Belizean Creole Bread

This is one of those breads that my mother never made but that always reminds me of home because of how many times I ate it on market day when we were in town. I hadn't thought about it until a couple weeks ago when I came across a treasure trove of Belizean recipes online. They were posted on recipehound.com in some ancient format by a Belizean lady named Erleen Godfrey. Thanks to her, I made creole bread from scratch for the first time this week and it turned out wonderfully, puffing up in the oven and browning to a beautiful rich tone. Thank you Ms. Erleen, wherever you may be:).

Belizean creole bread would be a plain white bread were it not for the special secret ingredient: coconut milk, which transforms it into something fragrant and delicious, with a soft and airy crumb, easy to slice and even easier to eat; plain, or toasted with jam or butter or a slice of Dutch edam cheese. Back home us kids used to eat it with Unilever's infamous Blue Band Margarine-the tinned margarine of the masses sold across the developing world. Creole bread would also make a great base for some fabulous coconut scented french toast or bread pudding. I have leftovers from my office Thanksgiving party and am looking forward to further experimentation.

Belizean Creole Bread

1 and 1/2 cups coconut milk (preferably organic. I use the lowfat version, but it really doesn't matter which you choose. *)
5-8 cups of white flour (the amount you will need depends upon the humidity in your region. Here in DC I usually only use about 6 cups.)
2 tsps of instant yeast
1/2 cup of vegetable oil (I used canola oil this time but next time around I plan to use organic coconut oil to up the coconut flavour even more.)
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

*If you want to stick with tradition, make your coconut milk from scratch instead of buying it in a can: pierce the eye of a mature coconut with an ice pick and drain the coconut water into a pot. Then break open the nut with a hammer or heavy knife and remove and finely grate the coconut meat-you can use a heavy duty food processor for this. Heat up the coconut water to medium heat on the stove and mix the grated meat into it, then turn off the heat and let it stand for about 15 minutes, stirring and mashing around the grated meat so that the water turns milk-coloured and opaque. Then strain the whole shebang through a cloth. The resulting white liquid is the real deal-fresh coconut milk, always much superior to the canned stuff. If you put it in your fridge, coconut cream will rise to the top, which, when thoroughly chilled, can be whipped just like dairy cream. So one day, when you feel like doing something different, pick up one of those coconuts at the supermarket and give fresh coconut milk a try!

Procedure

1. Proof the yeast. Mix together the 1/2 cup warm water, 2 tsp yeast, 2 tsp sugar and 2 tbsp of flour in a small bowl and set aside for 10 minutes.

2. Warm milk, fat, sugar, and salt in the microwave for about 20 seconds-stir together and set aside. Don't let the mixture boil, you just want to heat it up a bit. Sift 5 cups of flour into a large bowl.

3. Once the milk mixture has cooled enough that you can comfortably stick a finger in it, mix it into the yeast.

4. Add wet ingredients to the flour. Mix with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. If sticky, add flour until you have a dough that you can knead.

5. Dust your counter with flour and knead the dough until smooth, about 5-8 minutes. If the dough becomes sticky as you knead just sprinkle with flour as required. You may have to add up to a cup of flour at this stage depending on the humidity of your kitchen.

6. Put in greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let rise until double in size. Punch down and knead for two or three minutes. Make into two large or six small round balls. Place on a greased pan-let rise again, bake at 400 F/205 C for 30-35 minutes until the tops brown and the bottom of a loaf, when tapped, sounds hollow.