Hawaiian Bread Recipe
You’ll love this Hawaiian bread recipe! It’s easy to make and so good! The crust is extra flaky. The bread is sweet and has a cake-like texture.
Last Updated January 4, 2025 – Originally published January 17, 2010
Featured Comment
O-M-G this bread is soooo good, especially warm. I followed the recipe exactly, didn’t make any changes and it was gorgeous to look at and scrumptious to eat – YUM! Thanks for this recipe! ~ Sharon
Bread Machine Recipes
Before I get into the recipe, I know that a lot of people come to my website for the first time via this page. So here are some quick things you should know.
I make all the bread for my household with my bread machine. Yep, all the bread, hamburger buns, hot dogs buns, dinner buns hoagie rolls and more come from my bread machine.
I’ve tested and tasted all of the bread machine recipes on this site.
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It Started With A Mix
Here’s the history of this Hawaiian bread recipe . . .
People might be surprised to learn that I like to use bread mixes occasionally. It’s a great way to try new types of bread without investing in special ingredients or different types of flour. In fact, that’s how I discovered my passion for dark rye bread.
One of the first bread mixes I tried was for Hawaiian royal sweet bread. We loved it!
That made me curious about Hawaiian bread. What would it taste like if I made it from scratch? As is usually the case, the homemade bread tasted even better than the mix.
Pineapple Facts
The key ingredient of Hawaiian bread is pineapple juice. Here’s the interesting thing about that, pineapples are not native to Hawaii! As it turns out, pineapples come from South America.
In 1901 the Hawaiian Pineapple Company was founded by James Dole. James became known as the “Pineapple King”.
Dole opened his first pineapple plantation in the central plateau of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. In 1922 Dole purchased the entire island of Lanai and developed it as a vast pineapple plantation. It became the largest plantation in the world with over 20,000 acres devoted to growing pineapple.
Pineapples grow very slowly. They can take two to three years for a pineapple to reach maturation.
Did you know that it’s possible to grow pineapples as a houseplant? The top of the pineapple (the green bit) can be planted in soil and a new pineapple plant will grow. The Man of the House has actually done this. It took ages to grow, but we did get a small pineapple at the end.
Pineapple Juice
Here’s a hint for making Hawaiian bread. 3/4 of a cup of juice is 6 ounces. The single-serving cans of pineapple juice just happen to be 6 ounces. How handy is that?
Sweet or Basic Cycle?
If your machine has a sweet cycle you can use that for this bread. My Zojirushi doesn’t have a sweet cycle. So I make this recipe using the basic cycle.
However, don’t use the quick bread/cake cycle for this Hawaiian bread recipe. The quick bread or cake cycle is made for recipes that don’t include yeast. Banana bread is an example of something that should be made using the quick bread or cake cycle.
How to Make Hawaiian Bread in the Bread Machine
I make this recipe in my two-pound machine. Note that you’ll be using the sweet or basic cycle with the medium or light crust setting.
Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. With my machine, a Zojirushi Virtuoso Breadmaker, I add the liquid first.
Speaking of the liquid, people often wonder if they should warm the pineapple juice for this Hawaiian bread recipe. It all depends on your machine. If your machine has a preheat cycle like my Zo, then the bread machine will warm the juice for you. If your bread machine does not have a preheat cycle, then I’d bring the juice to room temperature before adding it to the bread pan.
I made this loaf with the bread machine set at medium crust. It came out a little darker than I’d like. The next time I’m going to use the light crust setting.
Be sure to check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. Pop the top of the bread machine and look at the dough. It should be a smooth, round ball.
If the dough is too dry add liquid a teaspoon at a time until it looks right. If it looks too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks good.
Hawaiian Bread Ingredients
This recipe is for a two-pound bread machine. Use the sweet or basic cycle with the medium or light crust.
¾ cup pineapple juice
1 egg, beaten
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons milk
2 ½ Tablespoons sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour
1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
See below for metric measurements, as well as nutrition information, for this Hawaiian bread recipe for the bread machine.
Hawaiian Bread Recipe
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (177.4 ml) pineapple juice
- 1 egg beaten
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 ½ Tablespoons sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups (375 g) bread flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
Instructions
- This makes a two-pound loaf.
- Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. (My bread machine recommends adding the liquids first.) Use the basic or sweet setting.
- I made mine with the bread machine set at medium crust. It came out a little darker than I’d like. The next time I’m going to use the light crust setting.
- Check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. It should be a smooth, round ball. If it’s too dry add liquid a teaspoon at a time until it looks OK. If it looks too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks OK. Most of the time though, the above amounts should be just right.
Notes
This recipe was developed and tested using US customary measurements. Metric measurements are calculated automatically.
Nutrition
All information presented within this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on breadmachinediva.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. I try to provide accurate information to the best of my ability; however these figures should still be considered estimates.
What’s your thoughts on adding pieces of canned pineapple to the dough?
That’s a good question. I haven’t tested this recipe using canned pineapple, so I can’t say for sure how it would affect the results. In addition to adding extra liquid, canned pineapple also adds more sugar, which can affect how the yeast behaves and how well the bread rises. It’s not a bad idea at all,it’s just a bit more complicated than it might seem at first. If you do decide to experiment, I’d suggest making small adjustments and keeping an eye on the dough during the kneading cycle. I’d love to hear how it turns out!
This is our favorite bread! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe. The only issue I have is that even when I use the 2 lb setting on my KBS machine, it rises so high it pushes against the glass window. Should I maybe decrease the yeast or do you have measurements for a 1.5 loaf? Thanks!
I’m so glad to hear this is a favorite! What you’re seeing usually means the recipe is simply a bit large for that particular machine. Bread machines vary quite a bit in pan shape and headroom, even on the same loaf setting.
Rather than adjusting the yeast, I recommend making a slightly smaller loaf. I have a page that walks through how to adjust a 2-pound recipe to a smaller size and that’s the best approach for this situation. It should give the dough more room to rise without pressing against the window.
I was looking for a Hawaiian LOAF recipe which I thought I had, but all I have are for rolls. I decided to give this a try. Not bad! But for whatever reason, it didn’t rise properly in my bread machine. In a panic, I removed the dough and set it in a loaf pan to rise, which it did, with a FADE. The loaf’s top looks like Bobby Brown’s hair in the early 1990s. But it sure ws delicious! Super soft, moist with a bounce that I love in bread!!! This one is a keeper for me.
This made me smile — I love that you trusted your instincts and ended up with such a delicious loaf! That soft, bouncy texture is exactly what makes this bread a favorite.
Could this recipe be made using whole wheat flour?
You could try using whole wheat flour, but it will change the bread quite a bit. Whole wheat absorbs more liquid and has less gluten, so the loaf will be denser and not as light or sweet-bread fluffy. You also might need to add vital wheat gluten.
For the best sweet-bread texture, I recommend using the bread flour as written, but feel free to experiment if you like — and let me know how it turns out!
I use 4 T of wheat gluten to my homemade bread and it is amazing light and fluffy not dense.