1. Go hygroscopic. It took us a while to discover that adding hygroscopic ingredients (those that absorb moisture from the air), made for a moister, tastier monkey bread. We now add potato flour to the dough and brown sugar to the glaze. (You can buy potato flour on our site.)

2. Get gooey. Use plenty of butter and a sugary glaze. Again, a little brown sugar helps.

3. Keep the pieces small. Smaller pieces of dough and flat pieces have more surface area to dredge in your sugary coating. Chunks should be no larger than a walnut.

4. Cover with foil. The sugary glaze caramelizes and the top may burn while baking. The simple solution is to drape a sheet of aluminum foil over the top of the pan during the last ten minutes of baking. The foil will reflect the heat.

5. Use a thermometer. Just because the top of the loaf is brown doesn’t mean the center of the loaf is cooked. The best way to tell is with a thermometer. When the center of the loaf reaches 185 to 190 degrees, the bread is done. (You can buy an insta-read thermometer for around $10 on our site.)

6. Eat it fresh. Still warm is the way to go. Like all bread products, day old is not as good. You can try reheating it in an oven at 250 degrees but some glazes may become too runny so watch your monkey bread carefully.

Here are two of our favorite monkey bread recipes, Cherry Almond Monkey Bread and Orange Pecan Monkey Bread. The Cherry Almond recipe illustrates dipping the bread chunks in melted butter before rolling them through a sugar mixture. The Orange Pecan illustrates dipping chunks in a slurry.

You can find mixes for several money breads on our site including Cinnamon Monkey Bread and Sticky Bun Monkey Bread.