Easy Trinidad Coconut Bake Recipe

Coconut bake is a soft delicious bread that is easy to make with grated coconut meat, coconut milk, yeast and more. It takes just 2 hours to make and is the quintessential comfort food when it is fresh out of the oven.

Coconut bake is a Trini breakfast favorite and goes so well with eggs, saltfish buljol, cheese, butter, stir fried veggies and more. I love it toasted with turkey, cheese and red onions. Yum!

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Coconut bake ingredients

For this recipe, you will need brown or dried coconuts. When buying at the market or store, be sure to shake it so you know there’s liquid inside. That means it’s fresh and perfect for this recipe. You can also use shredded coconut and coconut milk to substitute for the fresh brown coconut.

Other ingredients are typical for making bread recipes like all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, yeast, sugar, nutmeg, butter and warm water.

Equipment for this recipe

A small pairing knife or coconut meat extractor would be helpful to remove the coconut from its shell. You can also use a blender to grind the coconut with warm water.

Watch how to make coconut bake

This video is on my Youtube channel:

https://youtu.be/4vqy9iI-hk0

Step by step instructions

Extract the coconut

Step 1: Crack open the coconuts. To do this, hold the coconut over a bowl or the sink and strike the center of the coconut hard using the back of a cleaver or small mallet. The shell should crack and coconut water should spill out into the bowl. Continue the strikes until the coconut has cracked completely open. By the way, the water is drinkable.

Step 2: Remove the white coconut meat using a small paring knife or a coconut meat extractor. Insert the knife between the meat and the shell and move slowly, twisting slightly to pry the meat out.

Blend

Step 3: Cut the coconut meat into small pieces (you can peel the brown skin on the back of the coconut if you like). Add the pieces to your blender or food processor with about two cups of warm water. Blend until the coconut meat becomes fine. If you are using shredded coconut and coconut milk as the substitutes, you can warm the milk gently before adding to a blender with the shredded coconut. Blend together and continue on.

Proof yeast

Step 4: Add the yeast to the warm blended coconut and set aside to proof for about 15 minutes.

Mix the other ingredients

Step 5: Add the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and nutmeg to a large bowl. Give everything a good mix. Rub softened butter into the dry ingredients. When you’re done, the ingredients should resemble a coarse mixture.

Form the dough

Step 6: Add the blended coconut with the yeast to your dry ingredients. Keep a half cup of warm water on the side just in case you need a little extra liquid. Extra flour will come in handy too.

Step 7: Knead everything together until a soft, smooth dough forms. This will take some time and a little elbow grease but you want to develop the gluten bonds in the dough. Cover the smooth dough and leave to proof for about 30 minutes or so.

Roll out

Step 8: Remove the cover and punch down the dough. Divide it into two. Roll each one out until it is three quarter of an inch thick. If you want the bake thinner, roll out until it is half an inch thick. Place in a buttered tray or dish or cast iron pan. Poke holes in the top with a fork. These allow the gases to escape when baking.

Step 9: Cover the bakes and leave to rest for another 15 minutes or so. Preheat the oven at 400°F while you are waiting for that fifteen minutes to pass.

Bake

Step 10: Bake for 20 – 30 minutes. The bakes are done when the top has browned and the center is cooked all the way through. When they’re done, remove from the heat. You can brush the tops with melted butter at this point to keep the bakes soft and fluffy. Cut into wedges or squares and serve hot.

What to eat with coconut bake?

There are so many sides you can eat with coconut bake. You can enjoy it with cheese, butter, eggs, saltfish buljol, smoked herring, fried plantains, avocado, tomato choka, or stir fried vegetables. Anything you enjoy with bread will taste great with coconut bake.

Here are more bread recipes on the blog:

• trinidad hops bread
• trinidad white bread
• whole wheat bread
• foccacia with rosemary
• coconut sweet bread

Soft Trinidad coconut bake recipe

Trini coconut bake calories

If this recipe provides 16 servings, one serving of this Trini coconut bake will provide 180 Calories. The all purpose flour and the coconut meat are the main contributors to the calorie count.