This Portuguese sweet bread recipe was traditionally baked for Easter celebrations at my house. It’s sweet and perfect fresh out of the oven with a pat of butter. Turns out, this deliciousness doesn’t have to be reserved for just holidays!
It’s commonly used here to make sandwiches. Honestly, I prefer to slather it with some lilikoi jelly, though!
Mom’s Portuguese sweet bread recipe
Growing up with a Portuguese mother meant that besides anticipating colorful Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies, our holiday prep included a day of whipping up her Portuguese sweet bread recipe. Mom would twist the dough into braids and tuck eggs between the folds.
From the fragrance of the proofing yeast to the dough rising and then baking into golden brown loaves, this family tradition – above all others – is my favorite. Nothing compares to a slice of sweet bread, still warm from the oven and topped by a pat of real butter.
Portuguese sweet bread in Hawaii
When I moved to Hawai‘i, I noticed plenty of differences in the selection at the grocery store. What surprised me more than anything was the sheer abundance of Portuguese sweet bread. It was available everywhere, every day. No longer would I have to wait for the once-a-year baking and kneading session to savor this slice of my childhood.
While the island style bread is a bit airier than those made with my favorite recipe, having access to Portuguese sweet bread on a daily basis certainly makes up for whatever minor shortfall I perceive in the finished product.
Related: Baking Bread from Scratch – What You Need to Know
History in the [baking]
So just why is there such a preponderance of Portuguese sweet bread here in Hawai‘i? The answer lies in the Portuguese immigrants who came to the islands to work the sugar cane fields in the 1800s. They brought this traditional bread recipe with them. It eventually became as familiar as the sticky rice and poi that are staple foods for island residents.
Those Portuguese immigrants also brought along the old world style of baking in a wood-fired stone oven called a forno. While most of the bread you’ll find in Hawaii is baked in a more modern manner, there is one place that you can still savor sweet bread that’s been baked in the traditional way.
Related: Homemade Light and Fluffy Dinner Rolls
The Kona Historical Society has created a replica of a traditional forno in a field below the old Greenwell Store in Kealakekua. Every Thursday morning, volunteers light a fire in the forno in the wee hours. By 10 am the action begins as more volunteers help to prepare the dough for authentic Portuguese sweet bread recipe or pao doce.
Visitors are invited to watch the baking process, then take some bread to go. The posted hours for this event are from 10 am to 1 pm every Thursday. Note that I’ve arrived during the latter part of this window only to find the bread sold out. If your heart is set on fresh bread, get there early! Want to try the Portuguese sweet bread recipe from the historical society? You can get that here.
My mom’s Portuguese sweet bread recipe is below.
She always made hers in a loaf, but I’ve taken to making it like the historical society does, in “rolls.” Make the sweet bread recipe and let it rise, just as you would for making a loaf. Then rather than forming a loaf, divide the sweet bread dough in two and form each half into a log.
Cut the log into (roughly) two inch lengths.
Roll each small portion into balls and put in pie pan. Allow to rise, then bake until nice and brown.
★ Did you make my mom’s authentic Portuguese sweet bread recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Grandma's Portuguese Sweet Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 cup granulated organic cane sugar
- 1 cup milk, scalded and still hot
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 6 to 7 cups unbleached organic all-purpose flour
Instructions
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Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix sugar, hot milk, butter, and salt together in a large bowl, stirring until butter melts. When cooled to lukewarm, beat in eggs and yeast mixture. Gradually beat 5 cups of flour into liquid to make a smooth dough.
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If you have a stand mixer that will handle this amount of dough, you can use that to shorten the process. Simply complete above steps in your mixer bowl and let your dough hook do the kneading for you.
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To knead by hand, heavily flour a board with a portion of the remaining flour. Turn dough out onto board and sprinkle with remaining flour. Knead until very smooth, adding flour to eliminate stickiness as necessary. You should see small "blisters" of air on the surface of the dough. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Consider it your workout for the day.
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Place dough in a large buttered bowl. Cover loosely with a towel and put in a warm place until doubled in size (about two hours).
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Punch down dough (it will collapse). Using buttered hands, form dough into desired loaves. You can divide dough into two large loaves or try them as smaller rolls. Or you can try the pie pan method you see used by the historical society.
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Place your formed loaves and a buttered cookie sheet or in a buttered pie pan. Cover loaves and set in a warm place to rise again for about an hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Baking time will vary a bit depending upon loaf size.
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Optional: Use a pastry brush to baste milk over the loaves just as they start to brown. This will give them a beautiful shiny glow.
To make Portuguese sweet bread rolls:
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Turn dough onto floured surface. Divide dough in two. Form each half loosely into a two-inch log. Cut log into two-inch lengths.
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Roll dough into balls. Place onto a buttered cookie sheet or in a buttered pie pan, not quite touching.
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Cover rolls and set in a warm place to rise again for about an hour.
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Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
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That looks like so much fun. I would have loved to have seen that wood fired oven in action. This recipe reminds me of a bread recipe of my childhood that they called “Sunday buns”, the idea being that you mix them before church and pop them in the oven while the potatoes or veggies are cooking for Sunday dinner. I didn’t have a recipe, for them but now I do. (thanks). I’m going to make these on Sunday for my dinner guests. Soup and buns is on the menu.
I didn’t get the 2 extra cups of flour but maybe that was just for dusting purposes and it didn’t tell how long to knead the dough if using a mixer with hook. Also the 1st time it didn’t turn out so the second time I proofed the yeast with sugar like it says on some sites. It worked out better the second time.
Using a stand mixer usually halves the kneading time
I’ll definitely make this again.
Texture is different. Hawaiian sweet bread is not really authentic Portuguese Sweet Bread.
The texture IS different.
Can this be refrigerated and baked later? Or frozen and baked later
I’ve not tried it. That said, I *have refrigerated yeast dough overnight. If you want to try it, I’d pop it in the fridge once it’s made, then pull it out and let it rise when you take it out.
I am from Honolulu, and Portuguese sweet bread brings back so many memories. I was raised in California and now live in Pioneer, CA which I dearly love. My recipe is just like yours, except I use one block of butter. I made some this Easter and shared it with my family. I am 78 years young and love to make sweet bread as it is healing to my soul. I always make the sign of the cross over my rising dough, and yes, I too am Portuguese.
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Traditions like this are just so special!
Love the rolls idea. Overall, I like this recipe very much. Simple and straightforward. Came out even better than the one at King Arthur Flour (which is a great site for baking.)
Glad to hear it!