Poi (Taro) Bread
November 17: National Homemade Bread Day
We took a drive down to the “Southernmost Bakery in the USA” when we went to the Big Island of Hawaii with Islander’s ohana (family). Punaluu Bake Shop was where we all stopped for snacks and stocked up on sweet breads. We loved all of their light, fresh-baked fluffy loaves—traditional Portuguese and guava and taro flavors.
Having made “mainland” poi for an earlier blog recipe post, Islander decided to use up the leftovers and bake bread inspired by the one from Punaluu Bake Shop. It turned out to be a tasty taro bread with a pretty purple hue!
Prepare poi (taro) bread in a machine for a sweet and simple loaf with a tropical touch. It is a unique and onolicious way to observe National Homemade Bread Day.
Recipe
(Adapted from the Polynesian Cultural Center via Food.com)
Ingredients
- ½ cup poi (or mashed taro paste)
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 ¼ teaspoon yeast
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup (½ stick) butter
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon purple food coloring
- 3 ¼ cup flour
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions
In the container of the bread machine, place the water, yeast, sugar, butter and egg. Spoon in the poi. Add the purple food coloring, if desired. Top with flour and salt. Place the container in the bread machine.
Set the bread machine to a large (2 pound) loaf, as this bread rises high. Select the cycles for sweet or white bread with a light crust. Press to start. Notice that the purple color blends nicely into the dough. Let the bread machine continue kneading, rising and baking. Remove the baked bread from the container. Cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- See our post on poi and poi pancakes on National Pancake Day on September 26.
- Hawaiian sweet breads make excellent French toast! Prepare them pain perdu style with our recipe. Or cook them into a casserole for breakfast on National French Toast Day on November 28.
HI COOKERY 
March 31, 2012 at 7:03 pm
I made this bread and it was fantastic! Thanks for the recipe, it’s great for Easter.
March 31, 2012 at 8:01 pm
So glad your poi bread turned out great! The vibrant color does make a beautiful Easter food. Did you use real poi or make it from “mainland” style taro? Try them in pancakes, too! Thanks for visiting our blog.
April 9, 2012 at 5:21 am
I used real poi. It was fantastic 🙂
April 10, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Da real ting is da best! We have to make do with mainland-kine poi. 😉 Mahalo for letting us know how your poi bread turned out!
January 26, 2019 at 5:36 pm
If I were wanting to bake it in the oven since I do not have a bread machine. What would I have to set the temperature at and how long will the cook time be?
January 26, 2019 at 9:35 pm
Aloha, Kristine. We have not tried baking poi bread in the oven ourselves but the source from which we adapted the recipe, Polynesian Cultural Center, says bake at 225 degrees for 20 minutes (but this is for the size of rolls). For a loaf, probably increase the temperature to standard 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes or more. Everything also depends if your loaf pan is dark or light, how humid the weather is in your part of the country, etc. Hope this helps and good luck on making poi bread.
http://www.aliiluau.com/luau-recipes/taro-rolls.html