Coconut Bread for a Sunday Brunch

What better way to catch up with friends on a windy autumn day than with a Sunday brunch?  In preparation for their arrival, I had turned up the heater, the coffee was brewing on the counter-top (freshly ground at the Lonsdale Street Roasters the day before) and the coconut bread was sliced and slathered with melting butter.

In addition to a fabulous fruit salad hand-sliced by the Divine Ms N, I also put together little tumblers of continental yoghurt, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with my crunchy homemade granola.  I might also have got a little carried away and whipped up an "open omelette" with sliced leeks, zucchini and crumbled fetta, finished in the oven and served warm, scooped straight out of the cast-iron skillet.  All in all, it was a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning as it slowly lazed into afternoon.

I just love this coconut bread recipe, which I adapted from "Bills Sydney Food", something I've wanted to try for a while.  The cinnamon smells amazing as soon as you mix it into the batter, let alone when you pop it in the oven - suddenly the whole house is filled with the wafting scents of baking bread (ok, it's really cake) and sweet spices.  Ever since Kingston Grind took its coconut bread off the menu (sob), I've been looking for a replacement and now I need look no further.  This is one recipe I will definitely be using again.

Coconut Bread

Ingredients
-  2 1/2 cups plain flour
-  2 teaspoons baking powder
-  150 grams shredded coconut
-  2 eggs
-  300 ml full cream milk
-  2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
-  1 cup raw caster sugar (which gives a caramel flavour to the batter)
-  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-  75 grams melted butter

Step number one - preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celcius and butter your loaf tin.  I also like to cut out a small rectangle of baking paper to put in the bottom of the pan, as it makes it easier to get the loaf out of the tin in the end.

In a small bowl, whisk the milk, eggs and vanilla extract.  Next, in a large bowl, sift your plain flour, baking powder and cinnamon.  Using a large spoon, mix in the caster sugar and coconut, then slowly mix in the milk-egg-vanilla mix into the dry ingredients, bit by bit.  Pour in your melted butter and fold in - try not to mix too much, you don't want the loaf to chewy.

Pour the batter into your prepared loaf tin, and pop into your preheated oven for approximately 1 hour - just make sure a skewer or cake tester comes out clean so you know it's cooked through.

Leave the loaf to cool inside the tin for about 5 minutes then pop it on a wire rack.  Personally, I think this is the perfect time to slice and butter the loaf.  Bills recommends you cool, then slice, then grill or toast the bread, sprinkling it with icing sugar and serving with butter.  If you manage not to devour it entirely straight out of the oven, I wish you luck!