theLeif.org

I had some hours available that I knew I'd be at home for. Time to experiment with making a good coconut bread. I basically did what I did last time, but I changed the amount of 4 ingredients. They're in bold below:

• Dry
  • ½ c. coconut flakes
  • ¼ c. turbinado sugar
  • ¼ c. coconut flour (↓)
  • ¾ c. whole wheat flour (↑)
  • 1½ c. all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2¼ tsp. yeast
  • 2 tsp. salt
• Wet
  • ½ c. milk (↑)
  • ⅛ c. melted butter (↓)
  • 1 egg
  • ¾ c. water
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract

The dough turned out wetter than before after I mixed it, but it looked more bread-like. I think the coconut "flour" was holding it back. That stuff kinda scares me. It's the dregs of some industrial process, I think. I probably won't buy more when I run out.

The dough rose for 2 hours. I took it out of the bowl and formed it into a loaf and let it sit on a pizza peel coated with cornmeal for 20 minutes. (Oh, I coated the loaf with some all-purpose flour to prevent sticking.) Then it went in the oven on the baking stone at 350°F for too long. I was trying to avoid the under-cooking that occurred last time. It must have been in for an hour and 20 minutes. The crust was actually starting to turn black. I screwed up, but I waited until morning to see if it was actually ruined.

I kept the loaf in a cake house -- whatever those things are called -- overnight. I cut off a piece, toasted it, and spread some butter on it. It turned out ok after all. And I think this is what I was going for with coconut bread. It's definitely a bread crumb and not muffin or biscuit like the other ones I made.

The ratio of things is lovely. If you make this one, don't expect light fluffy Bunny bread. It's heavier and nuttier than that, but not dense. The only problem I have with this one is I cooked it too long. I wonder if a lot of the vanilla cooked off because of that. The cinnamon is awesome with the coconut. It's so good toasted with some butter.