Wait, Wait, One More Thing! Bonobo Bread

Some very good vibes in the kitchen today on the last day of 2011.  I made Bonobo Bread (also known as Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread), pumpkin quiche, and chocolate cake.  The quiche and the cake recipes are those previously mentioned on this blog.

I used two tablespoons of coconut oil instead of margarine and cream cheeze.  Let's see how it turned out!

Ownie Mom and I frosted my dad's birthday cake with Chocolate Ganache.

Bonobo bread is monkey bread (or cinnamon pull-apart bread, for the ape-averse).  Food that should not exist, yeasted gluten-free bread, that is.  I call it Bonobo bread because bonobos resolve conflicts through physical intimacy.  So a pile of balls of dough is most going to resemble a bunch of bonobos, not just any monkeys.  Yes, I’m calling them “balls of dough.”  Most of the recipes I read shy away from the word “balls,” but what else are they?  The pieces of dough are too spheroid and big for “bits;” I’m just tellin’ it like it is.

I have wanted to eat monkey bread ever since I couldn’t have it.  The recipe I modified was dairy-free, so I could’ve made it pre-GF, but I wasn’t hankering after monkey bread before maybe April of this year.  Reading other peoples’ fuzzy, sweet memories of eating a beloved relative’s monkey bread inspired me to make some for myself.  Actually, we’re going to enjoy this for New Year’s Day brunch tomorrow.  It was either this or a new recipe of cinnamon rolls, since the cinnamon rolls my mom and I made for Christmas Day were, well, beany.  There are no beans, no soy, no gluten, no animal products, and no sugarcane in this recipe I present to you below.  Food that shoudn’t exist, indeed.

Bonobo Bread (AKA: Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread)

Modified from King Arthur Flour’s Monkeying Around Bread.

Makes one 8” round

For the dough:

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 1/4 cup water

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 tablespoons sugar (I used maple sugar)

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup rice flour (I used white rice since it was what was available, but I would recommend brown)

1 1/4 cups teff flour

1/4 cup almond meal

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup water (yes, you read that right, there are three measures of water in this recipe)

Rolling mixture:

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2/3 cup sugar (I used maple; brown sugar would be my next choice, then granulated if neither were to be had)

2/3 cup coconut milk (shaken if from a can)

With rising time: don’t preheat the oven now.  If you’re not rising—and it doesn’t seem necessary—then preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease an 8” round metal cake pan.

In a small bowl, mix the flaxseed and water and set aside.  In mid-sized measuring cup, mix the lukewarm water, oil, yeast, and sugar.   If the yeast doesn’t bubble, then try again with fresh yeast.  In a large bowl, whisk together the salt, flours, xanthan gum, and cinnamon.  Add the flax mixture to the yeast mixture, stir well, then add the resultant mixture to the flour blend.  Stir and add the additional quarter cup of water and the applesauce.  Mix well until you form a sticky dough.

Set the dough aside, uncovered and in a warm place, for an hour or until it rises or doubles in volume.

With a tablespoon cookie scoop, form 1 1/2-inch diameter balls of dough.  Dip the dough balls into the coconut milk then roll them in the sugar and cinnamon.  Arrange them in concentric circles in the pan.  Tuck as many balls as possible into a single layer before creating a second tier.  Pour any remaining coconut milk and cinnamon sugar-mixture on top of the balls.  

Bake for 30 minutes until puffy and firm to the touch.  Immediately remove from the oven and invert onto a  plate (for once, you will not cool a gluten-free baked good in the pan since this stuff will stick).  Scrape any sticky bits onto the bread (and tuck in any balls that stuck to the pan) and let cool before digging in.

Aw yeah.

Here’s what I’ve been eating for lunch or breakfast lately: pumpkin bread with cream cheese, cinnamon, and sunflower seeds.  That’s a pile of flaxseed, an apple, crushed pineapple, a glass of mint chocolate soymilk, and a mug of green tea in supporting roles.  I made the pumpkin bread in my new tall GF loaf pan, not that the height does anything for quickbreads, but supposedly the higher sides help fragile GF yeasted breads rise and stay up.

Someone draw an asterisk over my head.  I suddenly remembered that I drank a glass of sparkling cider on Christmas Day and I forgot to record it.  Yes, I write down what I eat.  My motivation to do so has changed since July 2009 when I started.   I first began recording what I ate in an effort to lose weight; the accountability—to myself, sure—would purportedly keep me “on track.”   You can tell how well that went.  In 2010, I kept up my record in order to determine the cause (s) of my digestive upset and strange rashes.  I (still) record what days I find this characteristic neon red rash on my joints, only after eating breakfast (which may not be my first meal of the day.  Discuss).  I figured out gluten was not my friend with the help of this record.  Now I write what I eat as another way of paying attention to my life, recording how much food costs if I go out, how long I meditated, what I did for exercise, and other life statistics that are handy to have in a single file.  I’ll start a new document for 2012 tomorrow.

“But a man never trifles/ With gals who carry rifles…”  I’m listening to the “Annie Get your Gun” soundtrack.

Blessed be,

Q