Hawaiian Bread Recipe | Bread Machine Recipes (2024)

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. So good!!

Last Updated on January 14, 2023 – Originally published in January of 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