Pecan Monkey Bread

Steps

1. knead10 min
   dough: flour + yeast + warm milk + 4 tbsp butter + 1/4 cup sugar + egg + salt
   to a soft, slightly tacky enriched dough — the cinnamon-roll family's dough doing a different job; the canned-biscuit shortcut is named, works, and tastes like its decade
2. proof60 min
   covered, until doubled
   the single rise that separates the versions — while it goes, the stations set up: melted butter in one bowl, cinnamon + remaining sugar in another, and the caramel (remaining butter melted with the brown sugar + vanilla) standing by
3. prep15 min
   dough pinched to walnut balls, dipped, rolled, piled
   the dough torn into ~40 rough balls — rough on purpose, the craggy surfaces hold more sugar — each dipped in butter, rolled in cinnamon sugar, and tumbled loosely into a buttered bundt with pecans scattered through, the caramel poured over the pile — loosely is the word: the balls need room to rise into each other, which is what makes it pull apart instead of slice. Use the full listed quantity of chopped pecans, scattering them between the dough layers before pouring the caramel over the pile.
4. bake35 min
   350°F, until deep brown and bubbling at the edges, ~30 min after a short second rise
   twenty minutes of second rise in the pan, then baked until the top is deep brown and the caramel bubbles up the sides — the center ball is the doneness test: if the top pulls away gummy, foil on and five more minutes
5. rest10 min
   EXACTLY ten, then flipped onto a plate
   the upside-down law, verbatim from the pineapple entry: sooner is molten collapse, later is welded caramel — ten minutes, one flip, and the caramel-lacquered dome lands whole; served warm, eaten with hands, gone before it cools, which is the only serving note monkey bread has ever needed