I am a fan of all things bread. In fact, I've yet to meet a bread I did not like. And of course included in the bread category would be cinnamon rolls, my favorite.
But bread has always been my go to snack. I like it toasted with butter and jelly, I like it fresh out of the oven, I like it five days old at room temperature, I'm really not picky.
On Sunday, I was making some teriyaki chicken with rice. Typically with rice, I don't see the need for a bread, but it was Sunday and I wanted to bake so I decided to try a new recipe: Hawaiian Sweet Bread. The only reason why I felt the two items should even share the same meal is because they had a common ingredient...pineapple juice. I'm logical like that! It was a recipe a friend had made and it was delicious.
Side note: the same day I made three large loaves of sweet bread, I also noticed my bananas were going bad. I couldn't let a banana go to waste so to add to the three loaves, we also had two loaves of banana bread and some muffins. I told you I like bread!
Hawaiian Sweet Bread
Ingredients
7 to 7-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup mashed potato flakes
2/3 cup sugar
2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup butter, softened (use real butter - margarine does funny things!)
1 cup pineapple juice
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
In a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour, potato flakes, sugar, yeast, salt and ginger. In a small saucepan, heat the milk, water, butter and pineapple juice to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Add eggs; beat until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/4 hours. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into thirds. Shape each into a ball. Place in three greased 9-in. round baking pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cover loosely with foil if top browns too quickly. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Yield: 3 loaves (12 wedges each).
