Soft Ham & Cheese Sourdough Monkey Bread

This Ham & Cheese Sourdough Monkey Bread is a savoury bread heaven! Incredibly soft and cheesy all throughout, it is loaded with flavor and will be enjoyed by everyone!

Monkey bread is a favorite in this house because of how soft it stays. Typically we do sweet cinnamon monkey bread, but my husband is a savoury guy, so this meat and cheese version was made for him! It uses a simple sourdough bun dough, to create a cheesy snack suitable for any time of day.

Making this meat and cheese sourdough monkey bread is easier than you may think. You start by making a pillowy soft sourdough bun dough. Let that rise, then roll it into tiny bite sized pieces and roll those in your favorite cheese. The little cheese balls get layered in a baking dish with ham, bacon and onions and then baked unto golden. This creates soft pull apart bread in the perfect bite sized pieces for snacking.

This monkey bread is great make for brunch, lunch, or snacks and the kids will love it. You can use your favorite ham and cheeses to make it exactly how you like!

Tips for Making Ham & Cheese Sourdough Monkey Bread

1. Make sure you are using a nice strong and active fed sourdough starter. I recommend a 1:4:4 feed about 8-10 hours before using your starter.
2. When you are rolling the dough balls, make sure not to add too much cheese to the bottom layer in the pan or it will not bake fully! You can add more cheese to the top row that will be exposed more in the oven.
3. I recommend using a 9×13 baking dish for this. This will ensure that the bread is not too thick, and can fully bake all the way through.

Ham & Cheese Sourdough Monkey Bread Ingredients

Sourdough Starter– As mentioned above you want to use a nice active, fed sourdough starter.

Milk- Whole milk or 2% works great.

Butter– Salt or unsalted is fine. I always use salted.

Egg– You need just 1 egg in this dough texture and flavor.

Flour– Any bread flour or unbleached all purpose flour that you use to make bread will work.

Salt- This is essential for adding flavor to the dough. Any fine salt works.

Cheese- Almost any firm cheese that you can great will work. I like a combo of white cheddar and orange cheddar.

Ham– Use your favorite ham or any deli meat you like.

Bacon– This is optional but I enjoy adding a few sliced of bacon.

Parsley– Fresh chopped parsley adds a great fresh flavor.

Onion– Another ingredients that is optional, but I love this inclusion.

The Steps

Make the Dough

1. Start by mixing together the first five ingredients in a large bowl of a stand mixer or just a large bowl if doing it by hand. Whisk until combined.
2. Next add in the flour and salt and mix by hand or using your dough hook attachment.
3. Once the dough is combined, continue to mix it with the dough hook for 7-8 minutes or dump it on the counter and knead by hand for 8 minutes until smooth.
4. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place for 5-6 hours or until doubled in size.

Shape the Monkey Bread

1. After the dough has risen, dump it out onto a clean surface and cut it into bite sized pieces, roughly 1-2 tbsp in size.
2. Roll each piece into a smooth little ball.
3. Then, grease a 9×13 baking dish and sprinkle a couple tbsp of diced ham, bacon and onions or whatever meat you are using over the bottom.
4. Next take a bunch of the dough balls, and lay them across the bottom of the pan.
5. Stir together the melted butter with the parsley and garlic powder if using. Lightly brush some of this over the dough balls. Just enough to moisten them.
6. Sprinkle over a thin layer of the grated cheese.
7. Layer the remaining dough balls on top, giving you a couple layers of dough. I used a deeper casserole dish when I photographed this, but I find they always bake nicer in a 9×13 because the bread is more shallow and can bake evenly all the way through.
8. Brush them lightly with the herb butter, then layer some more shredded cheese over top, and finish with another couple tbsp of the meat and onions over top. Set aside the remaining butter.
9. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 8 hours or up to 2 days.

Final Rise & Bake

1. A few hours before you want to bake the bread, remove it from the fridge and let it rest in a warm spot for its final rise. This will take about 3-4 hours.
2. Preheat your oven to 350F and once the bread is nice and puffy, bake it for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
3. Brush the top of the bread with a bit more of the butter as soon as it comes out of the oven.
4. Allow the bread to cool for 10-15 minutes before flipping out of the pan and enjoying!

If you give this recipe a try, leave a comment or a recipe review below!

Looking for more savoury sourdough recipes to try?

https://cmbarndominium.com/how-to-make-mini-sourdough-pizza-bagel-bites/

https://cmbarndominium.com/hot-honey-charcuterie-sourdough-focaccia-bread/

https://cmbarndominium.com/easy-buttery-jalapeno-cheddar-sourdough-biscuits/

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