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container in the refrigerator for up to 1 day.

CINNAMON SUGAR MONKEY BREAD
    Certain desserts just don’t seem destined for a low-sugar makeover. I didn’t even attempt to make angel food cake—which relies on sugar to stabilize the egg whites in the batter—or caramels—where sugar is the main ingredient. One of my pastry chefs Jon and I were tossing around other desserts that would be difficult to make with little sugar when he piped up, “MONKEY BREAD!” We both stopped for a second and looked at each other—and the challenge was on! Monkey bread, according to most theories, gets its name from the little balls of dough that bake all together and then you pluck them one by one to eat them, similar to a monkey who likes to pluck at, well, everything. The bread dough is a simple, rich dough that gets dipped piece by piece into butter and cinnamon sugar. Before baking, you pour a cream-butter-sugar mixture over the whole thing and it bakes into the dough, leaving a light caramel topping on the little breads. It’s definitely not as gooey and tooth-achingly sweet as a traditional monkey bread recipe, but it is crazy delicious. After a while Jon and I kept making this under the guise of “more testing,” but in reality it was just because we loved eating it so much.

    MAKES
ONE
8-IN [20-CM] CAKE
    BREAD DOUGH
180 g/ 3 / 4 cup whole milk, at body temperature (when you put your finger in it, it should feel neither cold nor hot)
1 / 2 tsp active dry yeast or 3 g/0.1 oz fresh cake yeast
280 g/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus up to about 35 g/ 1 / 4 cup more, if needed
1 tsp kosher salt
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, very soft
1 egg yolk
115 g/ 1 / 2 cup unsalted butter, melted
100 g/ 1 / 2 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
160 g/ 2 / 3 cup heavy cream
    1. To make the dough: Lightly oil a large bowl.
    2. Using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment or in a medium bowl, combine the milk and yeast and let sit for 20 to 30 seconds to allow the yeast to dissolve and activate. Dump the flour and salt onto the milk, and carefully turn the mixer on medium-low speed. (Or use a wooden spoon to mix the flour into the milk, and switch to using your hands to mix the dough when it gets too stiff.) Let the dough mix for about 10 seconds. (To prevent the flour from flying out of the bowl, turn the mixer on and off several times until the flour is mixed into the liquid, and then keep it on low speed.) When the dough is still shaggy looking, add the butter and egg yolk.
    3. With the mixer still on medium-low speed, knead the dough for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it starts to come together into a sticky dough. (If making by hand, continue to knead the dough by hand; it will be very sticky and soft, but keep turning it over onto itself and folding it in half and punching it in the middle to encourage the dough to develop more stretchiness.) The dough will be somewhat soft and tacky and have a bit of a stretchy consistency. If it is much stiffer than this, mix in 2 to 3 Tbsp water; if it is much looser than this, mix in 2 to 3 Tbsp flour.
    4. Transfer the dough to the oiled bowl. Cover the bowl loosely with a piece of plastic wrap or a damp lint-free cloth. Place the bowl in a draft-free, warm place (78 to 82°F [25 to 28°C] is ideal; an area near the stove or in the oven with only the pilot light on is good) for about 2 hours. The dough should rise until it is about double in bulk. (This is called proofing the dough.)
    5. When the dough has doubled in size, dump it out onto a well-floured work surface and stretch it into a long rectangle about 12 in by 4 in [30 cm by 10 cm]. Using a bench scraper or a knife, divide the dough the long way into four narrow strips, each about 1 in [3 cm] wide. Then divide each dough strip into eight pieces so that you end up with thirty-two little nuggets total.
    6. Butter and flour an 8-in [20-cm] round cake pan with sides that are at least 2 in [5 cm] high.
    7.