Overcomplicated, Overhydrated Bread Recipe Brainstorming

[El Matadurr]

Hey all, first post in here, I’ll try to introduce myself properly in the other thread some time. I’ve taken a liking to baking in the last half year, and have moved to creating my own recipes, and modifying ones I already like. However, I’ve recently run into issues with determining the cause of certain problems with finished products and figured I would come here before I waste even more ingredients unnecessarily.

My goal with this recipe is a hearty and pretty complex flavor profile, with an extra texture from finely crushed macadamia nuts. I’m using a 1-lb Zojirushi Maestro bread machine, which helps simplify the process and makes things more repeatable.

The goal is for a Coconut Matcha Bread, definitely in the realm of a dessert bread and almost a cake. Here’s the ingredients I most recently tried:

200ml coconut milk (167ml water w/ my brand)
75g shredded coconut
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla ext
100g honey
1/2+ tsp salt
100g VERY finely chopped macadamia nuts
1/2 tsp cinnamon
200g bread flour
6g matcha powder
1 tsp bread machine yeast
75g milk chocolate chips (“add beep”)

The loaf comes out cooked and looks/feels good on the outside, albeit with a flat top. The taste is also surprisingly good for just a second attempt too. The issue is in the cutting. It is very moist yet easily crumbles apart even with large slices. The canned coconut milk I’m using has 33g fat per 200ml, so I’m wondering if it’s a combination of too much fat and/or over hydration causing my issue. The hydration is also hard to figure since I’m dealing with additional water from the egg, and not being sure how the shredded coconut or ground macadamia nuts increase/decrease hydration requirements. Also important to note, I use whole-wheat bread flour, finely ground (Fairhaven Mills), which could be another factor.

Any suggestions and/or critiques on what I can do to help the recipe gain stronger gluten bonds without losing moisture in the final result would be appreciated!

 

[retired baker]

To me, thats almost cake.
There is no hydration.
Theres no water, any moisture is bound up in fat.
I'd blend some high gluten flour with the whole wheat, cut the honey 50%, replace with water or milk so it can develop, get rid of the macadamia for now .
Shred coconut just doesn't work period.
Cinnamon should not be mixed into any yeasted dough, it stunts yeast growth.
All these things are weighing it down.
Establish a dough first, then see what you can incorporate , at some point it will be too heavy. Thats where you are now, its overloaded.

 

[El Matadurr]

To me, thats almost cake.
There is no hydration.
Theres no water, any moisture is bound up in fat.
I'd blend some high gluten flour with the whole wheat, cut the honey 50%, replace with water or milk so it can develop, get rid of the macadamia for now .
Shred coconut just doesn't work period.
Cinnamon should not be mixed into any yeasted dough, it stunts yeast growth.
All these things are weighing it down.
Establish a dough first, then see what you can incorporate , at some point it will be too heavy. Thats where you are now, its overloaded.

Thank you for your input! I was hoping for a cake-bread hybrid texture (I’ve successfully made it repeatable in a personal banana bread recipe I’ve perfected over the months), but I thought my issue was that this was *over* hydrated. In your experience canned coconut milk doesn’t hydrate well due to it being bound to too much fat?

I do have some vital wheat gluten in the fridge, will put in a couple tablespoons of that next attempt (whatever that is in grams). I’ll also try to cut the honey (I like my sweet breads, haha), and I’ll just use regular milk next attempt. I had a feeling shredded coconut was a contributing factor. It works well in my other recipe but not really here. I also didn’t know that about cinnamon, I added that in just for a hint but I don’t want it sabotaging the yeast. Same with the macadamia, it adds a nice flavor and crunch, but it’s another variable I’ll hold off on.

All great points, I’ll check back in here by next week when I try again. Hoping I can get some white chocolate chips, forgot with Valentine’s Day everywhere is sold out of those. Thank you!