Savory Monkey Bread

Monkey bread is typically a sweet, gooey dessert. This recipe is far from sweet and gooey but involves the same pull-a-part fun. It incorporates savory herbs to create a fall treat that can replace dinner rolls.

INGREDIENTS:

• 340 g of dark rye flour
• 340 g of all purpose flour
• 1 tsp of kosher salt + more for dusting
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Herbs of your choice
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 pint buttermilk

To get a nice fall flavor, select 1 or more herbs. For this, I picked rosemary, sage, thyme, and caraway. Some other good options might include tarragon, chives, or oregano. Fresh herbs are the way to go - with the exception of the caraway. My local grocery keeps many in stock all year, and it's really easy to find rosemary growing in front yards.

Remove the leaves from the woody part and dice the herbs. You'll want about 2 tablespoons of each fresh herb and only 1 teaspoon of dried (caraway).

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Using about 1 tablespoon of room temperature butter, grease your bundt pan. This will keep your bread from sticking to the pan and give it a nice crusty outside.

Take some kosher salt, or some other coarse salt, and sprinkle it inside the bundt pan. You'll use about a 1 1/2 teaspoons here. The salt is going to enhance the taste of the herbs and improve the bread.

In a large bowl, combine 340 g of rye flour, 340 g of all purpose flour, 1 tsp of salt, and 1 tsp of baking soda. Using a whisk, combine the dry ingredients together.

Create a well in the flour mixture, and pour the buttermilk into the well. With your hands, start to work the dry and wet ingredients together. Your hands are going to get messy here. You're going to knead the dough in the bowl until it starts to form a ball.

Roll the dough out onto a flour-dusted surface. Divide the dough into equal portions based on the number of herbs you're using. In this case, I've divided the dough into 4 approximately equal portions.

Take the first herb and knead it into 1 portion of dough. Continue to knead the dough until it becomes a smooth surface and the herb is well distributed. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Once the dough can be formed into a ball, stop. Repeat this process with each of the herbs.

Divide each of the dough balls into 8 pieces. At this point, I have 32 pieces. Place these pieces into the greased, salted bundt pan. I just threw the pieces in without regard to the herb inside of each. I like having all the herbs mixed throughout, and the eater will not know what they are getting until they pick it.

Melt about 3 tbsp of butter, and pour it over the dough. Add some salt on the top. Again, this butter and salt are going to improve the taste and texture of the bread.

Put the dough into your 400 degree F preheated oven. Bake for about 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes, let the bread cool for 10 minutes.

After the bread has cooled slightly, cover your bundt with a flat object. I'm using a large cutting board.

Quickly flip the bundt and flat object over. If you greased your pan enough, it will fall out. Voila - crusty, savory monkey bread.

Once you've flipped out the bread, you're ready to eat. Be careful - it's hot but the best time to enjoy it.