Coconut Bread with Strawberry Butter

Feeling adventurous, I was! I decided on Friday while at work that this was the weekend I would attempt to make bread. I searched high & low on the net for the perfect sweet bread. I picked sweet over savory since my husband tossed the last of the chocolate cake I had at home waiting for me (NO I have no idea what he was thinking when he did that – Don’t worry he was severely punished). So I found my recipe and picked up all the ingredients for Coconut bread, yum.

I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, for some reason I see bread making as a science project more than a fun time in the kitchen. I must have looked like a mad scientist with all my ingredients as I was really scared to measure wrong; but hey it paid off. Hubby & I enjoyed this coconut bread with a strawberry butter and when I say enjoy I mean we ate a whole loaf for dinner.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH

2/3 cup coconut milk
2/3 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons shortening ( melted )
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoon milk powder
4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg ( beaten )
2 tablespoon coconut( finely chopped )
4 cups bread flour

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CRUMBLE TOP

1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
3 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon butter, soft
2 tablespoon coconut( finely chopped )

DIRECTIONS FOR THE DOUGH

In a large bowl add the lukewarm water, beaten egg, coconut milk, melted shortening, sugar, instant yeast, milk powder, salt and finely chopped coconut. Mix with a wooden spoon till well mixed.

Add in half the flour and continue to mix until smooth. Start to add in more of the flour slowly. You will notice after a little bit the dough it no longer going to cooperate with the spoon. Here is where muscle comes in, lets start kneading until all the flour is incorporated. I kneaded the whole time in my super large bowl, however you can transfer to a hard surface if you like that better. Knead for 10 minutes.

Once done with kneading add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to a large bowl and coat the outside of your dough with it. Once coated set your ball of dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rest for 1 hour; It should grow in size over that hour.

Ok, hours up. Now take the dough out and depending on whether you want to make one large loaf or two small loafs you will want to either divide your dough into 16 equal size pieces (1 large loaf) or 32 small pieces (2 small loafs). Roll the pieces into a ball shape.

Now let’s get the pans ready, you will want to grease them. Place 8 balls on the bottom of your pan in 2 rows of 4. Now place a second layer of dough balls on top of the first. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for another hour.

I made the topping while waiting this final hour. In a bowl combine flour, sugar, butter & coconut. I mixed with my hand until in had formed a crumbly mixture. In another bowl you will want to whisk together your egg white & water until it gets frothy. Once your dough is rested, uncover and brush the egg white foam over the top of your loaf. Once that is done you will want to sprinkle the bowl of crumble top over that.

Bake at 350 for 25-45 minutes, depends on the loaf size. As with cake you can also insert a skewer into the center of bread until it comes out clean.


ENJOY!! And when I say enjoy, I also think you should try it with my strawberry butter.

Strawberry Butter INGREDIENTS

1 stick of butter, softened
1 tbs of strawberry preserves
2 tbs of heavy whipping cream

DIRECTIONS

Whip together as thoroughly as possible all ingredients. Form them into a ball after that and refrigerate for a couple of hours.