A recipe for authentic Jamaican Coco Bread – the most delicious sandwich bread ever – and a delicious recipe for a snapper sandwich on coco bread with jerk mayonnaise 
Whoever invented coco bread must have been trying to come up with the perfect sandwich roll – firm on the outside, tender on the inside. And best of all – it’s constructed with buttery layers that can be opened and then folded perfectly around the sandwich filling, making a neat and delicious package.
Have you ever been on a week-long vacation and ordered the exact same thing for lunch, day after day? I have. A grilled snapper sandwich on freshly made coco bread with lettuce, tomato and jerk mayonnaise. Our family has a favorite destination in Jamaica – a small hotel called Rockhouse.
We’ve gone there for the past few years during the kids’ February vacation. It’s set on a cliff by the ocean, and we basically sit and read and take in the view all day – with an occasional break for snorkeling. Lunch is cooked nearby – in a little open prep kitchen with some picnic tables set up in front and a barbecue grill off to the side.
Once the grilling begins, it’s hard to concentrate on my book as the delicious scents of charred jerk spices start wafting over in my direction. Year after year we all concur on how delicious the sandwiches are and say we should really get the recipe for coco bread. Well finally I did! Chef Warren at Rockhouse generously shared his recipe for coco bread and also explained how to make the grilled snapper sandwich. Now I can make it at home and so can you!
HOW TO MAKE JAMAICAN COCO BREAD
Coco bread is quick and easy. All the dry ingredients go into the mixer. The wet ingredients are added. After five minutes of kneading the dough ball is formed.
The dough is then cut into ten pieces.
The pieces are rolled into balls and left to rise for five minutes.
Then comes the part that makes Jamaican coco bread so special – so perfect for sandwiches: each ball is rolled thin, brushed with butter, and folded in half.
Then it’s brushed with more butter and folded once more.
The little triangles of dough are placed on a greased baking tray.
After a ten minute rise, use the tips of your fingers to make four light impressions in each triangle of bread. It keeps the bread from puffing up too much in the oven.
After 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven, you have coco bread!
I’ve included chef Warren’s recipe for the delicious grilled snapper sandwich that I just can’t seem to get enough of. He uses gray snapper – a tender, flaky fish that’s more abundant than over-fished red snapper. You can also substitute red snapper, mahi mahi or tilapia. And if you’re not in the mood for fish, try making your favorite sandwich on delicious homemade Jamaican coco bread.
While we’re on the topic of bread, at some point you also might want to check out this delicious recipe for no-knead olive bread.
Now here’s the recipe for Jamaican Coco Bread. If you try this recipe I hope you’ll come back to leave a rating and comment. I’d love to know what you think.
PrintJAMAICAN COCO BREAD
Jamaican Coco Bread is perfect for sandwiches and especially good with a simple piece of grilled fish and some spicy mayo.
- Prep Time: 40 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10
- Category: Bread
- Cuisine: jamaican
Ingredients
- COCO BREAD RECIPE
- Dry Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 packs active dry yeast or 4 ½ teaspoons
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- Wet Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups milk, warmed (not more than 120º F)
- ¼ cup water, warmed (not more than 120ºF)
- 2 tbs softened butter (at room temp) plus more for brushing
- 2 tbs coconut oil
- FISH SANDWICH RECIPE
- Jerk Mayonnaise
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Walkerswood Jerk Seasoning (or another supermarket Jerk seasoning)
- Fish
- 10 5-6-ounce gray snapper fillets (or substitute red snapper, mahi-mahi or tilapia)
- Olive oil for brushing fish
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Toppings
- 1 head green leaf lettuce, separated into leaves and washed
- 2-3 ripe tomatoes cut into thin slices
Instructions
- Coco Bread Recipe Preheat oven to 350ºF. Mix all dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with the hook attachment. Add butter, coconut oil, milk and water. Mix at low speed for 5 minutes. Dough should be a ball that can be removed from the bowl.
- Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface. Cut into 10 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Allow balls to sit for 10 minutes.
- Place a small bowl of softened butter (about 3 tablespoons) and a pastry brush on your work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll each ball flat (about 7 inches diameter and 1/4-1/8 inch thick). Rub a thin layer of softened butter over the surface of each piece of dough, using a brush or your fingers. Fold dough in half. Rub a layer of butter over the top surface. Fold again. Place onto a lightly greased jellyroll pan. Repeat with remaining pieces.
- When all the balls are rolled, buttered, shaped and on the pan, let them sit for 10 minutes. After a ten minute rise, use the tips of your fingers to make four light impressions in each triangle of bread. It keeps the bread from puffing up too much in the oven.
- Bake them in the center of the preheated oven for 15-20 mins, until they are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and brush the rolls with a bit more butter. Serve warm or allow to cool and store in an airtight container for a day or two. (They are best served fresh)
- Grilled Snapper Sandwich Mix mayonnaise with jerk spice and set aside or store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Preheat grill or a heavy cast iron grill pan. Rub grates of grill or grill pan with some olive oil. Brush fish on both sides with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook fish for 3-4 minutes per side, until cooked through. Open the coco bread. Spread some jerk mayo on the bottom and top, add a lettuce leave, a tomato slice and the fish. Enjoy!
So beautiful and looks so delicious. I can’t wait to try it–thank you for sharing.
Recently in Seattle I ate at a small restaurant which specialized in food from Trinidad. I had a bread there that was UNBELIEVABLY delicious. Seriously—I had never tasted a bread anything like it. It is probably a good thing that I live 2 hrs away and part of that is a ferry ride or I would be eating that bread very day. This looks different, but looks unbelievably soft. I am not much of a bread maker, but your instructions do
look simple. I am going to give it a whirl. Albeit if it’s as good as the Trinidad bread, it might be best for my hips if I failed at making it. Laughing—-
This bread was fabulous!!!! I made a couple minor changes and made it vegan but it is so delicious. So perfect and supple. It reminds me of the bread back home (New York).
Peace and Blessings & thank you for this awesome recipe guide. Ah how I’ve missed coco bread.
So glad you enjoyed it Ashley!
What type of flour? All purpose or Bread flour?
Hi Cynthia, yes – all Purpose flour. Thanks for asking – I’ll go back and specify that in the recipe.
Thank you! I will be using coconut milk too hope that is okay.
Hi Cynthia, I’ve never tried it with coconut milk. I bet it will be good! Let me know.
We have been to the rockhouse twice in the last 6 months. So glad I found this recipe thanks for posting.
Twice in 6 months!? Wow, I’m jealous. I love the place so much. So you know the pleasure of sitting out on the edge of the cliff, enjoying freshly grilled fish on freshly baked coco bread!
My coco bread opened up when baking. Any idea? Also, you left out the part about indenting the dough with your fingers in the recipe.
Lenie, I’m sorry to hear that your bread opened up. I apologize if my omitting that indenting part in the recipe caused your problem. I really appreciate you pointing that out – I made the change. I hope you’ll try the recipe again with the indents – I think that is the key to keeping the dough folded while cooking. Thanks so much for letting me know!
This is the only recipe I’ve seen for coco bread that doesn’t contain eggs,,,
Also, I noticed there’s no proofing or rise time noted other than the 10 minute rest after folding. Lastly, the recipe calls for active dry yeast, but there doesn’t seem to be a step for blooming the yeast, is it rapid rise yeast?
Heidi, this recipe comes directly from Chef Warren at the Rockhouse Hotel in Jamaica. It may not be the most conventional bread recipe, but it’s an amazingly delicious recipe. I hope you’ll give it a try!
I gave a try at this wonderful recipe. My bread came out great only one problem my dough was too soupy like so I had to keep adding flour as it was extremely sticky, other than that it was absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing. I use it to make my hubby bacon egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. (For work)
Delicious bread. I used coconut milk (added the yeast to that first) and both butter and coconut oil. Thank you for the recipe.
★★★★★
I don’t have coconut oil what can i use í have coconut milk
You can use an equal amount of butter as a substitute for the coconut oil.
Could the coconut oil be substituted with coconut milk?
I wouldn’t recommend that. Substituting coconut milk for coconut oil will change the texture of the bread. You can use butter in place of coconut oil.