 4 minutes or turn out onto a floured board and knead till the dough is smooth and elastic.
~ Place in a lightly greased bowl and then put a plastic bag over it. Leave in a warm place for about 40 minutes till doubled in size.
~ “Knock down” the dough, and continue with one of the two methods above and the recipes below.
Cinnamon Monkey Bread
According to Wikipedia on Monkey Bread …
“The origin of the term “monkey bread” comes from
the pastry being a finger food; the consumer would
pick apart the bread as a monkey would.”
And that includes all the ideas and recipes in this post. However it is frequently thought of as a cinnamon sugar pull apart bread which is made dipping the dough in melted butter and then in cinnamon sugar which is made by mixing together 100g caster or soft light brown sugar (which is my favourite) ½ tbsp ground cinnamon (or more if you like).
A lovely alternative is to use vanilla sugar which is made by leaving a vanilla pod in a container of caster sugar for a week or two – so this needs some forethought.
Rum (or Brandy) & Raisin Pull Apart Bread
I always keep a jar of dried fruit soaking in rum or brandy “just in case”!
To make the bread mix 100g of well-drained alcohol soaked fruit (drain it into a cup and drink it – I can’t abide waste!) into the risen dough and knead in. If this makes the dough a little on the wet side just knead in a little more flour. Form into balls and continue buttering and sugaring as above.
Mix together 100g coarsely chopped nuts and 50g soft light brown sugar. Roll out the dough into a rectangle and sprinkle with almost all the nut and sugar mixture. Coarsely chop 100g dark chocolate and sprinkle over the nuts and sugar. Roll up, slice and arrange in your chosen dish. Drizzle with a little melted butter and sprinkle with the rest of the sugary nuts. Rise and bake. Nice for breakfast.
Cherry Almond Loaf
Using method 2 scatter over 100g flaked almonds and 100g dried cherries. Scatter with coarsely chopped marzipan and continue as above. Sprinkle the loaf with melted butter and a few flaked almonds. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
A few final thoughts …
~ When using method 2, for a lovely melting heart to each section, arrange a final row of cheese (mozzarella is ideal) for savoury breads or chocolate for sweet along one long edge of the dough and then roll from this edge.
~ The usual way to test for doneness of a loaf is to rap on the bottom; if it is cooked it will sound hollow. Some tear ‘n’ share bread cannot be tested like this as it is just too lovely and gooey but if it is risen, crispy, golden and smells good, it’s probably done.
~ These loaves, even more than other freshly made breads, are really at their best served warm so that the butter is melted as are cheese or chocolate fillings. The good news is that they can easily be reheated by popping in an oven preheated to 200°C/400°F/180ºC fan/gas 6 for a for a few minutes.
Suzy Bowler
Having been a somewhat itinerant chef for over 30 years I was amazed, on my return to the UK, at the blatant food waste that now seems to be rife in the country; amazed and irritated. So much so that I decided to start a blog about spontaneous cooking from leftovers to show people that there are great alternatives to throwing food away.
