Coconut Bread

Adjust as kneaded:  This is a keeper!!!  The resulting bread is a super soft, light, slightly sweet bread similar to the ones you can find at a chinese bakery.  You should have seen my husband’s face drop after I told him I gave the rest of the bread away to my children to try.  He had just finished giving a good review and saying how much he enjoyed it before I broke the bad news that it was all gone.  I had to make another batch just for Hubby!  Who knew my husband actually enjoyed my baking.

This is one of the first real breads I ever made with yeast!  It looked simple enough where most of the time spent was waiting for the dough to rise.  I could handle braiding too!  A few adjustments were made along the way to test changes to taste and texture.  The original recipe called for bread flour.  Looking up a bread flour substitute, the substitute is 1 cup of AP + 1 tbsp of gluten flour.  The addition of gluten flour made for a more bread like taste and tougher texture than the lightly sweet soft bread that we all preferred.  I also tried increasing the AP flour to 410g and replacing milk with coconut milk.  The quantity of flour and the use of coconut milk didn't really make any significant taste or texture difference.  Obviously no wild changes for me!  Will continue to experiment and continue making adjustments as kneaded (hehehe...get it?).

Just kneaded

After 1 hour

Wow!!!  After 3 hours!

Finished shaping

Time to eat!!!

COCONUT BREAD  Make 2 loaves

INGREDIENTS:

Dough:

395g    all purpose flour

65g      sugar

3/4 tsp kosher salt

7 g       instant dry yeast

2          eggs at room temp

105g    lukewarm water

70g      whole milk at room temp

70g      melted unsalted butter

Topping:

30g     shredded coconut

30g     salted melted butter

30g     sugar

1/2 -1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp coconut oil or veg-oil for greased the bowl and kneading, shaping the dough.

2 nonstick loaves pan size 9 x 5 x 3 inches

METHOD:

Dough:

• Combine dry ingredients in a stand mixer bowl.  Make a well and add liquid ingredients.
• In stand mixer with dough hook attachment, mix at speed 1 for 2 minutes.  Increase to speed 2 for 4 minutes.  Scrape down sides and knead at speed 2 for an additional 4 minutes.
• Grease hands, work surface, bowl and any tools used.  Turn out dough on a greased work surface and manually knead for 1-2 minutes.  Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let the dough rise on a kitchen counter for 1 hour.
• Manually knead dough a second time, for about 1-2 mins, place back in bowl and let it rise at room temperature for 3 hours.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal portions, then divide each portion into 3. Shape the dough into 16 inch logs.  Using 3 logs shape the dough into a loose braid, seal edges, and fold under ends.  Repeat with remaining loaf, place in pans, and let rise for 45-50 mins.

Topping:

• Mix all the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the top of both loaves.  Topping can be added as soon as loaves are placed in pan before the final rise.

Preheated oven to 350°F bake the bread for 28-30 minutes. Place oven rack at 3rd shelf from the bottom.

If using a convection oven then bake your bread at 340°F for

25-27 mins.

Adapted from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PokY7Uzcd-U