Chocolate Monkey Bread

Step 1

To make the filling: Place the filling ingredients into a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Set the mixture aside.

Step 2

To make the dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients and mix and knead everything together, by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle, till you've made a smooth dough. If you're kneading in a stand mixer, it should take about 7 minutes at second speed, and the dough should barely clean the sides of the bowl, perhaps sticking a bit at the bottom. In a bread machine (or by hand), it should form a smooth ball.

Step 3

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or other rising container. Cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise, at room temperature, for 1 to 2 hours, or until it's nearly doubled in bulk. Rising may take longer, especially if you've kneaded by hand. Give it enough time to become quite puffy.

Step 4

Divide the dough into about 64 pieces. Just divide the dough in half, then each half in half again, and so on, until you have about 64 pieces. Don't bother to make the pieces perfectly even; and never mind rolling them into perfect little balls (though it's good to give them a quick roll between your palms).

Step 5

Place the chocolate mixture into a shallow pan, such as an 8" round cake pan.

Step 6

To make the coating, combine the 2 tablespoons melted butter and 2 tablespoons lukewarm milk. Dip 6 or 7 pieces of dough into the coating, then place them in the pan of chocolate.

Step 7

Shake the pan gently to coat the dough with chocolate. Place the pieces into a lightly greased 10" tube pan or bundt-style pan; don't crowd them. You'll make two or more layers.

Step 8

Sprinkle any remaining chocolate atop the dough in the pan. Cover the pan, and let the bread rise for 1 to 2 hours, until it's quite puffy, though not doubled in bulk. You'll start to see white dough through the chocolate coating as they bread rises. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F

Step 9

Bake the bread for about 30 to 35 minutes, till you can see it starting to brown underneath the chocolate. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf will register about 190°F

Step 10

Remove the bread from the oven, and sprinkle it with the chocolate chips. Return to the oven for about 5 minutes, till the chips soften and look shiny. Take the bread out of the oven, and let it cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Serve warm, or at room temperature, by pulling the bread apart piece by piece.