Serves a Crowd

Toasted Oat Caramel Monkey Bread (Vegan)

by:
July 22, 2020
4.4
10 Ratings
Toasted Oat Caramel Monkey Bread (Vegan)
Photo by Ty Mecham
  • Prep time 2 hours 30 minutes
  • Cook time 35 minutes
  • Serves 8 to 12
Author Notes

A simple monkey bread that uses the tangzhong method (incorporating a roux) to make a softer, fluffier, and longer lasting vegan brioche with lots of oat-y flavor. Using dark brown sugar also brings a super sticky, sweet, caramel flavor. —23meyer

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Oat milk roux
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup oat milk
  • Vegan brioche dough and caramel oat coating
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil, plus 1/4 cup more
  • 1 cup oat milk
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/4 cup more
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 3 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed to adjust consistency
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 cup toasted oats
  • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional, suggested by commenter)
Directions
  1. In a small saucepan, mix the flour and oat milk for the roux. Don't worry about small lumps!
  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches the consistency of a thick paste. When that occurs, immediately remove it from the burner and cool for a few minutes.
  3. For the brioche dough, mix 2 tablespoons coconut oil, oat milk, granulated sugar, and yeast in a medium bowl, then incorporate the roux and stir thoroughly.
  4. Meanwhile, mix the flour and salt in a stand mixer or large bowl and slowly incorporate the milk mixture. Once cohesive, knead on medium-high for 7 minutes if using a stand mixer, or for 10 minutes if kneading by hand. It should be somewhat sticky but not unmanageable. If it is unmanageable or doesn't come together, you can add up to 1/2 cup more flour, although the less flour, the better.
  5. Put in an oiled bowl (if it sticks to your hands, try oiling those, too!) and cover with plastic wrap to rest for an hour, or until doubled in size. If put in the refrigerator, it can also be risen overnight.
  6. Gently remove dough from bowl and pat into a square on an oiled countertop. Cut into an 8x8 grid using a knife or bench scraper, so you have 64 pieces.
  7. Oil a Bundt pan and sprinkle toasted oats over the bottom of the pan.
  8. Roll pieces into balls, then dip in the rest of the coconut oil and roll in brown sugar blended with 1/4 cup granulated sugar (and, optionally, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon). You can use your hands, but I preferred using a fork. Place them straight into the Bundt pan, laying them on top of one another.
  9. Rest for 30 to 45 more minutes in the Bundt pan, covered with plastic wrap or a dish towel. Heat your oven to 350°F.
  10. Unwrap plastic wrap/remove dish towel and bake for 35 minutes, until the top is light golden brown.
  11. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before tipping out of the pan. Let rest for 15 more minutes before serving.
  12. Recipe inspired by Smitten Kitchen's recipe for monkey bread, and NYT Cooking's recipe for milk bread.
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5 Reviews

Nancy
Nancy September 24, 2024
Just a note on sugar for vegan cake. Most regular sugar uses animal products in the refining process.
However, there are vegan and/or organic versions that avoid those products. Look for them when shopping in person or order online.
 
getlizard
getlizard October 2, 2020
Here’s a couple things I discovered after my first time making this monkey bread.

DEFINITELY needs cinnamon. Either in the dough or in the brown sugar mixture.... or both!

Bundt pan needs to be heavily oiled for it not to stick. I had to knife edge mine out.

Oats should be along the sides of pan, not just on bottom as instructed. Mine all settled at bottom and it became just a sticky mess at the bottom of the pan. I scooped them out and tried sticking them on the sides of the cake once I turned it (pried it) out. But with a heavier oiling of pan, oats might stick better to sides.

The very first instruction calling for water to make the roux should say oat milk not water. And when it says incorporate the starter that’s actually the so-called roux.

All in all it’s good, albeit a bit too sweet for my usual palette. The dough consistency is great, and I had no problems kneading it in my stand mixer with the dough hook. The cooking time was perfect for me.
 
23meyer
23meyer May 1, 2021
Re: "The very first instruction calling for water to make the roux should say oat milk not water. And when it says incorporate the starter that’s actually the so-called roux."

Fixed! Thank you for your feedback.
 
carocaro
carocaro September 4, 2020
Wow. I have never had Monkey Bread before, but I know it's often made with Pillsbury biscuit dough. This is an elevated yet simple version that my entire family loved. Light and moist with lots of caramel goodness.

A few notes: I did not use oat milk but I did keep it vegan using the almond/coconut milk we had on hand and it came out great. The dough was a tricky to handle when I first started kneading but after several minutes it became smooth and held together well. 64 balls of dough is a lot so I might try cutting the dough square into a 4x4 or 5x5 grid next time. But the fluffy dough was fun to play with. I did not have a bundt pan so I used a springform pan with a tube of aluminum foil in the middle. I needed to bake this about 10 extra minutes to fully cook the dough. I've seen some recipes that call for cinnamon so I may also try that.
 
Alek M.
Alek M. July 23, 2020
This is definitely my go to monkey bread recipe from now on! I love the toasty oat flavor combined with the caramel, and you'd never guess it was vegan. The use of tangzhong here is really clever -- it keeps the bread extra fluffy, soft, and moist while imparting extra flavor from the oat milk.