Vegan coco bread - these fluffy, buttery Jamaican bread rolls are made with coconut milk which gives them a mild sweetness and a soft, tender texture.
These pocket shaped buns are easy to make with just a few staple ingredients and are perfect for making sandwiches with!
What Is Coco Bread?:
Jamiacan coco bread is a soft, tender, slightly sweet sandwich bread usually made with coconut milk. The coconut flavour is very subtle, but it gives the bread a really lovely rich texture.
They are shaped like folded half moons or triangles, meaning that they are really easy to split open and stuff with fillings to make sandwiches; one popular option is to stuff the coco bread with a Jamaican patty.
Many coco bread recipes contain egg, but it is very easy to make them without it to make them vegan friendly.
What To Serve With Coco Bread:
Vegan coco bread is really versatile and works well with both sweet and savoury fillings. Why not try them:
- Stuffed with a Jamaican patty.
- For breakfast with butter and jam.
- Alongside soups and stews to mop up the juices.
- As a side with curry.
- To make an incredible PB&J sandwich.
- To make lunchtime sandwiches with any fillings you like!
Ingredient Details:
Coconut milk: You will need full fat tinned coconut milk to make the dough; light will work in a pinch but don't use coconut drinking milk instead.
Bread flour: White bread flour helps to give this bread its soft, fluffy, chewy texture. Plain (all-purpose) flour will work though the texture isn't quite as good. I don't recommend using wholemeal flour as that will make the bread too dense.
Instant/fast action yeast: I always prefer to use fast action yeast when making bread as it can just be added straight to the flour and doesn't need to be activated first.
Salt: You simply cannot make good bread without salt. Don't omit it.
Vegan butter: While in most cases I only recommend using a block butter for baking, in this case a tub variety is fine as well (but not one of the low-fat ones!). I used Flora Original. You can also swap the butter for coconut oil.
Sugar: Either caster or granulated sugar will work, I do not recommend swapping this for any other kind of sugar.
How To Make Vegan Coco Bread:
(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)
- Step 1: Mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Add the coconut milk, melted butter and a splash of water; mix to form a rough dough.
- Step 2: Knead the dough on an unfloured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth and stretchy and it passes the windowpane test.
- Step 3: Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and set aside to rise until doubled in size.
- Step 4: Give the risen dough a brief knead and divide it into 10 even portions. Shape them into balls.
- Step 5: Roll a ball of dough out into a circle and brush with melted butter.
- Step 6: Fold the dough in half to form a crescent shape.
- Step 7: Repeat with the rest of the balls of dough and place them spaced apart on a couple of lined baking sheets.
- Step 8: Cover and leave to rise until puffy.
- Step 9: Bake the vegan coco breads for 15-20 minutes then brush with melted butter. Leave to cool and then serve.
Top Tips:
USE SCALES. As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scales rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
Tablespoon and teaspoon measurements are for standard measuring spoons, NOT regular kitchen spoons. A Tablespoon is 15ml and a teaspoon is 5ml and they should be level, not heaped.
Make sure that your yeast isn't out of date! Old yeast can lead to dough that doesn’t rise.
The rising time of the dough will vary depending on how warm it is; on hot days it will rise much faster than on cold ones.
If you want, you can give the dough it’s first rise overnight in the fridge rather than at room temperature. This breaks up the workload and gives the bread an even better flavour.
Make sure that you give the coconut milk a good whisk beforehand to combine the fats and liquids. You can also gently warm it up to make it easier to combine.
Resist the urge to add extra flour to the dough; a soft, slightly sticky dough means light, soft bread; adding too much flour will give it a dense texture.
The recipe makes 10 smallish rolls, you can make 8 instead if you want bigger ones.
You can roll the dough out thicker or thinner depending on how puffy you want the coco bread to be.
FAQ's:
These vegan coco breads are best eaten on the day they are baked but they will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Yes, the baked vegan coco breads can be frozen once they have cooled completely. Freeze on the day they are baked to preserve freshness.
They should be frozen in an airtight container or well wrapped to protect from freezer burn. Allow to defrost at room temperature then refresh in a low oven for 10 minutes or in the microwave for 20-30 seconds before serving. I do not recommend freezing unbaked bread.
No, I’m afraid that you cannot use gluten free flour. Making gluten free bread is tricky and the entire recipe would need reworking. Gluten free baking is not my area of expertise so I cannot advise you. It is best to use a recipe that is designed to be gluten free rather than trying to adapt a non gluten free recipe.
If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess
All images and content on Domestic Gothess are copyright protected. If you want to share this recipe then please do so by using the share buttons provided. Do not screenshot or post the recipe or content in full.
Vegan Coco Bread
Ingredients
- 435 g (3 + ⅔ cups) white bread flour
- 2 Tablespoons caster or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 7 g (2 ¼ teaspoons) instant/fast action yeast
- 250 g (1 cup) full fat tinned coconut milk well shaken/whisked
- 45 g (3 Tablespoons) vegan butter melted
- 1-2 Tablespoons water
- 45 g (3 Tablespoons) vegan butter melted, for brushing
Instructions
- Mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast together in a large bowl.435 g (3 + ⅔ cups) white bread flour, 2 Tablespoons caster or granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 7 g (2 ¼ teaspoons) instant/fast action yeast
- Stir in the coconut milk and melted butter. Add 1-2 Tablespoons of warm water as needed to pick up all of the dry flour and form a soft, slightly sticky dough.250 g (1 cup) full fat tinned coconut milk, 45 g (3 Tablespoons) vegan butter, 1-2 Tablespoons water
- Turn the dough out onto an unfloured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until it becomes very smooth and stretchy and passes the windowpane test - you can stretch a portion of it thinly enough to see light through without it tearing.
- Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and set aside to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.
- Give the risen dough a brief knead to knock out any air bubbles then divide it into 10 even portions (use a scale for accuracy). Shape them into balls.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll one of the balls of dough out into a circle about 15 cm/6 in wide. Brush the surface with melted butter.45 g (3 Tablespoons) vegan butter
- Repeat with the rest of the balls of dough and place them spaced apart on a couple of lined baking sheets.
- Loosely cover with oiled clingfilm and set aside to rise until puffy, about 30-45 minutes. If you gently press the dough with your finger it should spring back slowly, and maybe leave a slight indentation. If it springs back quickly then it needs a little longer, and if the dough deflates then it is over-prooved so keep an eye on them!
- While the coco bread is rising, preheat the oven to 180℃/160℃ fan/350℉/gas mark 4.
- Bake the risen bread for 15-20 minutes until nicely browned and a probe thermometer inserted into the centre should reach at least 90°C/194°F.
- Brush the baked bread with more melted butter then transfer them to a wire rack to cool before serving.
Notes
- See post above for tips, details and step-by-step photos. If you have a question about the recipe I may have already answered it above!
- As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
- Make sure that you give the coconut milk a good whisk beforehand to combine the fats and liquids. You can also gently warm it up to make it easier to combine.
Leave a Reply