cottage cheese monkey bread (high protein, no protein powder)

0 Warm the oven. Turn the oven to its lowest setting for 2 minutes, then turn it OFF and leave the light on. Grease a bread pan. 
1 Pour your [wprm-ingredient text="2-1/2 tbsp warm water" uid="3"] into your mixing bowl with the [wprm-ingredient text="1-1/2 tbsp white sugar" uid="4"] and mix. Then sprinkle over the [wprm-ingredient text="2-1/4 tsp instant yeast" uid="7"] and let it bloom for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, pulse the [wprm-ingredient text="1/2 cup egg whites" uid="1"], [wprm-ingredient text="1/2 cup cottage cheese" uid="2"], and [wprm-ingredient text="1 tsp salt" uid="8"] until most of the curds are gone - do not over blend!!
2 Once the yeast has puffed a bit (if it doesn't the yeast is dead and you will need new yeast), then add the[wprm-ingredient text="2-1/4 cups bread flour" uid="6"] and [wprm-ingredient text="1/2 tsp baking powder" uid="5"] to the bowl with it. Then add the blended mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until shaggy. Knead with the dough hook for 4 minutes or 8-10 minutes by hand. The warm dough will be tacky — add flour 1 tbsp at a time only if it won't pull away from the bowl.If using my stand mixer, I like to scrape the tacky dough out of the bowl, knead on the counter while adding flour little by little for a few minutes to get an actual feel for the dough. Once I'm happy with the dough texture, I pop it back in the stand mixer for kneading for another few minutes. 
3 Once the dough is ready, cover the dough and let it rest 5 minutes in the warm oven (with just the light on). Meanwhile, put the melted [wprm-ingredient text="5 tbsp salted butter" uid="10"] in one bowl and mix the [wprm-ingredient text="10 tbsp brown sugar" uid="11"] and [wprm-ingredient text="1 tbsp ground cinnamon" uid="12"] in another. I like to use a wide bowl because we will be rolling the dough balls.
4 Roll the dough into a flat rectangle-shaped (doesn't need to be exact), then use a pizza cutter to cut it into long strips about 1" wide and then rotate and cut again to create 1" x 1" (roughly but larger is fine too) squares. Take each piece (combining the small corner pieces as needed) and fold in half, pinching the bottom to create what looks like a little balloon. See the photos for this!
5 Dip each ball in the butter, roll it in the cinnamon sugar, and drop it into the pan. Pile loosely so the pieces have room to puff. Drizzle any leftover butter and cinnamon sugar over the top. 
6 Cover the pan and set it in the warm oven for 15 minutes, until visibly puffy — not doubled. 
7 Remove the cover, leave the pan in the oven, and set the oven to 350°F. Bake 35 to 40 minutes from when you turn it on, until the top is light blonde.
8 Rest exactly 5 minutes, then invert onto a plate. Much longer and the caramel sets and sticks to the pan.
9 Glaze, if you like. Whisk the [wprm-ingredient text="3/4 cup powdered sugar" uid="14"] with the [wprm-ingredient text="1-2 tbsp milk" uid="15"] a little at a time until pourable, then drizzle over the warm bread. Pull apart and enjoy!