| Coco bread | |
| Region: | Caribbean |
| Type: | Bread |
| Served: | Hot or room temperature |
| Main Ingredient: | Flour, dairy milk or coconut milk, baker's yeast, sugar, butter or oil |
| Place Of Origin: | Jamaica |
Coco bread is a Jamaican bread eaten on the island and in other areas of the Caribbean. The bread contains milk or coconut milk and is starchy and slightly sweet in taste.
It is made to be split in half and is often stuffed with a Jamaican patty or other filling to form a sandwich. It is a standard item in school cafeterias and bakeries.
Flour, butter or oil, yeast, sugar, and milk or coconut milk are combined to form a soft dough, which after rising is separated into portions which are rolled out, coated with butter or oil, and folded before baking to make an easy-to-split roughly wedge- or half-moon-shaped bun.[1] [2] It is a dense, moist, starchy bread and slightly sweet in taste.
The bread has been a standard offering in school cafeterias as an inexpensive, filling, and easy-to-make vessel for a patty or other filling to form a sandwich. It is commonly served to-go in bakeries throughout the country and is eaten by all classes. It is also served to use for dipping or as part of a bread basket.
There is uncertainty regarding when coco bread was first made and by whom; it is believed that Jamaica is the birthplace of coco bread. In Jamaica is it believed to have originated as a poverty food. It is likely a product of enslaved Africans and indentured Indians who worked on Caribbean sugar plantations.[3] Since then, it has been popular within the Caribbean communities in the region and in areas where Jamaican immigrants have settled.[4] [5]
The recipe traditions are also unclear; the original recipes may have been made with coconut milk, and some modern recipes call for it. Others call for dairy milk. The name may also refer to a Jamaican brand of butter, as butter is a crucial ingredient.