A sweet Hawaiian favorite made with pineapple juice, this bread tastes sweeter than a brioche, but with a very soft crumb. Growing up in Los Angeles means you are fortunate enough to enjoy a melting pot of different cuisines available to you at all times. Before moving to Sacramento, we lived in a neighborhood referred to as the South Bay, near Redondo and Manhattan Beach where there is a restaurant in town called King’s Hawaiian. If you aren’t local to the restaurant, you probably recognize the name as the makers of the packages of sweet dinner rolls you can find in your local grocery store. 
In the restaurant with a full service bakery that makes the most delicious pastries, cakes and breads you can find. If you are local you are familiar with how legendary the rainbow bread and paradise cake are. When I came across the recipe for this bread I knew I needed to make some, just to get a bit of the flavors of home. As delicious as the rolls in the stores are, they pale in comparison to the fresh baked variety you will find here. Sure it takes a few hours of rising time, but the flavor of the bread and the smell that will waft through your house will help you forget the effort involved in making it!
In the bowl of your stand mixer combine 1/4 cup flour, 1 tablespoon instant yeast and 2 tablespoons water to make the sponge. Allow the sponge to rest for 15 minutes. 
Add the pineapple juice, butter, brown sugar, eggs and yolk, and vanilla. Mix until completely combined. Whisk together the rest of the flour, potato flour, and salt before adding to the liquid ingredients. Mix and knead until the dough is cohesive and smooth, it may take a while because it will be really sticky at first.
Use a flat beater in your stand mixer for 3 minutes. Switch to a dough hook for 5 minutes on medium speed. If it is still sticking like crazy add a couple more tablespoons of flour. Grease a large mixing bowl and form the dough into a ball. Put into the bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise for 1.5 to 2 hours. Grease a pan or a loaf pan. You can make two loaves or 16 small buns. I made one loaf and 4 large hamburger buns.
Gently deflate the dough and form into bread in your desired size. Cover dough lightly with plastic wrap. Let rise again for at least an hour until really puffy. Mix the leftover egg white with 1 tablespoon cold water. Brush the mixture on the dough. 
Preheat oven to 350°.
Bake small rolls (this would make 16) for 20 to 25 minutes.
Bake buns for 25 minutes.
Bake loaf bread for 30-35 minutes.
You can also make this recipe in your bread machine, the link provided in the recipe will give you more information about the process if using one.
Hawaiian Bread & Buns
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour , divided
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1/4 cup softened , unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk , white reserved
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons potato flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer combine 1/4 cup flour, 1 tablespoon instant yeast and 2 tablespoons water to make the sponge.
Allow the sponge to rest for 15 minutes.
- Add the pineapple juice, butter, brown sugar, eggs and yolk, and vanilla
- Mix until completely combined.
- Whisk together the rest of the flour, potato flour, and salt before adding to the liquid ingredients.
- Mix and knead until the dough is cohesive and smooth, it may take a while because it will be really sticky at first.
Use a flat beater in your stand mixer for 3 minutes.
Switch to a dough hook for 5 minutes on medium speed.
- If it is still sticking like crazy add a couple more tablespoons of flour
- Grease a large mixing bowl and form the dough into a ball.
- Put into the bowl and cover with a towel.
Let rise for 1.5 to 2 hours.
- Grease a pan or a loaf pan. You can make two loaves or 16 small buns.
- I made one loaf and 4 large hamburger buns.
- Gently deflate the dough and form into bread in your desired size.
- Cover dough lightly with plastic wrap.
- Let rise again for at least an hour until really puffy.
- Mix the leftover egg white with 1 tablespoon cold water.
- Brush the mixture on the dough.
- Preheat oven to 350°.
Bake small rolls (this would make 16) for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Bake buns for 25 minutes.
- Bake loaf bread for 30-35 minutes.
Recipe Notes
Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour
This bread is amazing when still warm and right out of the oven. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself standing by the counter eating pieces of it that you tear off the loaf. We usually make a double or triple recipe so we can enjoy it warm and have slices for sandwiches and french toast and rolls for burgers.
Can I use bread flour instead of all purpose flour?
Thank you in advance!?
Yes 🙂
How do you make the sponge if using active dry yeast?
You’ll need to use instant yeast for this recipe.
Just to be clear, when making the sponge….you just combine the 1/4 cup flour, yeast and water and let stand for 15 minutes… So do not mix the flour water and yeast together because that creates basically a little dough ball. Correct?
The picture right above the paragraph about adding the pineapple juice and everything else….is that the picture of the sponge or what the sponge looks like after adding the pineapple juice and everything else?
I’ve had the same problem with the sponge being too dry too….so wasn’t sure if you had to mix together or just combine in a bowl and let stand….make sense?
These look amazing! I was wondering 2 things. Can the it be frozen (either in dough or bread form)? And how many hamburger sized buns can you get from one recipe? I’m guessing 8 ish, since you made 4 from half a recipe but just want to make sure
Yes, this dough can be frozen. Divide the dough into desired portions, wrap loosely in plastic wrap, place into a freezer-safe container and freeze. Before baking, allow dough to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, or for 2-3 hours at room temperature. It’ll make roughly 8 buns. Hope this helps.
I have never used potato flour before in bread recipes. Where do I find it please?
Most grocery stores sell it but I know it’s also availabe online through Amazon. Hope this helps.
I’m making this right now. I’m not much of a bread maker and I’ve wrecked this recipe a couple time already… forgot the butter, fell asleep and proofed the dough for 8.5 hours… but, when it comes to bread for our Sacrament at church, this is a favorite. The first step, sponge, doesn’t make sense. The 2 Tbsp of water, w 1 T of yeast + 1/4 cup of flour is way too dry to even get a basic wetting. I ended up adding the watery mix and the dry sponge into the mixing bowl and had to go at it on high for 5 minutes to break up the flour balls from step 1. I then let it sit for 15 minutes to reactivate the yeast. So far so good.
Glad you’re not giving up!
I’m trying to make these and the sponge is super dry. I tried making it twice. What am I do wrong???? I followed the recipe exactly!
Oh no! The only things I could think of that would cause an issue with dryness would be possibly over proofing it or maybe measuring out the flour incorrectly. You want to make sure not to scoop flour into a measuring cup but rather spoon it in to fill. Hope those help with your third attempt!
Would like to try this in a bread machine, but I don’t see the link for the instructions in the recipe as stated.
The link is the one to the King Arthur Flour recipe at the bottom of the recipe card.
These look yummy! Making them now:) At what temperature do you bake the buns?? I’m not seeing that in the post or the quick print out for instructions.
Sorry about that, the recipe has been fixed! Enjoy!
I can tell this is going to be a repeat favorite at my house. It sounds incredibly delicious!
Thanks!