Parmesan Garlic Monkey Bread - using a loaf of frozen bread dough

This was an absolute, utter hit with everyone, young and... older... It was also super easy to make. I started out with a frozen loaf of white bread dough, as I do when I make my regular breakfast monkey bread (see my "Making monkey bread, easy and yummy" hub). I pulled it out of the freezer about 7 hrs before I wanted to bake it and put it in a greased loaf pan, covered with greased plastic wrap and allowed it to thaw. When it had doubled in size, I pulled it out of the pan and cut it into 24 pieces. I used my bundt pan to bake the monkey bread and greased it with butter. I put a handful of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese across the bottom. I melted a stick of butter with 2 garlic cloves crushed in it and dipped each piece of bread dough in it before putting it the pan. I made a single layer of dough balls across the bottom and sprinkled Parmesan cheese on top of the first layer. Then I made another layer and proceeded the same way by sprinkling Parmesan cheese over each layer, there ended up being about three layers. The bread was baked for at 350° for 20 minutes and it came out divine! We flipped it out onto a plate, tore it apart and dove into the homemade marinara dipping sauce.

This is all you need:

1 loaf frozen bread dough

1 Cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 Cup Mozzarella

1 stick of butter, melted w/ garlic added

2 cloves of garlic, diced and added to butter - this infuses the butter with the best taste!

The Sauce

28 oz plus 14 oz can of Diced Tomatoes

3 cloves fresh garlic, diced and smashed to release flavor

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning

The marinara sauce was also, extremely easy to make. I started it about 4 hours before I wanted to serve the appetizer and used a large can of diced tomatoes. Actually, I used one large and one small can of tomatoes. Next summer I will use tomatoes from the garden but canned tomatoes work just fine. I added about 3 cloves of fresh garlic that I diced and smashed. I then added about 2 Tbsp EVOO and sprinkled some Italian seasoning into the mix. Then I let it cook down for 4 hours. I did keep checking it and may have added about another tsp or so of olive oil to keep the sauce from burning or sticking to the pan. That's all. The smell this concoction leaves in your kitchen is fabulous. My husband got me an immersion blender for Christmas and I put it to use for the first time blending this sauce. It is probably the best Christmas gift I have ever received, well, next to my new water pick, which cleans my braces like a charm.