Bread Machine Hawaiian Bread – Pineapple & Coconut

This bread machine Hawaiian bread is soft & tropical! You will love it because the bread is made with pineapple juice and coconut flakes. It is also super easy because your bread machine does most of the hard work such as mixing, kneading & baking.

My recipe creates a slightly sweet & mildly tropical-flavored bread that is perfect for breakfast. My family likes it plain or toasted with cheese cheese. Bread machine Hawaiian bread is a delicious alternative to white bread, cinnamon raisin bread, etc.

Sliced Bread Machine Hawaiian Bread

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

FYI – This bread is mixed, kneaded & baked in your bread machine (and does not use an oven). However, if you want to make the dough in your bread machine but bake the bread in your OVEN, please visit my oven-baked Hawaiian Bread Recipe page for extra instructions.

Loaf of Bread Machine Hawaiian Bread

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 Cups – Pineapple Juice (warm) – 296 milliliters – Use canned pineapple juice. Do NOT use fresh pineapple juice. See the tips section below for more info.
• 4 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened) – 57 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 3 1/2 Cups – Bread Flour – 420 grams
• 1/2 Cup – Sweetened Coconut Flakes (or Shredded Coconut) – 60 grams – Packed cup. Use FRESH coconut flakes/shreds for the best results. See the tips section below for more info.
• 4 tablespoons – Light Brown Sugar (packed) – 52 grams
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Salt – 9 grams
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Bread Machine Yeast (Instant Yeast) – 4.5 grams – Not active dry yeast

Servings – Roughly 12 slices (based on standard bread machine loaf)

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, silicone spatula, oven mitts, cooling rack and a bread machine.

Key Ingredient – Pineapple Juice

Key Ingredient – Coconut Flakes

Instructions

• Bread machine settings – 2 pound loaf, light color and “basic” bread setting.
• Unplug your bread machine.
• Remove the bread pan from the unplugged bread machine (so when you add the ingredients, they can not accidentally spill into the machine).
• Soften the butter. FYI – I like to use a microwave to semi-melt the butter for better mixability.
• Warm the pineapple juice in your microwave. FYI – You do not want to use refrigerator cold pineapple juice or boiling hot pineapple juice. The best temperature is around 100-110 F. See tips section below for more information.
• Add the pineapple juice, softened butter & vanilla extract into the bread pan and then add the other ingredients. Place the instant yeast/bread machine yeast in last and the yeast should not touch the liquid (until the bread machine is turned on and the ingredients start to be mixed together by the bread machine). FYI – Many bakers like to make a crater/pocket in the top of the flour to hold the yeast so the yeast does not contact the liquid or salt in the bread pan.
• Put the bread pan with ingredients back into the unplugged bread machine.
• Plug in the bread machine. Enter the correct settings (2 lb, light color, basic bread) and press the “start” button.
• When the bread machine has finished baking the bread, unplug the bread machine and remove the bread pan from the bread machine. Wear oven mitts as the bread pan & bread machine will be hot.
• Remove the bread from the bread pan and place the bread on a wire cooling rack. Use oven mitts when removing the bread as the bread & bread pan will be hot.
• Optional – Right after removing the bread from the bread pan (while the bread is still very hot), brush on 1 or 2 tablespoons of melted butter on the top crust of the bread. This creates a more buttery top to the bread. Use a pastry brush to brush on the butter.
• Let the bread cool on the wire cooling rack for 1-2 hours before cutting.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully.

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Ingredients in Bread Machine Pan – Coconut Flakes on Rightside

Helpful Tips

• The tips below are designed to help baking & bread making “novices” avoid common baking problems and more successfully make this soft white bread recipe.
• Click on this “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on Easy Bread Recipes such as buttermilk bread, multigrain bread and soft whole wheat bread.
• Be aware that this bread has a MILD tropical taste. Do not expect it to taste like a pineapple cake!

• This bread machine Hawaiian bread will NOT work in small bread machines (e.g. compact bread machines with a 1 lb loaf capacity). To bake this Hawaiian bread in your bread machine, your bread machine will need at least a 2lb loaf capacity.
• If you want to make the dough in your bread machine but bake the bread in your OVEN (in order to make a more “traditional looking” loaf versus bread machine “block” shaped loaf), you should visit my oven-baked Hawaiian Bread Recipe page for more details.

• Use canned pineapple juice (NOT fresh pineapple juice) to make this Hawaiian bread recipe. Fresh pineapple juice has an enzyme that limits yeast growth. Canned pineapple juice has been heated during the canning process. This heating process destroys the enzyme that impacts yeast growth.
• If you can only find pineapple juice in a bottle, you should look for the word “pasteurized” on the ingredient label. Pasteurization is done in order to kill any microorganisms in the juice and to extend the juice’s shelf life. Since pasteurization usually involves heating the juice, the heating process will reduce the enzyme that impacts yeast growth.
• I didn’t use crushed pineapple to make this Hawaiian bread recipe because the moisture content can sometimes vary due to the amount of pineapple “solids” versus pineapple juice (in the crushed pineapple container). This can throw off the liquid-to-dry ratio in the recipe.
• Do NOT use cold pineapple juice (straight out of the refrigerator). The cold will slow the growth of the yeast and your bread will be very short. Cold pineapple juice results in a much shorter bread (as the yeast has trouble growing due to the cold liquid). See the picture below which shows my oven-baked Hawaiian bread made with warm juice (left side of picture) and cold juice (right side of picture). Hawaiian bread made with warm juice rises much better than bread made with cold pineapple juice.
• You should use WARM pineapple juice (ideally around 100-110 F). FYI – You do not want to use boiling hot pineapple juice as the heat will kill the yeast.
• Some online Hawaiian bread recipes use a combination of pineapple juice & milk. However, I find that the milk dilutes/reduces the tropical taste of the bread.
• Since this recipe uses a lot of pineapple juice, you might have to add a little extra flour if the dough looks a little bit too wet. For example, old flour in open containers/bags absorbs moisture from the air and this extra moisture can throw off the liquid-to-dry ratios in recipes.

Hawaiian Bread Made With Warm Juice (Left) And Cold Juice (Right)

• Use FRESH coconut flakes for the best results. New coconut flakes tend to be moist & soft when you open a recently purchased package of coconut flakes. In contrast, old flakes (from an already opened package) tend to be hard & stale. Your Hawaiian bread will taste much better with new coconut flakes!
• To make this Hawaiian bread recipe, you can use either coconut flakes or shredded coconut. They are very similar. However, I like to use coconut flakes because they are slightly larger than the “shreds” in shredded coconut.
• I like to use sweetened coconut flakes to make my Hawaiian bread. However, you can also use unsweetened coconut flakes if you want a lower-sugar bread.
• You generally can find coconut flakes & shredded coconut in the baked supplies section of most major supermarkets.

• Since this recipe only uses 1/2 cup of coconut flakes, it has a very mild taste of coconut. The coconut flavor, by intention, is not overpowering!!
• Don’t add any extra liquid with the coconut flakes (e.g. drain off any liquid if you use canned coconut flakes/shreds). Any extra liquid will throw off the liquid-to-dry ratio of the recipe (and lead to bread collapses). Packaged coconut flakes & shreds tend not to have a lot of excess moisture when you buy them in the supermarket. They are usually in plastic packages (that look like large “pouches”). See the picture below.
• Visitors – What do you like to add to your Hawaiian bread? Do you add pineapple chunks or dried pineapple? More coconut flakes? Other tropical fruits? Please tell me your favorite Hawaiian bread tips in the comment section below.
• Visitor variations – Rich added a “few drops of coconut extract”, Kris likes to add “coconut oil instead of butter, chooped dried pineapple and brazil nuts” (I assume chopped up tiny bits of Brazil nuts) and Leandra likes to add “chopped walnuts”.

Package of Coconut Flakes

• Make sure to level off the ingredients in your measuring spoons & cups. No “mountains” of ingredients in your spoons & cups!! If you add too much of an ingredient, you can have a baking problem. FYI – I like to level the ingredients in my measuring spoons & cups with the back of a butter knife.
• Many of my international visitors like to use a kitchen scale in order to measure the weight of recipe ingredients (whereas Americans like to use measuring cups & spoons). The use of metric measurements (e.g. grams & milliliters) often provides more consistent results versus using measuring cups & spoons. Exact weight measurements help to avoid the problem of adding excess flour (e.g. adding heavily compacted flour versus fluffed flour).

• Use FRESH ingredients (i.e. flour) for the best results. Ingredients that have been sitting in the pantry for months can become stale or pick up weird smells & flavors.
• Try to keep your ingredients (i.e. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life. Airtight containers also help to prevent ingredients (i.e. flour and sugar) from absorbing moisture from the air. This extra moisture can throw off recipes (as it can disrupt the liquid-to-dry ingredient ratio in the recipe) and shorten an ingredient’s shelf life. They also help to prevent exposure to pests, dust, etc.
• This bread machine Hawaiian bread recipe calls for the use of bread flour. If you are out of bread flour, you can use all purpose flour in a pinch. However, an all purpose flour bread will be less airy and fluffy (when compared to Hawaiian bread made with bread flour).
• This recipe will NOT work with gluten free flour. Gluten free flour differs significantly versus flours with gluten and requires you to use recipes specifically designed for the use of gluten free flour. If you use gluten free flour in this recipe, you are likely to have a baking disaster.

• This Hawaiian bread recipe uses instant yeast or bread machine yeast. It is not focused on active dry yeast. This recipe is targeted towards instant yeast & bread machine yeast as many of our visitors are bread machine users.
• Active dry yeast is different from instant yeast & bread machine yeast. Instant yeast & bread machine yeast are added directly to the recipe’s ingredients. In contrast, active dry yeast must be activated in water before being added to a recipe’s ingredients. Many bakers find it quicker to use instant yeast because you just add it to the dry ingredients. With active dry yeast, you need to spend roughly 10 minutes “proofing” (activating) the yeast with a liquid & sugar.
• I would recommend NOT reducing the salt in this recipe. You generally want to keep the salt-to-yeast ratio at a 1:1 basis in most bread recipes (1:1 based on teaspoons to teaspoons and NOT grams to grams). The salt moderates the growth of the yeast. If you cut the salt (and disrupt this 1:1 ratio), the yeast will grow faster than expected. In turn, this leads to more bread collapses (because the yeast rises too high and then craters in the middle) and/or results in “slack” less manageable dough. In addition, less salt will impact the flavor and browning of the bread.

• Cooler home temperatures in the winter can cause rising problems for bread dough. Ideally, your room temperature should be around 75-80 degrees F. Colder winter room temperatures can significantly delay the rise of the dough. You will need to raise the temperature of your kitchen (if you like a cold house in the winter) or find a warm spot for the dough to rise. I often put my dough (covered of course) next to a heating vent in the winter to make sure it is getting enough heat.
• Conversely, the dough can rise faster than expected in a very hot kitchen.
• Kitchen humidity can also impact a recipe. A winter kitchen tends to be drier due to your heating system drying out the air. In contrast, a kitchen in the summer can be much more humid. This change in humidity impacts baking as flour can soak up humidity from the air. Therefore, you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of liquid in the winter if the dough is looking too dry. Or you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of flour in the summer if the dough is looking too wet. If your kitchen is very dry or humid, you might have to add even a little more (but start with 1 teaspoon at a time until you achieve the right consistency).
• Of course, excessive kitchen humidity or dryness can impact a recipe at any time during the year (not just in the summer & winter)!
• Other factors that can impact the rise of the dough include old or expired yeast, contaminated yeast (i.e. the yeast was left in an open jar & air moisture contaminated it), water that is too cold or too hot, using heavily chlorinated tap water, placing salt next to or on top of the yeast (salt can kill yeast or inhibit its growth), not covering the dough during the rising period (as the exterior of the dough can dry out & limit the ability to rise), etc.

• You should let your bread cool down for 1-2 hours on the wire cooling rack before you cut any slices (or the slices will be “gummy” and not taste as good as expected). Excess interior moisture is released (via steam) during the cooldown period.
• If you have not made bread in a long time, please buy some NEW bread machine yeast or instant yeast before making your bread. Old yeast can die or lose its potency and this will lead to bread that does not rise properly. Yeast is not likely to be viable if it has been sitting in your pantry for years.
• Once you have opened the container that contains the yeast, the yeast will last longer if you store the bottle in the refrigerator or freezer. Just make sure the bottle is sealed tight (as the yeast will deteriorate quickly if exposed to air, moisture and/or heat).
• FYI – If you like “tropical” baked goods, check out Bread Dad’s recipes for Hawaiian Banana Bread, Coconut Banana Bread and Pineapple Bread.

• You can also use this homemade bread to make one of Bread Dad’s delicious & toasty Panini Recipes.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (i.e. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (i.e. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (i.e. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a bread machine and/or oven. Both can get very hot!
• For more easy bread ideas, please visit Bread Dad’s sections on Bread Machine Recipes and Homemade Bread Recipes.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Bread Machine
2. Wikipedia, Coconut
3. Wikipedia, Pineapple Juice

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