Artisan Bryan's Pan de Coco?
Just experienced my first major bread flop. :(
I was making Bryan Ford's choco pan de coco from his new book New World Sourdough. He has a similar version on his website: https://www.artisanbryan.com/post/how-to-make-pan-de-coco-sourdough-bread-recipe The dough didn't feel right from the start. It felt extremely dry and seemed to dry out even more during bulk fermentation. It didn't rise much at all and is currently in the oven smelling delicious but looking terrible! Too bad to even submit a photo, lol.
I was just wondering if anyone else has attempted either the regular pan de coco or the choco version and if they tweaked it at all? I think I just needed to hydrate the dough a lot more - thinking the dried coconut and the cocoa powder in the choco version are what did me in. I also maybe didn't mix it right because I've never done a bread like this with so many mix-ins, so it felt kind of awkward to knead. Any advice on making similar breads is appreciated!
PS: I don't think it was my starter/levain, as both were very strong.
This professional baker's coconut bread formula may give you an idea of a (somewhat similar) coconut bread's appropriate hydration.
Yippee
Yes, the hydration for that bread seems like it makes a lot more sense. I don't typically have coconut shreds on hand so not sure if I'll attempt this specific bread again, but if I ever do, I'll definitely use that recipe as a guide. Thank you!
Not sure if there's been a second printing, but in the version I got as a preorder there was a typo in the amount of cocoa powder for that recipe. It should be half as much - 25g instead of 50g in the original printing.
There's a full list of corrections as well.
I made it and had the same exact issues as you. I thought maybe it was that I used Dutch-processed cocoa powder, the second time I tried natural and it was better but still the same issue. Looking forward to trying a 3rd time now that I know the proper amount. Definitely will be doing natural cocoa powder next time as well.
OMG. Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this. I didn't do a preorder / I don't know about a second printing, but my book definitely says 50g of cocoa powder (I used Hershey's). That makes a lot of sense - my dough was a completely different color than the pictures in the book and it just seemed so impossibly dry! I don't know that I'll be attempting this recipe again anytime soon because I don't tend to keep shredded coconut around, but I'm happy to know about the list of corrections for the other recipes I hope to try.
Thank you again!!
Yay! As soon as I saw your post I figured that's what it was, because I went through the same exact thing. I was really frustrated not understanding where I went wrong, and felt much better once I found that list. I really enjoyed the Bananas Foster Sourdough, so I'm glad I knew before adding 4x the recommended amount of cinnamon ha!
I also really enjoyed the plantain sourdough and the semitas de yema (dipped in coffee!!) Happy baking :)
Thanks for sharing the recipes you enjoyed - I'm excited to explore more of the book, corrections in tow :)
I made the plain pan de coco. After reading reviews saying it came out like a brick I lowered the flour from 500g to 370g, lowered to coconut to 59g, and added ~1/16th tsp of commercial yeast. Rose well. Didn’t look as fluffy as the photos but tasted how the recipe made it sound... dense but soft and very slightly sweet.
Yes, I bet these adjustments would've helped a lot. Will keep them in mind if I ever attempt again!