Easy Four Ingredient Bubble Bread
If there is one thing that must be on the breakfast table come Thanksgiving, it’s bubble bread. Sometimes it’s referred to as monkey bread, though both can be made similarly (like the below) or differently (like with condensed milk and/or biscuit dough).
However you make your bubble bread, this stuff is incredible and honestly so fun to eat. Plus, it’s only four ingredients! The dough, once dunked in butter and rolled in cinnamon-sugar, is layered inside a bundt pan and left to rise. Once ready, it’s baked and all those little bits of dough grow together and stick, leaving you with a gorgeous ring of cinnamon-y deliciousness that you’ll pull apart and devour piece by piece.
It’s scrumptious fun for adults and kids and something you’ll look forward to year after year. So if you love a fluffy, cinnamon-sweet treat (and who doesn’t??), then this simple recipe is perfect for your holiday spread or any time of year!
WHAT IS BUBBLE BREAD?
The easiest, most delicious creation that I ate every year at the holidays growing up (and still do). Bubble bread is made by cutting bread dough – homemade or store-bought – into cubes, rolling it in melted butter and cinnamon sugar, before proofing and baking it in a bundt pan, so it sticks together. It looks like a 70s creation, but the pull-apart aspect of this cinnamon-sugar bread is part of what makes it so deliciously fun to eat. Bubble bread is the perfect bake for my fellow cinnamon sugar lovers looking for something easy to whip up for a crowd or special occasion.
How should you serve bubble bread? I invert my bubble bread into a pie plate immediately upon removing it from the oven. The pie plate is the perfect serving plate as it collects any excess buttery cinnamon-sugar drippings. Serve with some tongs – or if you trust people’s hand-washing abilities, let them pull it apart with their fingers.
INGREDIENTS
- Bread Dough: You can make your own, but I often use store-bought for ease. I love the frozen dough from Rhodes and Bridgford!
- Salted Butter: Brings the goo factor and creates a “wet” surface for your cinnamon-sugar to stick to
- Sugar: The sweetness of this dish that makes everything stick together
- Cinnamon: The queen of comfort spices
Does the bubble bread need to cool in the pan before removing it? No! Bubble bread is coated in a lot of sugar. If you let the bread cool in the pan, the sugar will start to harden and make it impossible to remove it cleanly from the bundt mold.
HOW TO MAKE BUBBLE BREAD
Grab your bundt pan and grease it, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. I like to use a paper towel or just my hand to make sure all the folds and edges are covered.
Make sure your bread dough is thawed before starting – if you’re using frozen, pull it out and set it on a plate at room temperature for at least two hours before making your bubble bread. You want your dough soft but still cold, so you can cut and roll it, but it won’t proof before you have it laid in your bundt pan.
Grab two bowls. In one, you’re going to melt your butter; in the other, you’re going to mix together your cinnamon and sugar. Cut your bread dough into 1-inch pieces and then, working in an assembly line, dunk your dough into the butter, shaking off any excess, and roll in the cinnamon sugar before placing it along the bottom of your bundt pan. Repeat this, placing your dough side by side in a circle as you work your way up, until your bundt pan is halfway full. You will have a little extra dough, so I like to grease a loaf pan and layer the remaining pieces in it to proof alongside my bundt pan and bake after I’ve made my first pan.
Place a towel over your pan(s) and let them rise for 60-90 minutes, ideally in a warm spot. Your dough should have puffed up by at least a third but not quite double. Your dough will continue to rise as it bakes, so you don’t want it to puff too high and risk it burning in the oven. When you’re dough looks close to risen, preheat your oven to 350°F.
Remove the towel from your bundt pan and place it in the oven to bake for 35 minutes. Once baked, have a pie dish or your preferred serving plate ready, and place it over the top of your bundt pan, making sure it’s completely covered, and invert your bubble bread onto your dish. You want to do this as soon as you take the bread out of the oven so the sugar doesn’t cool and make the bread stick to the pan. Be careful as you flip your bubble bread out, as there will be hot sugary butter, and you don’t want to splatter that on yourself.
Leave your bubble bread to cool for 10-15 minutes, if you can wait that long, and enjoy it warm!
3 reasons you’ll love bubble bread
TIPS & VARIATIONS
- Bubble bread is traditionally made with cinnamon as the only spice but as a new lover of all things cardamom, you could easily swap out some of the cinnamon for cardamom to slightly switch up the spices
- Do not overfill your pan. If you’re using a smaller bundt pan or you want to make a larger batch, don’t fill your pan past the halfway mark, to leave space for the rise. You can always pop any remainders into a greased smaller baking dish or a loaf pan
- If you have extra butter and cinnamon-sugar left over, I usually toss. It shouldn’t be much but when I’ve tried in the past to just pour it over the rolls it made them a weirdly sticky, hardened mess. You’re welcome to try though!
- The bread is best warm but due to the rise time, we often make it the night before and eat it in the morning. Personally, I would recommend getting up early and making it first thing, because what’s better than fresh, warm cinnamon bread?
- Be very careful as your transfer the baked bubble bread to the serving platter. It will be very hot and with have hot sugar-butter drippings. Make sure your bundt pan is completely covered before you flip it so you don’t burn yourself. This is why I prefer to use a pie dish, as you can somewhat squish the bread that has puffed out of the top of the pan, into the dish before flipping, and it will catch all the drippings.
- I recommend immediately rinsing your bundt pan with hot water, to remove any sugar left in the pan. This will make clean up much easier!
MAKING AHEAD & STORING
Bubble bread is best warm, but should really be eaten within the first 24 hours for optimal freshness. You can store it in an airtight container to keep for 2-3 days, but it won’t be as soft and gooey after the first day and will start to dry out, like most fresh bread. I doubt it will last that long, though!
LOVE CINNAMON?
Try these Easy Cinnamon Chip Scones for another quick and delicious breakfast treat filled with cinnamon goodness and topped with a drizzle of sweet glaze. Love a pull-apart bread? This Cinnamon Sugar Sweet Potato Pull-Apart Bread is made from scratch, loaded with cinnamon sugar goodness, and so tender as you pull it off piece by piece. For a cinnamon roll twist, try these Cinnamon Roll Brioche Danishes, packed with a cream cheese filling, a cinnamon crunch rim, and finished with a brown sugar cinnamon drizzle.
Equipment
- Bundt pan
- Bowls
- Cutting Board
- Knife
- Measuring Spoons
- Large plate
Ingredients
- 2 loaves bread dough thawed
- 8 tablespoons salted butter melted
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Grease a 9.5-inch bundt pan
- Cut your bread dough into 1-inch pieces. If you’re using frozen, pull it out and set it on a plate at room temperature for at least 2 hours before making your bubble bread. It should be soft but should still be cool – you don’t want it warming and proofing in advance
- In one bowl, melt your butter and in a separate bowl stir together your sugar and cinnamon
- To assemble, dunk each dough piece into the butter, coating all sides, shake off any excess and then dunk into your cinnamon-sugar mixture until covered. Place along the bottom of your bundt pan. Repeat, moving in a circle around the pan and then starting a new layer, with every piece of dough until all is used
- Cover your pan with a towel and let rise for 60-90 minutes. It should puff up by at least a third but not quite double. You don’t want the dough rising too much ahead of baking because it will rise further in the oven and you don’t want to risk burning it. If you have a warm spot to proof these in great, if not no worries!
- Preheat your oven to 350F
- Once risen, remove the towel and place your bundt pan in the oven for 35 minutes
- Remove and immediately place a dish over the top and flip your bubble bread out of the pan. Do this carefully as the pan and the cinnamon-sugary goo will be hot! You want to do this quickly so the sugar won’t harden and make the bubble bread stick in the pan
- Let cool for 10-15 minutes, if you can control yourself that long, and enjoy!
Simple and delicious!!
Happy to hear!!