Hawaiian Bread Recipe – Pineapple & Coconut

This Hawaiian bread recipe creates a delicious sandwich bread with a mild taste of pineapple and coconuts. It is soft & slightly sweet bread that my family loves having for breakfast.

My bread does not taste like supermarket Hawaiian rolls. Rather, my Hawaiian bread has a more tropical flavor because it uses pineapple juice and coconut flakes as key ingredients.

Hawaiian Bread – Oven-Baked Version

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

FYI – This recipe shows you how to make the dough in your bread machine, how to shape the dough into a loaf and how to bake the bread in your oven (not bread machine). Many people prefer to make oven-baked bread machine breads because you get a more “traditional” looking bread loaf (versus the typical bread machine “brick” shaped loaf).

However, if you want to make this bread completely with your bread machine (and not use an oven), you will find the details on my Bread Machine Hawaiian Bread page.

Finished Bread After Baking In Oven – Before Butter “Basting”

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 Cups – Pineapple Juice (warm) – 296 milliliters – Use canned pineapple juice or pasteurized pineapple juice. Do NOT use fresh or raw pineapple juice (as they can inhibit the growth of the yeast). See the tips section below for more info on this issue.
• 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 – Loosely packed cup. Coconut flakes/shreds should be DRY (no extra juice). 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 (or Instant Yeast) – 4.5 grams – Not active dry yeast

Servings – Roughly 18 Slices (based on oven-baked version)

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, flexible spatula, cutting board, 9×5 inch metal bread pan, oven mitts, oven, wire cooling rack and a bread machine.

Key Ingredient – Pineapple Juice

Another Key Ingredient – Coconut Flakes

Instructions

• Creating dough with bread machine
• Shaping dough & baking bread in oven

Instructions – Creating Dough with a Bread Machine

• Your bread machine should be unplugged.
• Remove the bread pan from the bread machine (so when you add the ingredients, they can not accidentally spill into the machine).
• 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). Some bakers like to make a small indent on top of the flour to prevent the yeast from spilling into the liquids or mixing with the salt before the machine is turned on.
• Put the bread pan with ingredients back into unplugged bread machine.
• Plug in bread machine. Enter the “Dough” setting on your bread machine and then press the “Start” button.
• When the bread machine has finished making the bread dough, unplug the bread machine.
• Remove the bread pan from the bread machine.
• Now go to the instruction section below on “shaping the dough & baking the bread”.

Instructions – Shaping the Dough & Baking the Bread

• Sprinkle a little bit of flour onto a large cutting board.
• Remove the dough from the bread pan and place the dough on the cutting board.
• Press down on the dough with your hands and create a “flattish” rectangle with the dough. The dough should be roughly 1 inch high.
• Roll up the dough into a tight “jelly roll”. FYI – Please see the short instructional videos in the tips section below on how to shape the dough if you haven’t shaped bread dough before. It is easier to watch & learn from these short videos versus trying to explain the rolling technique step by step.
• Place the rolled up dough into a lightly greased or nonstick bread pan.
• Press down on top of the dough so the edges of the dough press out towards the sides of the bread pan. This should result in little or no gaps between the dough and the bread pan. This helps the bread to turn into a nice loaf shape without any misshapen edges. Make sure that the top of the pressed down dough is roughly level (so one side isn’t much higher than the other).
• Brush vegetable oil on top of the dough with a pastry brush. This prevents the crust from drying out as the dough rises.
• Loosely cover the top of the bread pan with plastic wrap. Set the covered bread pan aside for 60-90 minutes for the dough to rise into a loaf shape. Once the dough has risen 1 – 1.5 inches (2.5 – 3.8 cm) above the rim of the bread pan, the dough should be ready to be placed in the oven. FYI – You want the dough to fully rise during this stage. So don’t try to shorten this rising time. If the dough is still significantly rising while in the oven, you are more likely to see crust/seam cracks or “bursts” in the oven. In addition, the speed of the dough rise will vary in part based on the temperature of your kitchen (e.g. rise faster in the summer & slower in the winter).
• Preheat the oven to 350 F about 20 minutes before you plan to put the dough in the oven. FYI – I like to set my timer to go off 40 minutes after I place the dough in the bread pan. Given variability in the dough rising time, this can be a little early sometimes (but better to be a little early versus being late!).
• Place the bread pan in the (preheated) oven to bake at 350 F for 37-42 minutes. Wear oven mitts when dealing with a hot oven. Place the bread pan in the middle of the oven.
• Rotate the bread pan in the oven after 15-20 minutes (in order to ensure an even browning of the bread).
• After the 37-42 minute baking period has finished, remove the bread pan from the oven. Wear oven mitts. Optional – Use a digital thermometer to confirm that the bread has been fully baked. See tips below.
• Remove the bread from the bread pan and place the bread on a wire cooling rack. Wear oven mitts.
• Optional – Brush melted butter on top of the bread with a pastry brush. This buttery “basting” helps to create a more golden & tasty crust.
• Allow the bread to cool down on the wire cooling rack for 1-2 hours before cutting the bread.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully.

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Dough Rising In Bread Pan

Helpful Tips

• The tips below are designed to help baking & bread making “novices” avoid common baking problems and to be more successful when making this bread recipe.
• Click on our “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 sandwich bread has a MILD tropical taste. Do not expect it to taste like a pineapple cake!
• If you want to bake this bread in your bread machine (and not in an oven), you should visit my Bread Machine Hawaiian Bread page. It has instructions on how to mix, knead & bake my Hawaiian bread in your bread machine (no oven involved).
• Warning – Do not add any extra liquid to this recipe or the recipe will fail. Extra liquid will throw off the liquid-to-dry ingredient ratios of the recipe. Do not try to sneak in some fresh mangoes, papaya or pineapple chunks (which will add extra moisture) because you want a different tropical taste. Do not add coconut juice with the coconut flakes/shreds. Too much moisture leads to an overly wet dough and a much higher chance of an underbaked bread, bread collapses, etc.

• Use canned pineapple juice (NOT fresh pineapple juice) to make this Hawaiian bread recipe.
• Fresh/raw 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/eliminate 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. See the picture below which compares bread made with warm pineapple juice (left bread) and cold pineapple juice (right bread). Cold pineapple juice results in a much shorter bread (as the yeast has trouble growing due to the cold liquid).
• For the best results, the pineapple juice should be around 100-110 F.
• 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.
• FYI – If you like “tropical” baked goods, check out Bread Dad’s recipes for Hawaiian Banana Bread, Coconut Banana Bread and Pineapple Bread.

Left Bread Used Warm Pineapple Juice & Right Used Cold Pineapple Juice

• 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!
• Do not sprinkle coconut flakes on top of the bread (e.g. add coconut flakes to an egg wash on the top crust of the bread) as the coconut flakes can burn in the oven.
• 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.
• These coconut flakes/shred should be DRY (no extra juice).
• Do NOT 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 any 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 us your favorite Hawaiian bread tips in the comment section below.
• Visitor variations & suggestions – Miiko enjoys my Hawaiian bread in a variety of ways such as “toasted with butter, a slightly sweet snack, ham and cheese w/BBQ sauce sandwich, or my favorite…toasted with peanut butter and banana slices…this one is a winner!”

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.
• Use FRESH ingredients (e.g. 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 (e.g. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life and to help prevent exposure to pests, dust, moisture, etc.
• Flour absorbs moisture from the air (if kept in an open bag and not an airtight container). This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to bread collapses, etc.
• This 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).
• My recipe will NOT work with gluten free flour.

• The flattening & shaping of the dough and the press down of the dough in the bread pan is the “punch down” phase. This helps to squeeze out any large bubbles produced by the yeast in the dough.
• If you don’t do this punch down phase, your bread will have large air pockets. Large air pockets are fine for ciabatta-type breads but are not ideal for sandwich bread. The punch down & second rising helps to create a lighter & chewier bread. It also creates a more uniform & tighter bread texture which is better for sandwich breads.
• If you are having problems shaping your dough, you should watch the “how to” instructional videos below. These are links to bread dough shaping videos on Youtube.
• King Arthur Baking Video
• San Diego Artisan Bread School Video
• Father Dominic Video – a slightly different method versus the videos above
• Don’t worry if you are a beginner and the bread top comes out a little lopsided. The bread will still taste great. It takes a little while for new bakers to learn how to shape a bread consistently. 

• How do you know when the dough has risen enough in the second rise (when the dough is in the bread pan)? After letting the dough rise for 60-90 minutes (and when it is roughly 1-1.1.5 inches above the 9×5 bread pan), you can try the “poke test“. Poke your finger into the dough (going in about an inch). If the poke hole rebounds immediately, you need to allow more time for the dough to rise further (it is “under proofed”). If the hole doesn’t come back at all, the dough has risen too much (it is “over proofed”). If the hole slowly fills over 2-3 seconds, the dough is at the right stage of proofing.
• Unfortunately, the temperature of your kitchen can make the timing for this perfect poke result hard to predict (because there is a faster dough rise in hot kitchens and a slower rise in cold kitchens). Experience with “proofing” will make this easier (but it can be a problem for beginning bakers).
• If the dough is “underproofed” (hasn’t risen enough) when you place it in the oven, the bread is more likely to burst/crack when baked in the oven (as the still rising dough will push against the hardening crust and “burst” at the seams of the crust). Bakers try to get around this issue via testing for the right “proofing” level (e.g. use the poke test), “scoring” breads (slicing the top of the dough so the cracks occur where you want them), adding moisture inside the oven (so the dough doesn’t harden as quickly), using a dutch oven (in order to trap the dough moisture inside the dutch oven container & not spread out into the oven), etc.

• Don’t overproof the dough (let it rise too long). This occasionally happens when someone forgets about the rising dough and comes back hours later to check. Overproofed dough leads to deflated dough as well as flat and/or sunken bread tops. According to Wikipedia, “Overproofing occurs when a fermenting dough has rested too long. Its bubbles have grown so large that they have popped and tunneled, and dough baked at this point would result in a bread with poor structure.”
• If your dough is “over proofed”, you might like to read the King Arthur Baking article “How to save over-proofed dough” as it gives tips on how to save the dough.
• The oven-baked version of this bread recipe calls for the use of a 9 x 5 inch bread pan. You can also use a 8.5 x 4.5 inch bread pan but the “crown” of the bread might come out too tall (or overflow) if your yeast is very active.
• To prevent your bread from sticking to the bread pan, you should consider using a nonstick bread pan or either “greasing” the bottom & sides of the interior of the pan with butter, vegetable oil, a cooking spray, etc. Even if you’re using a nonstick pan, you should also consider greasing it (as some nonstick pans become more “sticky” as they age).

• 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 (e.g. 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.
• It takes roughly 15-20 minutes to preheat most ovens with some variability due to the size of the oven, planned baking temperature (hotter takes longer), etc.
• Optional – Use an oven thermometer as your expected oven temperature may be different than reality. Some ovens can be 25-50+ degrees F hotter or colder than the number you set with your oven dial. An oven thermometer (which usually costs less than $10) is an easy way to measure the actual temperature inside your oven.
• Optional – Use a digital bread thermometer to test if your bread is completely done. The interior temperature of the bread should be 190-200 degrees F. This inexpensive tool can save you from underbaked breads.

• 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).

• You can also use this homemade bread to make one of Bread Dad’s hot & toasty Grilled Cheese or Panini Recipes such as air fryer grilled cheese, chicken paninis and ham & cheese paninis.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (e.g. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (e.g. 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 (e.g. 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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