An easy to follow Filipino Pan de Coco recipe—soft and buttery baked buns filled with sweetened and delicious coconut filling. Video instructions and many useful tips included.
Pan de Coco Filing: Option 1 (freshly grated coconut)
1cupcoconut milk
2cupsfreshly grated coconut or unsweetend coconut flakes
¾cupbrown sugarpacked
pinch of salt
Pan de Coco Filing: Option 2 (Desiccated coconut)
2cupscoconut milk
2cupsdesiccated coconutunsweetened
¾cupdark brown sugarpacked
pinch of salt
Egg Wash
1egg
3 ½teaspoonsmilkor water
Instructions
For the Dough
In a medium-size bowl, combine lukewarm water (40c/105f), 1 teaspoon of sugar, and yeast. Stir until completely dissolved. Let it stand for 5 to 10mins until yeast begins to foam.
Meanwhile, in the bowl of your stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Mix thoroughly.
Add milk, yeast mixture, eggs, and butter. Stir until just combined. Attach the dough hook and turn the mixer on to the lowest speed and mix until flour is incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Add additional flour as necessary, adding 2 tbsp at a time. Continue beating for 5 to 6 minutes until the dough is slightly sticky, soft and pulling away from the edge of the bowl. Be careful not to add too much flour.
Rise # 1
Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and seal the edges. Let it rise for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour at room temperature until double in size. See notes for the make-ahead tip (cold rise). Meanwhile, make the filling.
How to Make Pan de Coco filling or Palaman (use either of the 2 options)
Pour coconut milk in a pan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar once it starts simmering. Stir until completely dissolved.
Add grated coconut and pinch of salt. Cook until liquid is mostly reduced. Stir, occasionally. Remove from heat and let it cool completely.
Rise #2
Punch the dough down. Transfer onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into approx 45g portions and form into balls. For an evenly sized dough, use a kitchen scale.
Using a light rolling pin flatten each ball into a thick disc shape. Place about 2 full teaspoons of filling. Fold dough over filling to meet in the center; pinch edges to seal (see video). Repeat with all the other portions.
Place seam side down on a baking sheet lined with a greased parchment paper about 1 inch apart. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise for 45mins to 1 hour at room temperature.
Baking
Preheat oven at 190c/375f, 20 minutes before the dough rolls finish rising. Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients of the egg wash in a small bowl; mix thoroughly.
Carefully brush the rolls lightly with the egg wash. If desired, sprinkle with desiccated coconut.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until the top turns light brown.
Let the bread cool completely before removing from the pan. Serve with coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Shape into a ball. Before flattening the dough, shape the dough into a ball. This is one way of making sure that there will be no uneven parts in the bread.
Use a rolling pin. After shaping the dough into a ball, lightly flatten it into a disc using a rolling pin. This will make the dough evenly flat. If you don’t have a rolling pin, use a rectangular bottle or glass. Remember to lightly flatten, don’t press too hard otherwise the dough will be too thin.
Don’t overfill! For a 45g dough, you just need about 2 full teaspoons of the coconut filling. Beyond that, it will be hard to close the dough and filling might ooze out of the bread during baking.
Make-ahead Tip: Make the dough ahead of time then place in the fridge. The dough will slowly rise and double in size overnight. On the day of baking, remove from the refrigerator 30 mins before you’re going to shape them into rolls.