We got back from London yesterday evening. I have a ton of holiday photos to sort through, and jet lag to contend with. Rather than tackle either, I decided to bake some bread instead. It was Zorra at Kochtopf’s idea to extend the carbohydrate-rich atmosphere of World Bread Day by inviting everyone to try out each other’s bread recipes. How can you possibly say no, if you are asked to join such an interesting party?

Picking a bread to make was the hard part, but when I came across this one, with a little story and the promise of a brioche-like bread, I knew I had to try it. So here is my attempt at Isabel’s Portuguese Sweet Bread. Due to time constraints of normal working life, I haven’t made a yeast-based bread dough in ages. The kneading of the dough was extra enjoyable, because of that. Within a couple of hours, the little balls of risen dough were plump and smooth like babies’ bottoms. When baked, the loaf was wonderfully brown and slightly crusty on the outside, and incredibly fluffy and moreish on the inside (without being too rich to be a decent tea-time treat).

We sat out on the balcony and ate the bread while it was still warm. This bread was so delicious it barely needed the two little pots of orange and ginger marmalade, and strawberry jam that I had set out. Thank you Helene at Tartlette for the recipe!

No Sunday cup of tea is complete without something to nibble on. Bill Granger’s coconut bread is a good place to start. Sweet and moist from the shredded coconut, fragrant with powdered cinnamon, it also makes for a great breakfast food. I made a 5x recipe a couple of days ago, for people at work. The leftover was packed into a container and stored in the freezer. When B got back from New York today, we caught up over vanilla tea and toasted slices of the bread.

Make this bread – it only takes like 2 Earth Seconds to make; the rest of it is oven time – slice it hot or let it cool then toast generous slices of it and enjoy while soaking up some sun on your balcony with another Bill.

Bill Granger’s Coconut Bread :

2 eggs
300ml milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
350g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
225g caster sugar
150g shredded coconut
75g unsalted butter, melted

Whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla and melted butter together. Sift flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl, add sugar and coconut, and stir to combine. Gradually stir in the egg mixture until just combined. Pour into a greased and floured 21x10cm loaf tin and bake in a preheated 180’C oven for one hour, or until bread is cooked when tested with a skewer. Let cool for five minutes before removing from the tin to cool further on a wire rack.