My kids and I love Hawaiian Sweet Bread. And when I say love, I mean we are totally obsessed with it. I remember eating it years ago in Hawaii with Guava jam. It was so delicious I’ve been hooked ever since. And apparently I’ve passed that obsession on to my kids.
Because we can sit down and eat almost an entire package in one day, I wanted to see if we could make our own. I was a little nervous because I’m not really a bread maker. I think it’s the whole yeast thing that intimidates me. But I figured we’d try.
You know how when you read a recipe and you think “well, that doesn’t make sense” but then you just go with it and afterwards thump yourself on the head and think “I should have followed my gut!” Yeah, this is one of those. When I read the recipe I wondered how the yeast was going to activate without warm liquids. But I went with it. We had a little issue with rising. As in, it didn’t really.
But I didn’t want to throw it all away because… well, I’m too cheap. So I divided the dough up into loaf pans and just hoped it would rise then.
It did a little bit as well as some in the oven.
I’m disappointed that the bread was not light and fluffy but more dense but… (there’s always a but, right???) The flavor was wonderful! And served warm, my kids loved it.
A huge thanks to Kitchen Meets Girl for this recipe. I used the same ingredients that she did but I added a few more steps to the directions. We had a little rising issue so wanted to make sure no one else did also.
Ingredients
- 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus an additional ½ cup flour, divided
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups pineapple juice, room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 (1/4 ounce) envelopes yeast
- ½ cup (8 tablespoons) butter, melted
Instructions
- In a small bowl, beat your 3 eggs. Add the 2 cups pineapple juice, sugar, ginger, vanilla, and melted butter.
- Measure 3 cups of the flour into a large bowl. Stir in your egg mixture until well-combined. Sprinkle in the yeast packets, one at a time, mixing well.
- Add the remaining 3 cups of flour and mix well. If it becomes to difficult to stir with a wooden spoon, just use your hands! Make sure all of the flour is well incorporated—the dough should be tacky to the touch but not overly sticky. If it appears too wet, sprinkle in a bit of extra flour, just a tablespoon or so at a time. Cover your bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set it in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
- Remove your dough from the bowl and knead in an additional ½ cup of flour, making sure the flour was well incorporated.
- Divide the dough into three equal parts. You may either bake 3 loaves of bread, form the dough into rolls, or a combination of the two. Cover and place in warm place to rise for an additional hour, or until the dough doubles in size.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush tops with melted butter, and serve warm.
We’re going to try another Sweet Bread recipe to see if there’s a difference with recipes. Although this bread was delicious, it didn’t really taste like the Hawaiian Sweet Rolls we buy at the store. So our journey continues…
Note – I took a loaf of this bread to school and everyone said it was delicious! They had no complaints at all.
The bread looks amazing! I am adding this to my recipe file to try soon.
Thanks Angela!
Is this the recipe for the rolls you gave me? They were delicious.
No. That’s our second Hawaiian Sweet Bread recipe we made. That one will be posted soon =o)