Monkey Bread and Eggless Challah dough a la ABI5MAD

One of the biggest disappointments on the egg allergy front was thinking I couldn't pull off the enriched doughs using the ABI5MAD method. Both the brioche and challah doughs are my favorite for special breakfasts. After doing a ton of research and even writing to one of the authors of ABI5MAD, I found I was just going to have to experiment! So I did and it turned out great!

First the dough recipe, then the experiments:
Eggless Challah Dough a la ABI5MAD
Makes 4 1-pound loaves.

This recipe is easily doubled or halved.
2 1/4 c. warm water
1 1/2 Tbsp. yeast
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
(Here's where I'll replace the 4 beaten eggs)
1 1/2 tsp. gelatin bloomed in 2 Tbsp. cold water, then 3 Tbsp. boiling water added, then cooled (to replace the binding properties of the egg whites)
1/4 c. coconut milk (to replace the fat in the egg yolks)
1/4 c. vital wheat gluten (to replace the leavening properties of the egg whites)
1/4 tsp. guar gum (to replace the emulsifying properties of egg yolks)
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. melted butter
6 1/2 c. bread flour

Mix the wet ingredients together first with the yeast and salt. Add the flour, guar gum and vital wheat gluten until completely incorporated. You may need to use your hands.

Here's a handy trick: I hold the ice cream bucket up underneath my kitchenaid fitted with my dough hook and let it mix the ingredients for me. Then I don't have to dirty the mixer bowl. Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (approximately 2 hours).

Refrigerate. Take out what you need as you need it. Remember to sprinkle the dough before taking it out. Then, take out a grapefruit sized piece for 1 pound loaves. Cut with a serrated knife. Cloak the dough with flour as you shape it into a ball. Shape into desired loaf type and allow to rise for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Remember the enriched doughs DO NOT need steam as the fat in the dough inhibits the crispy crust AND the honey in the dough makes it prone to burning, so cook at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Now here's what I did with it. First I made doughnuts. They were delicious. A 1 1/2 lb amount of dough yielded approximately 18 3" doughnuts and 18 doughnut holes. They were delicious and didn't last more than a day (can you believe that????) The next experiment was using my dear friend Margaret's Monkey Bread recipe that you can find her version of here.

So, I took the remaining 2 1/2 pounds of dough and turned it into 3-9x5" pans of monkey bread that I served to company that came to visit last weekend.

You thought I was sloughing off, didn't you? No, I was just busy. My best friend from high school came to visit with her family. Her girls EXPECT monkey bread, but my other recipe requires instant vanilla pudding mix, which I didn't have. I remembered Margaret's post about making monkey bread for birthday breakfasts, so I went there for help. Thank you Margaret dear!

Anyway, here's what I did - multiplied the recipe by 1 1/2 times to make enough caramel to cover the rolls. I took the dough, cloaking it as usual into a ball. Then, I divided the dough into 36 pieces. Each piece was shaken in the cinnamon sugar, then I put 12 pieces in each of the greased bread pans. I allowed the dough to rise for about 1 hour, then I baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. It was delish (as little woman likes to say). It was ALL GONE in no time at all!