Hawaiian Flop-bread

Well, I've had a good run at making bread. I guess I was due for a major fail.

I found this recipe for Hawaiian Sweet bread over at Taste and Tell. Oh that Hawaiian bread sounded so good, I could taste the light fluffy sweet cloud like slices. I thought it would be a perfect addtion to our Thanksgiving meal. So what happened? My bread never rose. I either had the liquid too hot, or too cold or the yeast had lost it's oomph.

After 5 hours of nothing I was finally ready to admit defeat and face the music. This bread was a dud. As I was lamenting to Mrblocko, we came up with the idea to see if we couldn't make flat bread out of the dough. Ahah!!! Success!!!!!

The flatbread turned out delicious. I left one third plain, put orange infused cinnamon sugar on the other third, and Bavarian seasoning on the last third. (As tangent Bavarian seasoning is totally awesome in scrambled eggs.) I baked these flatbreads at 450F for about 8 minutes. Please do yourself a favor if you are going to make flat bread and bake it on parchment paper. The bread will stick to your cookie sheet and make you say naughty words as you try to pry it from the clutches of the pan. Trust me, parchment is the way to go.

This made quite a bit of flat bread. We reheated the leftovers on a skillet for a few minutes to soften them up. They are especially tasty when they are warm right off the pan.

I'm glad that I was able to salvage the bread into something edible. I think I will try this recipe again and use a thermometer to make sure the liquid is at the proper temperature to bloom the yeast.

Hawaiian Sweet Bread from Taste and Tell makes 1 1/2 pound loaf
1/2 cup milk, warmed
1 1/2 packages dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 cup evaporated milk or light cream
5 tablespoons butter
large pinch nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
4 cups bread flour
4 eggs, lightly beaten, plus 1 egg beaten for glaze
1 teaspoon salt

Mix milk, yeast and 1/2 t sugar. Allow to stand til mixture is bubbly. In a saucepan, warm evaporated milk. Add butter, nutmeg, sugar and lemon peel. Stir til butter melted. Place flour in a large bowl. Add eggs, yeast mix and salt. Add enough evaporated milk mix just to form a soft dough. Knead 15 min.
Allow loaf to rise to double it’s size. Punch down and let rise again. Form into a round loaf and allow to rise one more time. Preheat the oven to 325F. Mix egg with 1 T water and brush it on top of the loaf of bread.Bake in the preheated oven for about 50 min.