Belizean Creole Coconut Bread Pudding

Sun Diego Eats
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Two for one recipe post! Well one recipe kind of builds on the other but you can totally take a shortcut and use white loaf bread if you don’t want to: make coconut-y Belizean Creole bread from scratch + burn the roof of your mouth trying to eat it right out of the oven and curse the heat transfer coefficient (or is it heat capacity? physics you elusive minx.) of that coconut swirl + eat it with almond butter & bananas OR toasted with cinnamon sugar for breakfast + repeat 3x + realize it got stale + throw it in some now-even-more-extra coconut-y Belizean bread pudding! Yuppp. White loaf bread will do.

So let’s start with the bread pudding. This bread pudding handily contains a lot of flavours I associate with Belize – coconut, a dash of rum, brown sugar and caramelized bananas. Plus a caramelized salty honey glaze that really gives a nice sweet/salty/crunch to the whole thing. As for the Belizean flavours I think coconut and rum are pretty much synonymous with any kind of real or perceived Caribbean vacation but as you may not know, bananas are the largest export product of Belize! The more you know (rainbow noises).Or at least they were in 2002 when I was assigned Belize in my 7th grade geography class project and have, since that fateful day, retained this fairly useless bit of information in my head without ever having a prime opportunity to expel this little nugget of knowledge on some unsuspecting bystander. So I share it with you. Unsuspecting bystander. Edit: Still true!

Also as an aside I now plan on more closely tying my travel posts with my travel food inspired posts because it makes more sense to follow my posts on Caye Caulker and San Ignacio in Belize with a post on coconut Belizean Creole Bread Pudding than say, Sheng Jian Baos or Laotian Beef Curry (both in the works but you will see them after my posts on Shanghai and Laos, respectively).

To really give this over the top coconut-tropical-Belize vibes instead of using traditional white loaf as the recipe called for I used Belizean Creole Bread which is in itself made with coconut milk and coconut oil. In addition to that I added a swirl of coconut sugar-sweetened shredded coconut to the center of the bread. Spiced with the slightest hint of cinnamon and nutmeg with a pillowy soft interior and crunchy dark brown crust this is the perfect bread to eat for breakfast, toasted golden brown with lotssss of butter (or coconut oil to keep the dairy free thing we have going on). Furthermore (such a trying-to-sound-like-an-adult-in-the-conclusion-of-your-SAT-essay-word is it not) using this bread for the bread pudding adds a whole other layer of coconut flavour too. Coconut inception bread pudding.

BELIZEAN CREOLE BREAD

Makes 6 loaves

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 2 tsp + 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 + 1 cups (separated) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups warm coconut milk
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• 2 cups of finely shredded coconut
• 4-6 tablespoons of coconut sugar or honey
• 1/4 cup of warm coconut water (or regular water)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Mix together the warm water, yeast, 2 teaspoons of the brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of the all-purpose flour in a small bowl and set aside for 10 minutes until bubbly.
2. In a bowl mix the warm coconut milk (microwave for ~30-40 seconds), coconut oil, 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and stir together until mostly dissolved. Set aside.
3. Mix together 4 cups of the all-purpose flour and the whole wheat flour in a bowl.
4. Once the coconut milk has cooled to room temperature, pour it into the water and yeast mixture and stir slowly to combine. Make sure the coconut milk mixture is not too hot as that will kill the yeast.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture.
6. Stir together using a wooden spoon until incorporated. If sticky, slowly add some of the additional cup of all-purpose flour until you have a dough that you can knead (not necessarily the whole cup of flour) and won’t stick to your hands excessively.
7. Knead the dough on a floured surface or using a dough hook until smooth, about 5-8 minutes. If the dough becomes stickier as you knead it, add flour by the tablespoon until no longer sticky.
8. Once kneaded place the dough in a pre-greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place (oven with the light on is my go-to) until double in size, about an hour to an hour and a half.
9. While the dough is rising, mix the coconut water, finely shredded coconut and coconut sugar together in a bowl. Mix until fully incorporated and set aside until cool.
10. Once the dough has doubled, punch down and knead for an additional 2-3 minutes.
11. Separate the dough into six parts and using a rolling pin, roll each piece out to a large oval, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thickness.
12. Spread about 4-5 tablespoons of the shredded coconut mixture onto the ovals and then roll them up so you have a coconut swirl in the center of the bread.
13. Place on a greased baking sheet or silpat and let rise for another 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400F.
14. Bake at 400 F/205 C for 40-45 minutes until the tops brown and when you tap the bottom of the loaves they sound hollow.

P.S. If you want to make life slightly harder / have coconuts on hand you can make fresh coconut milk and use the leftover coconut meat in place of the shredded coconut to make the bread! I did this and loved the fresh coconut milk. Having a high-powered blender helps immensely. Here is how to do it.

Bread recipe lightly adapted from here.

Note that to make the bread pudding with the Creole Bread it needs to be stale so it can thoroughly absorb the coconut milk. Also note that raisins are the norm here but I decided to go with dates because I generally don’t love raisins and don’t ever have them on hand even though I do think they may be more appropriate/tasty in this bread pudding recipe than dates. Hence I’m including raisins in the recipe but if you squint closely at the little specks of dried fruit in the pictures yes they are dates. I always have dates on hand because this is becoming my favouritest breakfast/snack/sometimes dinner in the world. But if you have raisins go with raisins!

BELIZEAN CREOLE BREAD PUDDING:

Makes 1 large 9×12 in bread pudding

INGREDIENTS:

Bread Pudding:

• 1⁄4 cup brown sugar
• pinch of allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1 loaf of stale white bread or 3 loaves of stale Creole bread
• 1⁄2 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups of coconut milk
• 3/4 cups of water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1⁄3 cup raisins or dates (probably go with raisins)
• 2 tablespoons of dark rum
• 2 tablespoons hot water.
• 2 eggs, beaten

Salty Honey Crunch Glaze and Caramelized Bananas:

• 1 teaspoon Maldon sea salt flakes
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 2 bananas
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or butter
• 2 tablespoon of coconut sugar or brown sugar
• optional: heavy cream or coconut cream

INSTRUCTIONS:

Bread Pudding:

1. Let the raisins soak in the rum with 2 tablespoons of the hot water and set aside for at least 30 minutes.
2. In the blender combine the sugar, spices, sweetened condensed milk, coconut milk, coconut oil, water, vanilla and eggs. Blend until well mixed.
3. Tear or cut the bread into 1-2 inch pieces and place in a large bowl.
4. Add in the liquid mixture to the bread. Mix well so that none of the bread pieces are dry..
5. Stir the rum-soaked raisins into the mixture. Let the whole thing sit for 1-2 hours.
6. Preheat the oven to 350F.
7. Pour the bread pudding mixture into a greased 9×12 pan and bake at 350F for 50 minutes

Assembly:

1. Once the bread pudding is baked, prepare the salty honey glaze by heating up the honey with the 1/4 cup of sugar and water until dissolved. This can be done in a small saucepan or in the microwave in 30 second increments with stirring in between.
2. Right before serving: brush the honey glaze over the top of the bread pudding, sprinkle with the Maldon sea salt, sprinkle with the extra 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and then caramelize it with a kitchen torch.
3. To make the caramelized bananas turn a pan over to a nonstick medium-high heat pan. As the pan heats, spread the 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar on a shallow plate and dip each banana slice both sides in the brown sugar. Once the pan is hot, add coconut oil to it and lightly toast each slice of banana for 20 seconds a side. You want them toasted brown on the outside but not entirely soft throughout. Make sure you flip them promptly so they don’t burn.
4. Top the bread pudding with the caramelized banana slices and to serve a small amount of some cold cream (coconut or otherwise) on top before eating the hot bread pudding. As an aside I am currently loving Califa Farms Better Half Creamer which is made with coconut and almond milk. It tastes awesome and perhaps most impressively lasts A WHOLE YEAR in the fridge.

Bread pudding recipe lightly adapted from here.

And there you have it. A taste of Belize. One way or another. Sand between your toes, sound of rustling palm trees and ocean breeze not included.

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