Pandan Coconut Loaf 香兰椰浆吐司

An aromatic loaf of bread which has the sweet aroma of pandan (screwpine) and rich coconut cream. This slightly sweetened bread just needs a thin coat of bread spread to make a palatable light snack for an afternoon tea :)

The added fresh pandan juice posed a challenge to kneading the dough by hands. It seems to hinder the formation of glutens, which caused the dough to disintegrate easily. But an extended kneading time will slowly overcome it :)

Yield: 20x10x16 cm loaf

Weight: 554g

Pandan juice

70g water

20g pandan leaf

Blend the two ingredients in a powerful food processor or blender for about 30 seconds.

Keep the juice in an air-tight container and store in the fridge till needed.

Ingredients

20g concentrated pandan juice 浓香兰汁

100g whole milk 全脂牛奶

40g coconut cream 浓椰浆

20g condensed milk 炼乳

3/4 tsp instant dry yeast 即发酵母粉

270g bread flour 高筋面粉

20g top flour 低筋面粉

40g fine sugar

30g multigrain soya pulp 五谷豆渣*

30g beaten egg 蛋液

1/4 tsp salt 盐

30g unsalted butter 无盐奶油

Some beaten egg for glazing 蛋液

* you may replace the multigrain soya pulp by 20g whole milk and 10g top/cake flour

 * 可将五谷豆渣以20g 全脂牛奶和10g 低筋面粉取代。

Directions 

1. Add pandan juice, whole milk, coconut cream, condensed milk to a heat resistant bowl.  Keep warm the mixture in the rice cooker for about 5 minutes. 

If the temperature of the mixture exceeds 38 degree Celsius, allow the mixture to cool down before adding yeast.

2. Sprinkle instant dry yeast over the milk mixture without stirring it. Let the mixture stands for about 15 minutes to activate the yeast.

3. Mix the rest of the ingredients, except yeast milk mixture and butter, in a mixing bowl. 

4. Pour in the yeast milk mixture from (2). And stir the mixture in one direction till it forms into a lump.

Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes to allow the flour to absorb the liquid.

5. After the 20 minutes rest, turns the dough onto a floured work top. 

Knead the dough by slamming - pulling -folding and turning in repeated steps till the dough becomes smooth. This process takes about 5 to 10 minutes.

As the dough is quite sticky, wearing a pair of disposable CPE gloves would make handling of the dough easier.

Pictures for illustration 

6. Spread out the dough and apply softened butter onto it. Knead to incorporate butter into the dough.

Picture for illustration 

7. When the butter has well incorporated into the dough, repeat the slamming-pulling-folding and turning steps till you get an elastic dough. This process take about 15 to 20 minutes.

8. Place the dough in a lightly greased mixing bowl, spray some water, cover, and allow the dough to proof for 1 hour, or till the dough doubles in size.

9.  After the proofing, invert the dough onto a floured surface. Flatten the dough with your palm to released the trapped air.

10. Fold in the four sides to the center.

Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.

11. After the rest, sprinkle some flour over the dough, and flip it over.

Roll the dough out. The width of the dough should correspond to the length of the mould.

Flip the dough over again, so the smoother side will be facing out when roll up later.

12. Roll up the dough starting from the shorter end.

13. Lower the dough into the mould, spray some water, and let it proof in a closed oven for about 1 hour, or till the dough reaches the rim of the mould.

14. Remove the dough and mould from the oven, and start to preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Brush beaten egg over the top surface of dough.

15. Bake the dough at 180 degree Celsius for about 38 to 48 minutes, at lower rack of the oven.

Baking time varies depending on individual oven.

If the top of the dough starts to brown at about 20 minutes into baking, cover the top with an aluminum sheet. 

16. After the bread has baked through, remove the mould from the loaf immediately. Allow the loaf to cool down on a cooling rack.

17. Slice the loaf after it has completely cool down :)