Caribou’s Top Chef – A Message from Grant
A blog post by Grant P. – Culinary Arts Director and beloved Cabin Counselor since 2014
Just thought I would drop a quick line to say hi from the UK. It has certainly been a crazy year full of many ups and downs. Since the start of the culinary arts program in 2014, this was the first time that I have not made it out to America to spend the summer at Caribou. I won’t lie it was a shock to the system. July 4th isn’t as fun in the UK, and trying to get your friends to recreate color war just isn’t worth trying. Instead I tried out a ton of new recipes and made some amazing cakes for family birthdays. My favourite was probably this train themed cake!
One of the main silver linings to this past year is that I have now graduated and have taken the role of a food and nutrition teacher at a high school. Through the fun I had in the kitchen at Caribou, I realized why teach a subject I like, when I could stay with the food idea and teach something that I LOVE! So for that I have to thank all you guys for showing me how much fun cooking and teaching can be.
Seeing the blogs and connecting with the guys at camp, a lot of work has been done over the 2020 summer to make Caribou an even better place next year and I can’t wait to see what the summer will be like.
I hope that you have all managed to stay safe throughout these times and haven’t been too bored without camp.
So to bring back some Caribou memories and to show massive appreciation to my all-time favourite recipe (that I stumbled upon whilst in my first year at the ‘bou) – behold my monkey bread recipe!!
Monkey Bread – “Bou Style”
For the Dough
- 320 ml warm whole milk, 105 -115ºF
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 7g active dry yeast, 1 packet –
- 455 g all-purpose flour
- 1 ¾ teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
For The Coating
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (220 g) light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF degrees.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk the milk, butter, sugar, and yeast together.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour and salt. Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly drizzle in the milk mixture.
- Once the dough comes together, increase the speed to medium and mix until the dough is smooth and shiny, about 7 minutes. The dough will be sticky. (If the dough is wet, gradually mix in 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until it is no longer wet but sticky.)
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a ball.
- Place the dough in a large bowl greased with non-stick spray. Spray a light mist of non-stick spray over the dough.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, melt the butter for the coating in a small bowl. Stir in the brown sugar until dissolved. In a food bag mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon together.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut into 60 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.
- Place 4 of the balls at a time into the food bag and shake until all covered in the mixture, then place these to the side
- In a deep muffin tray (12 holed if possible, if not cook in two batches with a 6 hole) place 3 tablespoons of the butter and sugar mixture. Take 5 of the dough balls and slightly twist together and place in one of the holes. Repeat this until the tray is full. Leave to the side to rise for 10 mins.
- Drizzle the remaining butter mixture over the top and bake for 20-25 mins.
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Invert the bread onto a plate. Serve warm.
- To decorate mix 100g confectioners sugar with a touch of water and drizzle over the top.