Pan de Coco or Coconut Bread Recipe

My daughter tried to make a  coconut candy which reminds me of the  conserva I used to eat as a kid.  It did not turned out the way she  wanted it to so she  ditched the idea of consuming it.  I don't like throwing food so I thought why not  try to make pan de coco and use it as a filling.  Pan de Coco is a  popular bread  in the Philippines with coconut filling, it is basically a coconut bread.  I don't like to bake but  I kind of miss home  seeing the candy that my daughter made so I had the courage to try making this bread that I love eating when I was a kid.  The recipe is below.  If you find the filling instruction a little complicated, just use the simpler one you can find online.  My daughter wrote the  recipe for the filling.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2  Cups bread flour
• ¾ Cup warm milk
• 2 Teaspoon rapid rise yeast
• ¼ Cup white sugar
• 4 Egg yolks
• ½ Tablespoon salt
• ¾ Cup melted butter
• Egg whites with 1 tsp of water for egg wash

Filling

• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1/4 plus 2 teaspoons water
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 cups coconut flakes

Cooking Instructions:

• Pre heat the oven to 350°F
• Mix together warm milk, yeast, and sugar.  Set aside,  it should be bubbly when it's ready.
• Mix flour and salt, add melted butter and egg yolks.  Then add the yeast mixture.
•  Using a spatula oe wooden sppon, m ix well to form a dough.  You can use mixer for this but I used my hand to mix it even though I have a mixer.
• Turn dough into a well-floured surface and knead until soft and elastic then place the kneaded dough in a pre-greased bowl.
• Cover with a damp waem cloth and allow to rise for 1 to  2 hours.
• Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces,  each pieces of dough should have at least 4 rolls.
• Form dough into a ball, flatten it  with a  rolling pin.
• Place about 1 tablespoon of filling at the center.  Then pinch all the side together and twist to seal the edges.
• Place pinched side down on parchment paper or aluminum foil.
• Cover with cloth and let it rise  again for about 30 minutes to an  hour.
• Bake  for about 5 minutes, brush the top with egg wash. then bake it  for another 15 minutes or until top becomes golden brown

Filling Instructions:

• Place sugar and water into a saucepan and heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
• Wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush and leave unstirred, until the syrup becomes golden (approx. 365 F).
• Stir in milk, butter, and coconut milk, after steam goes away, mix until smooth.
• Add a thermometer and heat until it reaches 230 F.
• Take off of the heat and add in coconut flakes.
• Pour into container and let cool.

Note:

-Cream can be substituted for the milk to make a richer, creamier filling.

Freshly baked pan de coco. I don't like to #bake but when I am missing home, I tend to make food that reminds me if #home!

A photo posted by Chubskulit Rose (@chubskulitrose) on May 16, 2016 at 2:53pm PDT