Tennessee Monkey Bread

For years, I thought the best monkey bread I’d ever eaten was at the celebrated Fearrington House, outside Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Then, a member of the Junior League in Memphis exposed me to this Tennessee cheese version at a gracious luncheon, and I was instantly converted. The origins of this strange bread couldn’t be more obscure but can most likely be linked to the African bakers on plantations. Some say the bread is so named because the layered balls of dough look like a pack of