Sweet Coconut Rolls

Bread or cake, bread or cake....? Oh the troubles of a Saturday evening. So I met my cravings head on and made these sweet coconut rolls. Brioche-y on the outside with a sweet buttery filling. I think Jason made these on the Great British Bake Off Show and I really thought he came up with some interesting flavour combos. I got these from the book from the second series.

For the dough
500g strong white flour, sifted
60g unsalted butter
1 x 7g sachet fast action yeast
40g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
2 large eggs, at room temp beaten
about 200ml lukewarm milk

For the filling
100g desiccated coconut
50g unsalted butter
50 light muscavado sugar

To make the dough
1. Toast the coconut in a non stick frying pan for about 5 minutes or until golden, stirring constantly. Tip into a bowl and add the icing sugar, then leave to cool.

2. Sift the flour, rub in the butter until breadcrumb texture. Add the yeast, caster sugar, coconut and salt and stir to combine.

3. Mix the eggs and enough milk to make a soft but not sticky dough. Knead for 5 minutes. Leave to rise in a warm place for at least an hour or until doubled in size.

4. Meanwhile make the filling. Toast the coconut in the frying pan. In another pan or in the microwave melt the butter and sugar until liquid-y and add the coconut. Leave to cool.

5. Punch down the dough and turn onto a floured surface. To make the crescent shapes in the book make 12 balls from the dough. Roll out each ball to 5mm disc and spread a half tbsp of filling, cut the disc from centre to the edge and then fold into a cone, starting at the cut line and finishing at the cut line. Squeez the seams of the dough together (I needed egg to get the dough to stick). Face upright, bring the two crescent pieces together and squeez.

For the rolls (which I think are so much easier to make), split the dough into two roughly. Roll one half out to 5mm rectangle. Spread the filling leaving about 2cm at the edges. Brush the edges with beaten egg, then roll the rectangle from the long side so you are left with a long swiss roll like sausage. Press the end dough into the roll, the egg should help it stick. Cut the big roll into 6 pieces.

6. Leave to prove for an hour.

7. Bake for 20 minutes above a bowl of water in a 200c fan oven. Dust with icing sugar and serve with butter and jam.