Pumpkin Chai Bubble Bread

I had previously made a savory monkey bread for my sister. She absolutely loved it. Then, I told her about the buttery, sugary version of it, and well, she begged me to make that too. I agreed.

Since I've had pumpkin yeast bread on my to-do list for practically forever, I knew I wanted to do a pumpkin version of it. I used the pumpkin yeast bread recipe found on Willow Bird Baking, and then took it from there, adding my own twists on it. Instead of rolling the dough in cinnamon-sugar, I rolled them in a mixture of sugar and my chai spice blend. For comparison, I also made one loaf with cinnamon-sugar.


I couldn't wait for the loaves to be done. They smelled so good baking away. Peeking in the oven, I could see a beautiful sugary crust forming on top with little rivulets of butter melted in between the mini buns.

My family eagerly tried the breads. The chai spice version won hands down. My sister said she could taste the pumpkin in it more and that the flavor of the spices really blended well with it. I think the only changes I'd make next time would be to add some spices to the bread itself to pump up the flavor even more and use brown sugar instead of white sugar for rolling the dough. But, other than that, these were fluffy, sweet mouthfuls of bready bliss.


Pumpkin Chai Monkey Bread (adapted from Willow Bird Baking and created by Lisa of Sweet as Sugar Cookies)

1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour

For rolling:
1 c. sugar (I'd use brown sugar next time)
5-6 tsp. chai spice
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Chai Spice (Sweet as Sugar Cookies blend)

4 tsp. cinnamon
4 tsp. ginger powder
2 tsp. cardamom
2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. white pepper

Grease three mini loaf pans and set aside. Heat the milk to 100-110F and melt the butter in it. Stir in two teaspoons of sugar and the yeast and let sit until foamy, about 5-10 min. Add the pumpkin and salt and gradually add the flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl (it will still be slightly sticky but not tacky). Knead until smooth and elastic.

Put the dough into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a dishtowel, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. When dough has doubled, punch it down and roll into 1-inch balls, about 40-50 of them.

Roll them in the melted butter and then in the mixture of sugar and chai spice. Stagger the balls of dough in the loaf pans (do not put them in too tightly). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise another 30 min.

Preheat your oven to 375F. Bake the loaves for 20-22 min. until golden brown on top.

This recipe is linked to:
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
A Little Birdie Told Me
These Chicks Cooked
Made it on Monday
Full Plate Thursday
Sweet Tooth Friday
Sweet Indulgences Sunday