It’s that time of year again. Time to bundle up, fill the ovens with things that smell delicious, and enjoy the holidays. Since I went away to school, I’ve started a new tradition in my house on Christmas Eve/Christmas morning. I like to bake a deliciously decadent sweet bread. This tradition started with my attempted re-creation of a family favorite from my mother’s side of the family, a nut filled loaf called Kalacs. Next, it was Craquelin (one of my favorite recipes I learned in school), individual brioche buns filled with citrus infused sugar cubes.

This year, as I searched for a recipe, this one screamed out at me. It’s absolutely gorgeous to look at, but easy to make, and it is just perfectly delicious. It’s not too sweet, but is wonderfully light, fluffy, and coconutty. I took this “practice loaf” into the office, and it was gone in roughly 2.5 seconds.

Coconut Bread

Adapted from Knead for Bread
Makes 1 loaf.
Leftover Potential: I have a feelign this would make delicious toast and, dare I say, French toast if you manage to not eat it all the day you make it.

Dough
2/3 cup coconut milk
2/3 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoon milk powder
4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beated
4 Tbsp dessicated coconut
2 cups bread flour
2 cups all purpose flour

Topping:
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
4 tablespoon flour
3 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoon butter, soft
4 tablespoon dessicated coconut

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the coconut milk, water, butter, sugar, milk powder, and instant yeast.
3. Add the salt, egg, coconut, and flours, and mix until the mixture has formed a ball, (I did 5 minutes on low speed, then another 5 on medium-high). Remove the mixture from the mixer and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.
4. Knead the dough by hand until smooth. Place into a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double in size.
5. Turn the dough out again onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 16 even pieces. Form each piece into a ball.
6. Stack the balls of dough in the base of the pan. Eight on the bottom and eight on the top. Let the loaf rise until double in size.
7. In a small bowl, whisk the egg white and water together until foamy. Combine remaining topping ingredients to a crumbly texture.
8. Brush the loaf with the egg white mixture, and top with the topping. Bake until risen and baked through, about 25-35 minutes. Let cool slightly, then remove from pan to cool completely.

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