Hawaiian Bread

Details

Yields: 15 rolls, 2 half loaves, or 1 loaf
bread

Notes

This recipe was given to me by Millie Sweeny, a member of our church.

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup lukewarm water
  • 2 ¼ tsp (1 packet) yeast
  • ¼ cup melted (and cooled but not solidified again) butter (or coconut oil)
  • ¼ cup honey
  • ¼ cup milk (I use oat milk for Sundays)
  • ½ cup pineapple juice
  • 2 eggs (room temperature)
  • 3 ¼ cups flour (I usually use half all-purpose and half bread flour, but it'll be fine with either)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 egg for egg wash (optional)

Directions

In your mixing bowl, combine water and yeast. Let sit a few minutes to activate and get foamy.

While it's resting, combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl: butter/coconut oil, honey, milk, pineapple juice, and eggs. Add these to the water/yeast mixture and mix well.

Add and mix in the flour a cup at a time, scraping the bowl down to ensure even mixing. Add the salt in with one of the cups of flour. If the dough is outrageously sticky, you can add in more flour a tablespoon or so at a time until it's manageable.

Once combined, knead for five to ten minutes, until the gluten is developed and you can stretch a piece and it won't snap off immediately. (if you aren't familiar with this technique, it's called the windowpane test, but I won't belabor it here in case you already know this trick!) The dough should be soft, and a bit sticky, but not completely unmanageable.

Put the dough in a well-oiled bowl and let rise for two hours or so, until doubled in size.

When you're ready to shape it, flour your surface well, and dump out your dough. I like to stretch and fold it a few times before I do anything else, to help the gluten a bit more.

You can shape it into rolls (this is what I usually do; cut it into fifteen equal pieces, roll them up tight and place them in a greased 9 x 13 pan to rise) or shape it into a loaf or boule.

Let rise for another hour or so, until doubled again.

Preheat oven to 350. If you want to do an egg wash (I usually do), whisk your egg with a teaspoon of water, and brush gently over the top of your bread.

For rolls, I bake them 22-25 minutes or so, until they're nice and golden. For a larger loaf, it may need closer to 30-45 minutes, and you will probably need to keep an eye on it and maybe cover it with foil for the last bit to keep it from browning too much. But if you love a crusty crust, then don't worry about that!

For an extra bonus, I like to spread a honey-butter mixture over the top when they are hot from the oven - but just honey or honey/coconut oil would probably also be delicious.