Name: Pesto Monkey Bread
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/4 cup warm water (59 mL); 2 tsp instant yeast; 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar (13 g); 3/4 cup whole milk (177 mL); 4 Tablespoons butter (57 g); 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning; 3/4 tsp salt; 2 large eggs, cold; 2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (360 g); 2 handfuls fresh parsley; 2 cloves garlic; 2 Tablespoons butter (28 g), at room temperature; 2 Tablespoons olive oil (30 mL), plus more for the pan; 1/2cup jarred pesto; 1 cup grated parmesan; 1 cup grated fontina cheese or mozzarella

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This pesto monkey bread, covered in pesto and herbs and bubbling with cheese is bound to become a family favorite.

My youngest son loves pesto so much he’d happily (and does) eat it with a spoon. In thinking about savory monkey bread variations, it only seemed natural to use the pesto. That and it was an excuse to use my favorite melty cheese in the world: fontina. I should write a sonnet to fontina one of these days.

You’ll love that you can make this dough ahead. When you’re ready to bake, you’ll just need a few minutes to lazily cut the dough into balls, coat them in pesto and parmesan and toss them into a bundt pan.

This bread is great for parties, as an accompaniment for soup or just on its own as a school snack. My kids would probably give you a list of all the many places they’d be happy to consume it.

Wherever you take this bread, it’s a winner. So grab that pesto that’s been sitting in your fridge, and let’s make amazing pesto monkey bread post haste.

Pesto Monkey Bread

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Why pesto bread is incredible

pulling off a piece of pesto monkey bread on plate with text overlay

Cheese: it’s cheating, I know, but it’s hard to say no to parmesan and fontina, but these are my suggestions. If you have extra bits of cheese in your house, this is a good place to use them. I’m always finding them crammed into the back of the fridge!
Smells: your house will smell like a pizzeria in the best possible way.
Fun to make: grab a kid helper here. Cutting and rolling the dough balls and plunking them into the pesto schmoo is therapeutic and meant for making together. My students and my kids all love making monkey bread, though I think they love eating it more!
Dipping!: The bread is great on its own, but dip it in some marinara or your soup, and it will shine. This bread is like my potato garlic knots, though it serves a lot more.
Food for fellowship: This is plate you gather around. Leave the lonely vegetable platter to its uninspired self. You know this is the bread that everyone is going to hang out at telling stories while you’re waiting on the rest of dinner.

What you’ll need to make pesto cheese bread

Dough

Water
Yeast: instant
Sugar: granulated
Milk: whole
Butter
Italian seasoning
Salt
Eggs

Filling

Fresh parsley
Garlic
Butter
Olive oil
Pesto: jarred is fine
Cheese of choice: a grating cheese and a melty cheese; I used parmesan and fontina, but use what you have!

How to make pesto monkey bread

Make the dough: like many of my overnight roll dough recipes, this is easy to do just before you go to bed. Throw it in the fridge, and it’ll be ready for you when you are.
Make the filling: chop the parsley and smash the garlic, then blend it together with the pesto, olive oil and butter.
Cut and roll: cut the cold dough into balls about the size of a shooter marble. Roll them briefly in your hands to round them off.
Dunk: dunk the dough balls first in the pesto filling, then in a bowl of parmesan.
Toss and top: the balls into a bundt pan that’s been brushed with olive oil. Spread a layer of cheese over the balls when you have a good layer on the bottom. Keep adding balls of dough, then top it off with the rest of the cheese.
Bake: until the bread is browned and bubbly.
Serve: Cool the bread briefly, then run a knife between the inner edge of the pan and the bread to loosen it as the cheese likes to stick. Unmold the bread onto a serving plate and serve with a side of marinara sauce.

Pesto Monkey Bread

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Author: Elizabeth Farr
Total Time: 50
Yield: 24 servings

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Description

Pull apart pesto bread covered in a garlicky herby pesto sauce and lots of cheese; this is the perfect appetizer bread for any get together.

Ingredients

Scale

Dough

1/4 cup warm water (59 mL)
2 tsp instant yeast
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar (13 g)
3/4 cup whole milk (177 mL)
4 Tablespoons butter (57 g)
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs, cold
2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (360 g)

Filling

2 handfuls fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic
2 Tablespoons butter (28 g), at room temperature
2 Tablespoons olive oil (30 mL), plus more for the pan
1/2cup jarred pesto
1 cup grated parmesan
1 cup grated fontina cheese or mozzarella

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Instructions

Make the dough

Sprinkle the yeast on the warm water in a small bowl with a pinch of the sugar. Set aside for about 5 minutes until the yeast is foamy.
Warm the milk in a small pan on the stove until you see bubbles around the edges. Cut up the butter and add it to the pan to melt.
Crack your eggs and use a fork to whip them into the butter and milk mixture, then add in the sugar, salt, and vanilla, then stir to combine. Check the temperature with your finger (the milk/egg mixture should be just warm to the touch.).
Put the flour into a large bowl or your stand mixer bowl. Make a well in the center with your hands, then pour in the milk mixture then the yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon to make a rough dough.
After that, with a dough hook on your stand mixer, beat the dough for about 10 minutes on low speed (2 on a Kitchen Aid) until you get an elastic sticky dough forms into a soft ball around the hook.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set in the fridge to rise overnight or 4 hours minimum.

Make the monkey bread

Chop the parsley and crush the garlic (or grate it on a Microplane), then smoosh together both of them with the olive oil, butter and pesto in a shallow bowl.
Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a bundt pan, then brush all of it around the pan to grease the surface well. Sprinkle a little of the parmesan in the bottom of the pan.
Set the rest of the parmesan in a shallow bowl.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, then cut the dough into pieces about the size of a large shooter marble.
Quickly roll each piece into a ball, then place the balls into the pesto. Roll each ball generously in the mixture, then roll the pesto covered balls in parmesan.
Place the covered dough balls into the pan. When you have a good layer on the bottom of the pan, cover with about half the cheese.
Make another layer of dough balls until you’ve used up all the dough, filling and parmesan. Top everything with the rest of the fontina.
Cover the pan to rise for 45 minutes.
Towards the end of the 45 minutes, preheat the oven to 375 (190 C).
Bake the bread for 25-30 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and dough is golden brown.
Let the bread cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the outside of the pan and the inner ring to help release the bread (the cheese likes to stick!). Turn the bread out onto a serving plate. Eat it warm with some marinara sauce on the side.

Notes

Individual monkey breads: If you don’t have a bundt pan or want to make smaller portions, fill up small springform pans or muffin tins with the dough balls. Bake for 15 minutes. small springform with pesto monkey bread before baking serving of pesto monkey bread on a plate