Chavah's Coconut Buns / Pani Popo

I have long been a fan of Island-style Coconut Buns, so when I found this recipe on Chavah Kinloch's blog Creating My Reality, I had to try it out. You can find the original here.

Bun Ingredients
5½ to 6½ cups plain all purpose flour
1 packet yeast, 75g (¼ oz)
2¼ cups milk
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp butter, 30g (10 oz)
1 tsp salt
Canola oil


Sauce Ingredients
2 cans coconut milk
1 cup sugar

Add half the flour with the yeast into a bowl and mix.
Heat the milk in a saucepan stirring constantly, add sugar, butter and salt til warm and butter has just melted. Do not let it boil.
Add the wet mixture to flour and yeast and mix the combination slowly, being sure to scrape up the bits on the edge of the bowl.
Add the rest of the flour until you get a good doughy texture that is easy to pull, but not dry. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes. Be careful not to use too much flour or your bread will turn out dense and heavy.
Shape the dough into a large ball.
Coat the ball in canola oil.
Place the ball in a large bowl.
Cover the bowl with a large teatowel and place in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes to an hour.
Flatten down the dough and make into little balls... or to pretty them up, roll out the balls into snakes and then make a swirl shape.
Place the balls into a large ungreased baking dish, cover and let rise for another 10 minutes while you make the sauce.

Combine the coconut cream and sugar, then pour over the buns. Simple!
Bake at 190ºC (375ºF) for 20 minutes.