Buttery Pull Apart Bundt Bread

Easter. I drove Lourdes to the Easter Vigil on Saturday — which goes from nine PM to past midnight. She does the whole thing. I do most of it. Easter Sunday lunch — pancit, lumpia, pork sinigang, an Easter ham with pineapple. The American holiday food on the Filipino table. The fusion is the family.

Lourdes is 74. She is in the kitchen. She is luminous. Joseph said something funny Sunday on the phone. I do not remember exactly what. The funny is the brother.

I made lumpia Saturday. Sixty rolls. I delivered some to Lourdes. The rest went into the freezer for the week.

I drafted a blog post on Tuesday and almost did not publish it. I published it Friday. The publishing was the practice.

Angela came over Saturday with the kids. We cooked. We argued about pancit proportions — she uses more soy, I use more calamansi. We are both wrong, according to Lourdes.

I am tired in the seasoned way. The tired is the cost of love. I have been paying the cost. The cost is bearable.

I made coffee at six AM. The coffee was the start. The start was always the same.

The Anchorage sky was the Anchorage sky. The mountains were the mountains. The inlet was the inlet. The geography was the geography.

Auntie Norma called Sunday to ask if I had a recipe for a particular merienda from Iloilo. I did not. I said I would ask Lourdes. I asked Lourdes. Lourdes had it. The chain.

I made tea late at night. The tea was the small comfort. The comfort was the marker.

A reader from New Jersey wrote in about her grandmother's adobo, which used pineapple. I had never heard of pineapple in adobo. I tried it. It was strange. It was also good. The strange and the good are not opposites.

Lourdes called me twice this week. The first call was about a church event. The second was about a recipe variation she had remembered from her childhood. The remembering was the gift.

I took a walk on the coastal trail Saturday. The light was good. The body was tired but moving.

I read a chapter of a novel before bed each night this week. The novel was about a Filipina nurse in California. The novel was good. The novel was, in some way, my own life adjacent.

Auntie Norma called Sunday afternoon. She is now seventy-nine. She wanted a recipe. I gave it to her. She wanted to know how my week was. I told her, briefly. She told me about her week. The exchange took eighteen minutes. The eighteen minutes was the keeping.

The break room had cake Tuesday. Someone's birthday. We ate the cake. We did not ask whose birthday. The cake was the cake.

The Filipino Community newsletter announced the Saturday gathering. I will be on lumpia duty. I am always on lumpia duty.

I drove home Tuesday evening and the sun set at three forty-five and the highway was already iced at the bridges and the radio was on a station I did not recognize and I did not change it.

The neighbors invited us over for a small dinner Thursday. They are an Iñupiaq family — Aana and her grandson Joe. We ate caribou stew and rice. I brought lumpia. The kitchens of Anchorage have always been the small UN. The food is the proof.

I checked email at the kitchen table while the rice cooked. There were one hundred and twenty unread messages. I closed the laptop. The unread can wait.

The grocery store had no calamansi. I substituted lime. The substitution was acceptable. The acceptable is the working version of perfect.

I am always on lumpia duty — sixty rolls Saturday, a tray to Lourdes, the rest to the freezer for the week ahead. But when the Filipino Community gathering comes and lumpia is already accounted for, I want something else in my hands at the door, something warm and pull-apart and immediately generous. This buttery pull apart bundt bread is exactly that: a bread that does not need to be explained, that feeds a table without ceremony, that Aana and Joe and anyone else at the small UN of an Anchorage kitchen can simply reach into. It is not lumpia. But it is the same gesture.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 2 hr 30 min (includes rise time) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup whole milk, warmed to 110°F
1/4 cup warm water
1 large egg, room temperature
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (for dough)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (for layering)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional, for savory variation)
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, for finishing
2 tablespoons fresh parsley or chives, finely chopped (optional)

Instructions

Activate the yeast. In a small bowl, combine warm water, warm milk, and sugar. Sprinkle yeast over the top and let sit 5–10 minutes until foamy. If it does not foam, start again with fresh yeast.
Make the dough. In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Add the yeast mixture, egg, and softened butter. Stir until a shaggy dough forms, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic. The dough should be slightly tacky but not sticky.
First rise. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until doubled in size.
Shape the rolls. Punch down the dough and turn out onto a floured surface. Divide into approximately 24 equal pieces and roll each into a smooth ball. Brush each ball generously with melted butter. If using garlic powder or herbs, toss the balls in the mixture before placing.
Assemble the bundt. Grease a standard 10-cup bundt pan thoroughly with butter or nonstick spray. Layer the dough balls into the pan, staggering them as you go and drizzling any remaining melted butter between layers.
Second rise. Cover the pan loosely and let rise 30–45 minutes until the dough has puffed and nearly reached the top of the pan.
Bake. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake 30–35 minutes until deep golden brown on top and the internal temperature reaches 190°F. If the top browns too quickly, tent loosely with foil after 20 minutes.
Finish and serve. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and fresh herbs if using. Serve warm so the layers pull apart easily.

Nutrition (per serving)

Buttery Pull Apart Bundt Bread — The Thing I Bring When I’m Not on Lumpia Duty