Hi, foodies in the Hive!

I hope you're all feeling happy and healthy 💚

How nice it is to eat a piece of bread that not only tastes good, but you know it's much more nutritious and healthier than what you get at the store. How do you like your bread? I like a lot of breads and since I can't eat wheat flour in large quantities or that often, I try to make my own bread at home and make it worth it. Today a coconut made it all worth it, that's why I want to share with you this great recipe: nutty coconut bread with flour from its bagasse.

This bread is very rich in soluble fiber and good fats. In addition to its nutty flavor that comes from the whole bagasse flour and coconut oil, nuts and peanut butter, this bread has a crunchy crust, a soft crumb, and a sweet taste of cane honey and raisins that will make your breakfast a very pleasant experience.

It doesn't leaven much but is very soft and super satiating. Besides, its strong flavor of coconut is a dream for us who love this fruit.

The high content of lauric acid in coconut makes consuming it very beneficial for our health, as it increases HDL, reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

You may want to read about the latest research that correlates coconut oil consumption with a decrease in mental illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease. Lately, I have been very interested in this topic and I think we all should be.

INGREDIENTS

For the bread:

2 cups cococnut milk (I used homemade)
1 1/2 cups coconut flour (I used homemade)
1/2 oats
1 cup all purpose wheat flour
1 teaspoon granulated yeast
1 spoonful coconut oil
1 spoonful peanut butter (I used Skippy, which has salt and sugar)
2 handfuls walnuts
1 handful raisins
1 teaspoon cane sugar
75 ml cane honey
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the coconut milk and flour:

1 dry coconut with its water
a pinch of salt for the milk we won't use
more water if necessary

THE PROCESS

HOMEMADE COCONUT MILK

The first thing I did was to burn the coconut directly on the stove; I turned it a few times with my kitchen tongs so that the heat reached it evenly. Once it cracked, I knew I could get the water out by opening soft pore and then peel the meat out of the husks easily, thanks to the effect of the heat.

I cut the flesh into small pieces of about 1 cm thick without removing the endocarp, as it was important for the flavor and also to have a whole bagasse to make the flour. Then I added the coconut flesh pieces in the blender glass plus its water...

...and let the blender do the work. At this point, I had to add an extra half cup of water because the coconut flesh was thick..

I used my yogurt dripping bag to pour all the content of the blender glass...

Then I squeezed.

I got three cups of thick coconut milk. I used two for the bread dough and cooked the rest for 3-4 minutes without bringing it to a boil; I added the salt, mixed, and reserved. I'd use it later for plant based latte to go with some of the bread.

HOMEMADE WHOLE-BAGASSE COCONUT FLOUR

I made this flour while the bread preferment was activating.

To make the homemade coconut flour, first, I poured all the coconut bagasse into a tray, all that was left inside the bag after squeezing the coconut pieces to get the milk out; with my hands, I distributed it evenly in the tray. Second, I put the tray in the oven for one hour at 200° F.

While it was "dehydrating," I stirred it a couple of times.

Then I sifted the dried coconut bagasse to get a neater flour.

TIME TO MAKE THE DOUGH 😋

To start the process of making the dough for this bread, I made a preferment using the warm coconut milk I had just made.

I added half of the wheat flour, the granulated yeast, and a little sugar to speed up fermentation a little.

I left this to rise while I finished making the coconut bagasse flour. After an hour or so, it had big bubbles trying to thrive in the thick mixture. It looked nice, ready to make delicious bread.

In the same bowl, I added the rest of the ingredients, except the cane honey, walnuts, and raisins. Those I'd add after kneading.

...and mixed well, which was actually very easy, as the dough was smooth because of the fat in it.

At thi spoint, it was time to add the cane honey, walnuts and raisins.

I shaped the dough into a ball and covered the bol to let it rest in the dark until it doubled its size.

After a couple of hours, the dough had doubled its size.

It was light but not too flexible. It happens when you use little wheat flour and much fiber. It's good in this case.

SHAPING THE LOAF

This was the easiest thing. I didn't used a rolling pin but on the clean counter, I flattened the dough to 2 cm thick and then rolled it into a loaf. I had to be careful not to break the dough because, as I said, it wasn't very flexible.

I let it rest for half an hour before getting it into my little electric oven.

It baked for an hour at 300° F. And I let it rest all night long as I went to sleep.

Next day, I was eager to have thos bread for breakfast. As you can see below, it didn't grow much, but I was sure it was soft on the inside, so no biggie. The crust was golden brown and crispy. Loved it.