Thursday, September 28, 2006

Pan de Coco

Yesterday my Filipina friends and I were scheduled (or so I thought) to have a lunchdate at the house of another Filipina, but we decided to meet here at my home before going there. I was the first person called by that hostess, and I was tasked to inform the others about it.

So we went...and our hostess Vengie (in blue shirt, sandwiched by me in yellow and Fe in red) was pleasantly surprised to see us because we were supposed to meet NEXT WEDNESDAY...Ooops! Sorry! (blush!) Though surprised, since she was not able to attend our picnic last August at Ana's (in blue tank top) tabing-ilog, she was pleased nonetheless, although apologetic that she did not cook anything. No problem, because I bought a pan (last batch) of savory chicken feet, some palitaw (which she missed that day I made them the first time), and some pan de coco (one for each of us). Fe brought Alaskan salmon (caught by her husband), and Daisy (the one who holds a baby) brought veggies, rice and fried fish, which we ate with tomato-soy sauce dip. Ana was exempted because of her two babies to take care of.

Anyway, I was not planning to make pan de coco. The night before, I was debating on which one to prepare: palitaw or pan de coco. I thought palitaw was easier to make, so I made those, about 15 pieces, but had excess coconut (about 7 heaping tablespoons), so I ended up planning to bake them the next morning (Wednesday). I used the Parker House Rolls recipe (same dough I use for siopao) was able to make only 9 pieces, and I left the rest of the dough plain. Fe came to my house first, so I offered it, with a warning to have only one ("Tig-iisa lang kayo!"). When she finished it, she was looking longingly at the rest. "Bitin ba?" (Do you want more?) "Bakit kasi konti lang ginawa mo?" (Why did you make only a few?) You know the story...Hehe...

Here's how:

INGREDIENTS:
Prepared dough (any sweet bread recipe; I used same dough as in siopao, but I have also tried Buttery Sweet Bread recipe using bread machine)
grated coconut (either bought frozen, or grate your own; see my palitaw post in old kusina)
white or light brown sugar (Note: I had about 2-1/2 cups of mixed coconut-sugar, proportion of 1 part coconut:2 parts sugar)

Buttery Sweet Bread recipe (dough cycle only; I used 1-1/2lb loaf to make 21 pcs)-

1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup water
1 large egg
1/4 cup butter or margarine, cut up
1 tsp salt
3-1/3 cup bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp BM yeast

To prepare Buttery Sweet Bread dough:
Warm all liquid ingredients to room temp (80-100 deg F) and place in BM pan. Then place all dry ingredients. Run on dough cycle (about 1.5 hrs)

INSTRUCTIONS:
The night before you serve, mix grated coconut with granulated sugar (white or light brown), 1:2 ratio (i.e., I had 7 heaping tbsp of grated coconut which I mixed with 14 exact tbsp (not heaping) of sugar (you may want to taste first then adjust; really , it is up to you). Let this sit in a covered container in the fridge, so that it draws out moisture from the coconut and creates a wonderful caramel-y coconut-y taste. If you plan to bake right away, at least prepare this before your dough so it will sit for sometime before baking. Also, prepare the dough (you may want to use Parker House Rolls; see my beef asado siopao post) and leave it in the fridge overnight. You may also use the Buttery Sweet Bread recipe as above on the day you are going to bake.

Pinch off dough about size of pingpong balls and place on greased baking sheet to let rise for about 10 minutes, covered with greased plastic.

Proceed with filling the buns the same way you would the siopao. Place on parchment paper-lined baking pan. FLATTEN a bit. See slide show.

Allow the filled buns to rise for 30 minutes, in a warm place free of draft (on top of a flat stove covered with damp flour sack or greased cling wrap, or inside a warm oven).

Bake in 400 deg F for 12-15 minutes (it browns quickly). Brush with softened butter as soon as they come out. Let cool about 1-2 minutes before eating, or about 10 minutes those you will not consume right away, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely before storing in ziploc bags.


When I removed these from the oven, some of the coco-caramel oozed out of the buns and made a somewhat chewy caramel film on the paper, which I detached and savored. Yum!

Vengie, the hostess, asked me to bring pan de coco next week (the real schedule), as she has some Filipino friends who will be coming over from NY. Oh, and she requested to have some yeast rolls baking session with me in the near future (I feel flattered and honored!). She loves baking muffins and cakes, but does not know how to deal with yeast rolls. I love yeast rolls, because I grew up with such (typical ordinary) bakery goodies in PI. Back then, cakes and muffins were more expensive and bought only from SM or some specialty bakeshops, and what I had for ordinary snacks were mostly yeast rolls and breads, in the likes of pan de sal, pan de coco, monay, patigas, "tasty" (American pan bread), spanish bread, ensaymada, pan de regla (we at my father's bakery called them "pula"), etc., and I was lucky to have had any of these fresh and hot out of the oven before they even made it to the display area of our store. Now, I am getting more and more comfortable baking them, and loving the nostalgic trip as I knead and shape the dough. My husband happens to love yeast rolls as well, so although it is quite laborious and more time-consuming than muffins and cakes, I do enjoy making them.

UPDATE: 11-24-08
A very inspiring email was sent to me:
Hi Manang,
Hafa Adai from the island of Guam U.S.A!

Isa ako sa mga taga-hanga mo,mahilig din akong magluto pero di sing galing mo.
Marami na ko na-try na recipes online pero most of them ay palpak.I tried your pan de coco recipe at ako ay humanga pati asawa ko kasi perfect talaga.Mula ngayon site mo na lang pagtitiwalaan ko at gusto ko try lahat nga recpes mo.

Hanga ako sa blog mo ,sa slide show ,recipes at sipag mo.Superwoman ka yata ah!Pano mo nmn nagagawa lahat yan!!!Hanga ako talaga.You're the best.

People like you give me the motivation...Thanks a bunch for the kind words!

43 comments:

Pinoy Pan de Sal said...

hello po manang! i read ur comment :-) kakatawa ka hehe!

na-miss ko ang pan de coco. hmm.. makabili nga bukas. at ung pan de regla din.. yeah better if you call them "pula" - its much tamer haha!

matindi ang bagyo dito at nasa state of calamity ang manila.

Manang said...

sachiko,
was it easier now to see my beta blogger blog?
naku, di lang marami kaming pinoys here, sandamakmak pa ang mga doktor dito na Pinoy (both working as MD or other jobs), at mababait sila ha. Hindi mga isnab!
dali lang naman gawa ng homemade palitaw basta me niyog ka.

pinoy pan de sal,
naaliw din ako sa post mo eh, kaya I could not help but leave a comment...I usually just lurk around.

jane said...

hello po...namimiss ko ang pan de coco,that's why im plannning to make some tom.. question lang po,pwede po ba ang dough ng paggawa ng pan de sal? pra po di na po me mahirapan magknead at lalagay ko na lang sa bread machine. tska po pano ko po hahatiin? i mean may timbang k po ba para mahati ng pantay-pantay ang tinapay? thanks po.at malaki po ang naitutulong ng site nyo sa isang tulad ko.=)

Manang said...

Hi jane,
pwede mo gamitin yung dough ng pan de sal. Pag hahatiin mo na, can't remember ano yung weight, pero approximately kasinglaki ng pingpong ball.

Kat said...

wow! thanks for sharing your recipes! my aunt is an all-out pinay cook so nagpahanap sya ng recipes and i came across your blog. thanks for posting your recipes! :)

Manang said...

Hi Kat,

Thanks for dropping by. Some of my earlier recipes are posted in my old kusina (manangkusinera.blogspot.com)

Please give my regards to your aunt.

Anonymous said...

pede nyo po ba akong turuan gumawa ng pichie pichie?...salamat e2 po email ad ko www.yzza_fule@yahoo.com

Luz said...

Hi Manang, I made pandecoco yesterday using the parker house rolls recipe, I am proud nakagawa ako hahaha.. kahit na mahirap magknead but I enjoyed making them, I brought them to a birthday party yesterday ,I felt great 'coz they like it...that is.. because of your site malaking tulong ka talaga.Sabi ng hubby ko bakit di na lang daw ako bumili ng ready made di pa ako mapapagod, as long as nageenjoy ako at kinakain nila okay lang hahaha.

Manang said...

Hi Luz,
Try to use the recipe for pan de sal to make the dough para bread machine ang mag-knead. Then just put the filling in, and proceed as is. Ganon gawain ko pag tinatamad ako. :)

Luz said...

Unfortunately I do not have bread machine,besides if I buy one I do not have space
sa small kitchen ko...maybe in the future...I have a question sa pandesal recipe mo, pareho din ba ang instructions even wala akong BM?Thanks

Manang said...

Hi Luz,
I was teaching a friend of mine how to make pandesal and her BM was missing the paddle at the time, so we went ahead and just mixed and knead by hand (just up to the point na ok na yung dough) and put in a greased bowl, let rise (covered with plastic para hindi matuyot) for about one hour then punched and shaped then cut. Eyeball lang sa rising time. So you can do the same thing. Prep dough (give it <30 minutes mixing and kneading), let rise 1 hr covered with plastic, punch and cut about pingpong ball size, let rise on greased pan covered with plastic, then put the coconut filling as usual. Flatten and let rise some more then proceed as directed above. Thing is, BM yeast comes in a small jar, which is good to use within 6 months. So, if you will go for this, be ready to use that up within that time. :)

ellen said...

hello manang, i am making pan de coco, just waiting for the dough to rise, i think i am going to let it sit for 24 hours. ok lng ba un? same p rin b un dough lalabas? at un filling n coco, do i have to cook or melt the brown sugar then mix it with the coconut or the sugar will just melt on its own eventhough nasa ref? pag nagmelt n un brown sugar idederetso ko na sa dough un filling d n kelangan iheat or something? tpos bake n agad. thanks again.

ellen said...

hi again, me pahabol p pala ako request. nakagawa k na ba ng macaroons? penge me ng recipe and how to do it. thanks again ng marami. ill tell u about the outcome ng aking pan de coco pag naluto na.

Manang said...

Hi Ellen, as long as the dough is in the fridge, ok lang. Otherwise, mapapanis (will be very sour pag over-risen). Yung filling, you just mix the sugar (I use white) with the coconut and let it sit at least overnight in the fridge. Since sugar will dissolve in some moisture, the resulting solution becomes "hypertonic" and will tend to draw more moisture from the coconut by the process of osmosis, so that by after sometime, the coconut swims in its own juice that turned syrupy because of the sugar. When baked (or cooked), this syrup becomes caramelized and gives you that mouth-watering coconut flavor we all love. (pasensya na sa chem lecture). :)

Manang said...

Hi Ellen,
I have tried macaroon before but i was not too pleased with the result (can't remember what recipe it was), and that was using the sweetened coconut flakes. Maybe I should try making them with freshly grated coconut.

ellen said...

hi manang, i just got done making the pan de coco. it was good even though un dough was not soft. i still loved it cause its my favorite. anyways, i wanna know if it is normal to have a hard bun or it should be soft? and also i dont have coconut oil kya un vegetable oil ginamit ko, bka that was the reason why the end product is hard. thanks.

ellen said...

heheh this is funny, i dont know where i got the coconut oil from but when i print the recipe of pan de coco it has coconut oil. i could have read the wrong recipe. my grated coconut is bought from the store thats why it was not caramely or coconuty after leaving it on the ref, however, the filling is still good. i think i made a mistake with the coconut oil thats why my dough was hard. but i will make another set after i eat all this pan de coco. hehe... thanks again.

ellen said...

i tried making the pan de coco again and this type i used the siopao dough, house parker rolls i think it was and it is perfect. salamat ng marami. sensya n kulit ako.

Manang said...

ellen,
happy for you! now that you have had success, you might get addicted to baking.

ellen said...

i think i am already addicted to it. i've started baking since last year and i just cant stop. every morning i wake up, i think about what to bake/cook. but most of the time i don't get to bake/cook what i want because i don't have the ingredients or other resources. thanks sa mga recipes mo, i check it everyday just in case me bago k n easy and cheap lng gawin...

Luz said...

It's me again, finally I bought a BM just today at Amazon ,mga 1 week pa yata ang dating it's a SUNBEAM model #5891, is it the same as yours?I have question when I want to make pandecoco I can use the pandesal recipe so I can use my BM para siya ang magknead hehehe. Do I really need to use breadflour?Thanks.

Luz said...

Hi Manang,
To tell you the truth you really inspire me so I bought the BM 'coz some of all your recipes like pandecoco, siopao, ensaymada(the first,first that you did I actually tried that )I am happy with the outcome. Yung pandesal mo na-try ko pero I really did not follow your ingredients like ginamit ko ay All purpose at napagod ako sa kaka-knead , I gave up :)kasi wala nga akong BM...baka this time mafollow ko na ang slideshow mo:) may helper na ako sa pagknead...pero yung pandecoco mo and siopao dough it's easy to manage.Basta I like your website ,it's easy to follow your recipes at whenever I post a comment
laging may reply..

Manang said...

Hi Luz,
Thanks a lot sa nakakataba-ng-pusong comment mo :) Wala akong masabi! (blush!)

Luz said...

Hi Manang, I finally try to use my new BM and I use your pandesal recipe to make siopao , I let the BM to do the kneading,then when I took out from the BM bakit parang dry ang dough? I am not sure what went wrong, and when I put the siopao fillings parang nahirapan akong iclose ko yung dough para bang di siya masyadong nagstretch so I gave up.. yung ibang dough pandesal na lang :)I was so frustrated pero masarap naman, I was thinking kulang siguro sa rising time medyo naexcite ako :) sa outcome kasi eh.Please advice.Thanks.

Manang said...

Hi Luz,
I am sorry to hear it did not turn out good for you. Well, in troubleshooting what could probably have gone wrong,(1) did you place the wet ingredients into the pan first at room temp (80 to 100 deg F) before you placed the dry ingredients? (2) did you let the BM do the whole dough cycle (it takes about 1 hr 30 mins for that)? (3) did you close the cover of BM (dry air can dry up you dough as it rises if you kept it open)? (4) did you at any point after you took out the dough let it sit uncovered for a long period of time (should be covered by plastic to keep it moist as you work with the other dough pieces while you put in filling)?

If you paid attention to all of these, then I am running out of ideas as to why your dough turned out dry. I made use of the same dough yesterday with ham and onions as filling and it was very pliable...I hope you get to troubleshoot your work...don't give up!

Manang said...

Hi Luz,
If you let the dough cycle finish, that actually includes the first rising time (the mixing itself takes only 30 minutes, then the dough rises for 1 hr). Once the dough cycle is done, it will beep, to signal that it is ready for shaping. Yung filling, aside from cornstarch to thicken, pwedeng i-fridge mo muna para mas buo at madali i-handle.

Luz said...

It's me again, I tried to do again and this time I used the buttery sweet bread recipe from breadworld.com..I am happy now:) it's good it's not dry.. not like the first time I used the Basic egg bread recipe, ewan ko bakit ngayon ok na.Thanks again.

Manang said...

Luz,
Well, at least you have had a good outcome with the BSB recipe. Ok din sa BM (full cycle) yung buttermilk at cheddar cheese bread. Then yung french bread recipe ko dito, uses all purpose flour pero okay din (using BM to knead). have fun with your BM!

Luz said...

More recipes to bake to use my BM :) Thanks again.

ellen said...

hi manang, i wanna request something, do u have a recipe on how to make the coconut candy? un coated with sugar tpos un coconut was malapot n masarap tlga so sweet... wrap in different colors n plastic. ty

Kate G said...

Hi Manang,
I have a questionnkc I made siomai today and it turn out good and delicious, but some of the siomai wrapper the tip is dry or yung mstigas although not all just wondering bka napa sobra ang steam ko or what?
Anyways I think Ellen is looking for "Bukayo" we used to do that in Bisayas. Thats easy to make and very simple.

All u need is shredded coconut and brown sugar we just estimate the measurement. Then caramelized the brown sugar with water mas maraming sugar than water pag nag boil na ilagay mo yung coconut then let it boil untill medyo tuyo na and malapot na sya na u can roll it and make balls tpos when its cold thats the time u roll the bukayo in sugar. Used old coconut if u want to roll it in sugar u can also used baby coconut using buko salad scraper. Maybe Manang can try this ...

Again salamat sa recipe Manang.. GOD BLESS

Manang said...

Kate G,
Thanks a lot for that how-to. I will try to experiment on that someday (grabe dami kong gusto gawin!). Mukhang magandang Christmas giveaway...eto na naman...ideas brewing in my head.

Kate G said...

Hi Manang,
Ako rin daming gustong gawin kya lang medyo mahirap kc I have 1 year old baby na everytime Im doing something napuputol kc iyak baby ko. I tried the supersoft ensaymada but guess what? I forgot to put the cheese while mixing the recipe hay nku naman :). But I will try it again and this time kailangan Im focus na and read everything first b4 I start it. Kc sa sobrang excitement sometime apurado akong gawin lahat not knowing I missed some recipes hmm. Anyways I made coco cinni and I cook the filling caramelized the coconut and sugar hmmm yummy try it Manang ull see the result. I tried it to my coconut roll too and its juicy and malapot.
Salamat sa site nyo. GOD BLESS

MaRyA said...

hello manang... thank you for this.. Naghahanap talaga ako ng recipe ng pan de coco!

[cookiespink] said...

YUMMY!!!! i love this.

Manang said...

u8mypinkc00kies.
Thanks! This is one of my faves as well...love the coconut-caramel that forms...

Peanuts said...

Dear Manang,
Thank you po for your recipes. I just want to ask you if i can use dessicated coconut para sa palaman sa pan de coco? and how to do it? same din ba as above? maraming salamat po!
Regards, Peanuts

Manang said...

Hi Peanuts,
One of my friends use the sweetened shredded coconuts (Baker's brand) and she was quite satisfied with it. I bought dessicated coconuts before and tried to mix that with sugar and some water,...didn't work. SO I just stick to freshly grated coconut...still the best!

foodbin said...

a nice gathering.

Anonymous said...

manang yung dough po ba sa paggawa ng pandesal eh pwede rin muna i-refrigerate overnight to let it rise?

Carmen said...

hi manang,
thank you sa pan de coco recipe! sarap na sarap si hubby ko. 2 days na nyang baon lagi for work ang pan de coco :)

vitaMinn style said...

Hi Manang, ang sarap sarap nito, winner! Although I still have to practice shaping each dough to the right size. Mine turned out hamburger-sized... but they're good. I call them my giant pan de coco!! Thanks for this. =)

Ikabod said...

Hi Manang!

Matagal na po akong naghahanap ng pan de coco recipe at mabuti na lang nakita ko yung blog mo. Gusto ko pong gawin ito kaya lang po wala akong bread machine. Meron po akong stand mixer at oven. Pwede mo ba po akong turuan papano gawin ito ng walang bread machine? Ano po ba ang equivalent ng yeast measurement ng bread machine at regular na active dry yeast?

Salamat po at more power to you...

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