Choco Pan de Coco

These rolls are excellent for breakfast with coffee! I misjudged the recipe timeline and skipped the first rise at room temperature. I put the dough straight into the refrigerator overnight, then allowed it to come to room temperature before dividing. No harm done -- they still rose well in the pan and the oven, and they have great texture. A heads up: These are dense and filling! For me, they're definitely a main dish, not a side. I might divide the dough into eight or ten pieces next time.

So, my question is this: what do I do if I have no starter, and won’t be able to make one in the near future? Is there any alternative?

I have made this twice now. Followed instructions as written. Fantastic results both times. Try slathering it with coconut butter (manna). Delicious!

Increase brown sugar to 4 tbls.

They turned out well; I divided the dough in half and made 6 rolls in 2 loaf pans. Good sour flavor, barely sweet, great with coffee. I probably wouldn't make them again, 3+ days was just too long and not really worth it for these.

This is so delicious with coffee in the morning ! We slice it thin, warm it up, and butter lightly. It’s not a sweet bread. However, it has a perfect amount of cocoa and sugar. Reminds me of a pumpernickel in texture. I covered my pan with a silicone lid and baked it for 60 minutes (one turn at 30 min) to 200 degrees internal. Then, I let it sit to cool. One more note— the first and third rises took much longer—it’s chilly here in OR. I probably waited an additional three hours.

My wife loves this as a savory breakfast bread. She says it reminds her of a chewy version of a nice stout or porter. FWIW, I used @Ginger's baking strategy: "For the oven, 35 min baking and then 20 minutes in an off oven (no peaking) and then 30 to cool on a rack gave the perfect texture."

I found that when I mixed the levain with the coconut milk and water first, before adding the dry ingredients, I got much better results

Made this as instructed, though I used flaked coconut (it was unsweetened flaked or sweetened shredded). It did not look anything like the pic, didn't rise but it's yummy! I do think the recipe needs a few updates. I heated the coconut milk, then cooled it to 100 F before adding it. I rolled the bread into 12 small balls and used two 8.5" x 4.5" tins and baked for 50 min (to a 205 internal temp). Dense, but perfectly baked and really yummy.

I loved it the first time I made it, but it was a little messy with the chocolate chips. Also, I mistakenly stacked the balls instead of side-by-side. This time I left out the chips. Made 8 round rolls and baked for 25 min. Perfection!

After reading elsewhere that cocoa retards the rise, I added 2 grams (1/2 tsp) of yeast when blending all the dough Ingredients. It made a huge difference and yielded a delightful result. Still a tight crumb but so much lighter than the original - has a taste closer to pumpernickel bread. Excellent. I baked for about 40 minutes then pulled and let cool in the pan slightly before turning out.

I read all the Notes before making this, so I made some of the recommended adjustments: lower temp coconut milk, divided the dough into 2 bread pans, 1/4 tsp yeast instead of sourdough, and long fermentation times. I didn’t have choc chips or shredded coconut. The dough rose spectacularly to yield 12 brown rolls that were ok but tough to chew. To get that nice uniform color, I kneaded for 20 mins. I wouldn’t make this again. Froze well though.

Worth baking for the fragrance alone! Just had my first small slice, still warm, and so tender! The very subtle chocolate flavor would be fabulous with black bean soup, so now I'm looking forward to oncoming autumn and winter and spicy, earthy soups with this. Followed the recipe exactly, except substituted semi-sweet chips in the cupboard for bittersweet. Didn't plan the proofing schedule perfectly, so it fermented in the fridge just about 17 hours-still rose beautifully--a great success!

I forgot to mention that after I read the very helpful note about the temperature of the coconut milk and water mixture, I heated mine to only 100 degrees. Perhaps that's the problem with the many notes here that didn't rise, turned out like doorstops. Obviously the high temp would kill off the yeast. Having an instant-read thermometer is essential for this kind of baking. I proofed in a 79-81 degree oven (closed door with light on) and minded the temp of any liquid in the starter and levain.

This was an epic fail. I tried twice, and in both cases the original levain failed to double, though I was using a mature sourdough starter. I went ahead in Take Two, ignoring the “flat” levain, and, as feared, the dough never increased in volume, even after 6 hours of resting in a warm room, and another 4 hours in Step 3. I followed the baking instructions and finally came up with a dense, sticky brick that had no “crumb.” I had to toss it. Why did the original levain fail to rise?