Add warmed whole milk (110-115°F) to a mixing bowl. Mix in the yeast and ¼ cup of sugar. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.
Using the dough hook on your stand mixer, mix the eggs, and butter. Add the bread flour, one cup at a time, stirring in between.
After mixed, empty dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes using your fist and heels of hands. You want the dough to look really smooth. When you pull on the dough, it should be elastic and bounce back.
Place dough into a large bowl to rise (remember the dough is going to double in size). Cover the bowl with a dish towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size. Place bowl in a warm (not hot) area. Yeast likes the warmth.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix the granulated sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon (from the coating recipe above).
In another medium bowl, melt the butter. These two bowls will be your two coating stations.
After the dough has risen, punch it down. Shape into 1-1/2” balls. Then dip/coat in the butter followed by the cinnamon sugar mix.
Place into a well-greased bundt pan. I like to spray my bundt pans with a nonstick spray that has flour in it (like Baker's Joy.) Spray it liberally into all the nooks and crannies of the pan.
After all the dough has been rolled into balls, cover the bundt pan with a clean dish towel and allow to rise again for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix the remaining sugar mix with the remaining melted butter and add the vanilla. Pour this mixture evenly over the top of the dough balls.
Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Check bread halfway through, if it is starting to brown too quickly, tent with foil. Remove and allow to cool for only 5 minutes then turn out the bread onto a cooling rack.
Once the bread is cool enough to touch, move it to a large plate or serving platter. Mix the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla to create the vanilla icing. Pour over the top of the bundt cake. Then dig in!
Notes
This recipe can be frozen, see my tips above.
This calls for using a standard bundt pan which is a 12 cup pan.
Do not leave your bread in pan more than 5 minutes after baking or it could stick.
Tent your bread halfway through baking if you notice it browning too quickly. Tenting just means to not wrap the aluminum foil tightly onto the pan. There should be some space between the middle of the bundt pan and the aluminum foil.