12/19: Samoan Dinner - Pani Popo (bread)

adapted from: http://www.samoa.as/recipe9.htm

Here's the recipe for Pani Popo:

5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 package yeast
2 1/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon shortening, margarine, or butter
1 teaspoon salt

Mix 2 1/2 cups of flour and yeast. In a saucepan heat and stir milk;
sugar; shortening, margarine, or butter; and salt til warm and
shortening almost melts. Add to flour mixture. Beat with an electric
mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Using a
spoon, stir in as much remaining flour as you can to make a moderatly
stiff dough that is smooth and easy to pull - 6-8 minutes.
Put some Crisco shortening on your hands. This will add moisture to
your rolls and make it easier to handle. Shape in a ball and put in a
greased bowl. Turn it on both sides to grease the whole ball of
dough. Cover and let rise in the oven on the top rack and below it in
a pan put some hot water. (The steam from the hot water will help it
to rise) about 45 minutes. Punch dough down.

Roll 18 balls and cover for 10 minutes while you make the following
milk mixture.
Mix 2 cans of coconut milk with 1 cup of sugar. (Add more sugar if
you like it sweeter.) In 2 13x9x2 pans, pour in half of the milk
mixture in each pan, put in 9 bread rolls on top (or you can make the
rolls smaller to make more rolls). Bake at 375 degrees in the oven
for 20 minutes or until bread tests done.

My Bread Recipe: (with influence from "bread" book)

• 100% a.p. flour - 434 grams (3 cups)
• 5% milk powder - 21.7 grams
• 5% sugar - 21.7 grams
• 5% butter - 21.7 grams
• 3.5 % heavy cream - 15 grams
• 60% warm water (1/2 hot, 1/2 cold) - 260grams
• 1.8% salt - 7.8 grams
• 2.5% yeast - 10.85 grams

Coconut Milk Mixture:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 2/3 cup of sugar (should have used 1/2 cup if went straight from recipe...my math was wrong)

Procedure:

1. place all ingredients into bread machine
   
2. push "sweet" and "dough"...takes 1 hr 35 min (dough is moderately wet and sticky)
   
3. take out of machine and with only lil flour on fingers, knead dough and into a ball
4. separate into 4 pieces
5. then separate again into 4 balls about 1.5 inch diameter balls
   
6. pour coconut milk + sugar mixture to bottom of a baking pan
7. place dough balls on top of coconut milk mixture
8. sit for 15minutes to rise as oven preheats to 375
9. bake 25 minutes at 375
10. rotate and lower temp to 350 + bake for 15 minutes til done (tops getting dark fast so i lowered the temp)
    
11. end was 205-210 degrees...was 195 at 35 minutes total

Result:

• loved it!
• so airy and light...just like a perfect dinner roll
• coconut milk was excessive..think i can half the recipe yet again...i ate it after reheating and the bottom was soggy because of it...
• think i just want coconut milk to get soaked to the very bottom of bread, not to sit in a pool of it when its done
• ugly look at the bottom as the starch made the coconut milk thick and looking like mashed potato gravy
• everyone liked this a lot