For the second day of exploring the Southern hemisphere regions, I chose to make these delicious Lolo Buns. I first saw these delicious coconut buns in Sowmya’s blog and was tempted to make them since then. A few days after Priya Suresh made these delicious Lolo Buns again and I bookmarked the recipe once again. Finally, I got a perfect theme to make these buns as I was choosing three different countries from the Southern Hemisphere and these Fijian Coconut Buns fit the theme perfectly.
Does the Bun have coconut in it?
Don’t let the name ‘Coconut Bun’ mislead you. These Lolo Buns | Fijian Coconut Buns are made with enriched bread dough and are baked along with coconut milk or coconut cream. ‘Lolo’ means coconut milk and these buns when baking is also simultaneously ‘steamed’ in coconut milk. This gives the bun a very amazing coconut flavor and also makes the bun very soft. The Lolo Buns, are typically made with eggs in the dough. But, I adapted to Sowmya’s method where she used vital wheat gluten in the dough that made the buns extra soft and spongy.
What kind of coconut milk to use?
If it was a normal day, I would have used the coconut milk from the can. It has been a while since I went shopping and I realized that I did not have any coconut milk in my pantry. So, I went ahead and made my own coconut milk. I soaked some freshly grated coconut in warm water, ground it, and extracted the milk from it. If I was doing any change to the recipe when baking it again, it would be to use a little sugar in the coconut milk. I sort of missed the sweetness (maybe my coconut was not sweet enough) and a little sugar would have definitely helped enhance the flavor. This bun had one of the most wonderful textures. I will be using this recipe to make my Pav Buns for Pav Bhaji. The Pav Buns that I make are made using the Tangzhong technique and are a little time consuming than this recipe. I will just be making the rolls a little smaller when making them as Pav buns and would skip the coconut milk. Preparation time - 10 minutes plus about 3 hours of Proofing time Baking time - 25 to 30 minutes Difficulty level - Intermediate Recipe adapted from - Here and Here
Ingredients to make Lolo Buns - makes 6 large buns
All-purpose flour - 2 cups Vital wheat gluten - 1 TBSP Instant Yeast - ½ TBSP Sugar - 3 TBSP Salt - 1 tsp Butter - 4 tablespoon (melted) Milk - 1 cup (lukewarm) Coconut milk - 1 cup
Procedure to make Fijian Coconut Buns -
Making the dough -
I made the dough using my food processor. We could use a stand mixer or knead the dough by hand as well.
Combine the flour, vital wheat gluten, instant yeast, sugar, and salt in the bowl of the mixer.
Melt the butter and add it to the flour mixture. Now slowly add the warm milk to the flour mixture and knead to make a very soft dough.
Make a ball out of the dough and place it in an oiled bowl. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel and place it in a warm place to rise. It took me about an hour and a half for the dough to rise and double in volume.
Shaping and Baking the buns -
Once the dough has risen for the first time, gently punch it down and divide it into 6 equal pieces.
Roll each piece into a ball and place it in a greased baking dish. I used a rectangular pan to bake the buns.
Cover the dough again and let it rise for the second time. It took me less than an hour for the rolls to double in size.
When the dough is rising for the second time, prepare the coconut milk if you are making it from scratch.
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Once the dough rises, add the coconut milk on top of the buns. One cup of coconut milk is enough. Do not add more as it will start to splatter in the oven when baking.
Bake the rolls for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the buns are golden brown on top and sound hollow when tapped.
The base of the buns will be moist as it is also steaming in coconut milk. By the end of the baking time, you will also notice that the coconut milk has almost been absorbed.
Remove the pan from the oven and let the buns cool in the pan for a few minutes. Serve the buns warm with butter and/or jam.
More Breakfast Ideas
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