Hawaiian Bread Recipe
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 October 26, 2024 – 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
See below for metric measurements, as well as nutrition information, for this Hawaiian bread recipe for the bread machine.
Hawaiian Bread Recipe
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (177.4 ml) pineapple juice
- 1 egg beaten
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 ½ Tablespoons (2.5 Tablespoons) sugar
- ¾ teaspoon (0.7 teaspoon) salt
- 3 cups (375 g) bread flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) active dry yeast
Instructions
- This makes a two-pound loaf.
- Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. (My bread machine recommends adding the liquids first.) Use the basic or sweet setting.
- I made mine 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.
- Check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. It should be a smooth, round ball. If it’s too dry add liquid a teaspoon at a time until it looks OK. If it looks too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks OK. Most of the time though, the above amounts should be just right.
Notes
This recipe was developed and tested using US customary measurements. Metric measurements are calculated automatically.
Nutrition
All information presented within this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on breadmachinediva.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. I try to provide accurate information to the best of my ability; however these figures should still be considered estimates.
I make this recipe every month it is so good! I even wrote down the recipe on a sticky note and put it in my ingredients cupboard.
OMGOODNESS!! This bread is amazing! So soft and tasty. I’m going to be making this as my go-to. Thank you so much… it’s perfection!
Delicious bread! Tender and soft. Thanks for the recipe!
So good! A little sweet and tangy; everyone loved it. I will be making this many more times. Great on its own, but I also toasted it and used it for chicken salad sandwiches. Definitely use the suggested light crust setting. It was also pretty soft and fluffy.
Should I melt butter first if substitute in lieu of oil?
The butter should be melted. However, if your machine has a preheat cycle it may do the melting for you.
This recipe makes fantastic Hawaiian bread. I have even substituted fresh squeezed mandarin juice for the pineapple and it produced yummy bread. Recipe is a keeper.
To be honest the texture of the bread was get but didn’t really taste the pineapple in it
I made this last night and it was delicious! The loaf came out light and fluffy. The only change I made was using two medium eggs instead of one large since I only had medium. I made this in my Zojirushi bread maker, using the Basic setting with Light crust. The loaf is slightly sweet with a soft texture. It’s perfect!
I’m so glad you liked it!
I’m a Hawaiian fanatic n have spent a fortune on kings Hawaiian bread. No more. Love this recipe but it needs more sugar to equal kings. Anyone have a suggestion of how much more sugar to add?
I am confused I have tried a couple of times to make Hawaiian bread and it has not turned out. My question is this: in all recipes except for the Hawaiian bread ,the liquid needs to be warm. Do I warm the pineapple juice. It seems to me that the yeast would not be activated. I’m weary about trying Hawaiian bread again.
This is a great question! If your machine has a preheat cycle then don’t heat the juice. The machine will do that for you. If your machine doesn’t have a preheat cycle then I’d recommend that you use room temperature juice.
This is only my second time using my bread maker, but I followed the recipe, exactly. Does anyone have a recommendation on how to get the bread to rise more and be fluffier? I love the taste, but it is very dense. I want a bread that is lighter and fluffier. I have the Amazon Basics bread maker and there’s also a piece at the bottom to knead the bread that always ends up inside of the bread that I have to cut out. I don’t see anything in the instructions on how to snap it in, only to set it in. My husband and I have tried every which way to get it to snap in, but it just doesn’t seem to be designed to do that. Anything helps! Thanks!
I proof my yeast – I know you’re not supposed to have to with bread machines, but I’ve found in high humidity FLA, I need to in order to get the appropriate rise.
Hi Jennifer. I have had the same problem as you for a long time. The new Breadman machine has a collapsible paddle that should solve the problem. However I did not want to buy a new machine. I purchased bread pans. So now I use the dough cycle which takes most of the work out. When the dough cycle is done I remove the dough and bake it in the oven in a pan. Bread comes out in a longer loaf and not as high as the machine bread. This also takes care of the sticking paddle problem.
Check your user manual. I got my first machine for Christmas. The user manual says that there’s a specific point in the cycle where you can pause it, remove the dough, take the paddle out, and then put the dough back. It’s entirely optional. I don’t mind it staying in if it’s bread just for us, but if it’s bread to give or serve, I’ll probably take it out.
Sift flour for lighter bread
Try adding dough enhancer- you take away 3T flour & add 3 T dough enhancer. A simple recipe for dough enhancer would be 3/4 c lecithin, 3T vitamin C powder,2T ginger, 3T cornstarch. Keep it in a sealed container
I spray the paddle with cooking spray as suggested with my bread machine. I never have a problem.
Do you have this recipe with weight measurements instead? I prefer to measure by weight. Thank you.
Laurie, Click on the “metric” link under the ingredients in the recipe card section. Then you’ll see the amounts by weight.
Made this recipe a couple times. First time my family like the bread, but wanted it more sweet like a Kings Hawaiian roll. I changed the olive oil to 2 tablespoons of butter and substituted honey for the sugar. The recipe in my families opinion is now a 5 with the two substitutions I made
Thanks for sharing the changes you made to the recipe! I’ll have to give that a try.
1 1/2 cups of pineapple juice and crushed pineapple, I did half and half.
I used more liquid because of using the pineapple.
3 TBS sugar
EXTRA SWEET and really moist.
Did you increase you flour any? Or did you keep it at 3 cups?
Made this bread tonight and it turned out fantastic, I changed nothing and I have a Zojirushi and used course 1 med color and awesome 👍 I got a beautiful 2lb loaf. Thanks
There is an error in the yeast conversion to metric. Your recipe says 1.5 tsp converts to 18 grams of yeast, but it actually converts to 7.02 grams. That said, it’s a very good recipe. I wanted to make dinner rolls, so after adding all ingredients to my bread machine pan, I chose the dough setting. When done, I gave it a few extra minutes then turned it out onto a lightly floured silicone mat and gently rolled it to around 11×15. Then I cut it into 18 pieces. I folded each piece in half then tucked the seam underneath and placed them into two 9 inch square glass baking pans that I had greased with butter. I fit 9 into each pan. Covered the pans and let rise for almost 1-1/2 hours. Then I brushed them with a combination of melted butter and honey. Baked them at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. After taking them out I brushed them again, and let them cool. They were beautifully browned, soft and light, and yummy.
Thanks so much for your comment. I’ll have to try your method for the dinner rolls.
Regarding the yeast issue, I’m not sure what happened with the metric conversion. I was told that when using teaspoons and tablespoons to not convert to grams. I’ve been doing that on the recipes, so I’m not sure what happened here. I redid the metric version to reflect that.
Sorry I forgot to say I bake my dough in my Pyrex glass casserole dish, the Bread slices are longer then the conventional bread pan.
Thanks so much for the great comment. How long do you bake the bread for and what temperature do you use?
I have a sunbeam bread maker, and I make many different breads in it. I use the dough setting, take it out place it in a rising tub for 30 mins or so. This is the second time I am using your recipe it tastes great, I added some honey and less sugar. It turned out delicious.
Is it ok to use bread machine yeast instead of regular?
Yes, but you won’t use the same amount. Check out my yeast article to learn how to convert between different types of yeast.
Followed exact recipe and used sweet bread setting which is 3 hrs 11 mins. Selected light crust. Delicious. Very happy w this loaf and will def be making again. And again. And again. 😄
Great recipe and soooo delicious! I received my KBS bread machine yesterday and decided I would try this Hawaiian bread recipe as my first ‘experiment’ and hope for the best since I’m new to bread baking. Wow – three hours later the whole house smelled like a bakery. It was 10:00 p.m. (yes, got started late) when it was done but both my husband and I couldn’t wait to try a piece, it smelled that good. 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!
I’m so glad you liked it!
Perfect. Used exact ingredients
I made it yesterday. My load came out hard and it was on light setting. Not sure what happened. It actually didn’t fill the whole pan.
I’m so sorry it didn’t turn out. I’m not sure what happened either. 🙁
Perhaps it was the yeast ?
Try fresh bread machine yeast. If that is not the culprit then try:
Blend all liquids together. Continue blending while adding sugar/honey, then the rest of the ingredients except for the bread flour and fresh yeast.
Pour the liquids into the bread machine. Mix the flour & fresh yeast well together then add it to the bread machine and start baking.
Pineapple juice is acidic + contains enzymes. These two factors can break down the yeast so that it will not work. By blending the ingredients together you make the juice less acidic and the enzymes are dispersed throughout the liquid making them less concentrated. Mixing the yeast with the flour disperses the yeast & the flour gives it some protection from the pineapple juice.
Good luck baking. My ex-wife says that my cooking resembles a chemistry experiment. Guilty as charged – I am a chemist.
Best bread I have ever made. My husband, not a real bread lover, ate half the load 😂 thanks for the recipe, loved it.
Marsha, this recipe worked out really well for me. I used my Cuisinart CBK-200 bread maker, which does have a “Sweet Bread” setting. You said above using the Medium crust setting on your bread maker resulted in a dark loaf. I too used the Medium setting on mine, and the crust came out much too dark and way too crispy, so the next time, I’ll use the Light crust setting. But the texture and flavor of this great is great. Thank you for this recipe!
I’m so glad you liked it!
Can this recipe be used to make dinner rolls, like King Hawaiian using the dough
setting, and forming into balls and baking off in oven? If so, what temperature?
Great minds think alike. Check out my recipe for Hawaiian rolls.
Do you put the egg in the machine whole? Or beat it first?
Great question! It’s a beaten egg. I’ve added that to the recipe.
Marsha… this really is a FANTASTIC recipe. with a light crust setting, I don’t see anything I would change. For those that say it did not work on the sweet setting, do it on basic. I have both settings, and my “sweet setting” in the manual states “for baking crispy and sweet bread.” I would go with basic so the timing is right for all phases. Delicious. Just made it tonight and already can’t wait to make it tomorrow.
Thanks so much for your comment and for the information about the settings.
We have to follow a strict low sodium diet, I’m confused about the nutritional facts listed. When figuring the sodium info on 3/4t of salt and dividing it by the 15 servings, I come up with 115mg sodium’s per slice not 13mg. Did you use lite salt in this recipe?
Great question!
The nutritional information is calculated by the software that makes the recipe card. As stated, it’s just an estimate. So let’s look at how close the software came.
I used 3/4 of a teaspoon of regular salt in the recipe. Google says that’s 1,725 mg of sodium. Divided by 15 that’s 115 mg per serving. That’s the same number you got.
The spacing in the nutritional information is a little funky. The 13 mg that you’re seeing is for the cholesterol. The sodium as stated in the recipe is after the word sodium. So it’s 113 mg. That’s much closer to the number that we got.
I made this hawaiian bread and it was great. I would like to make it with the butter and wonder if you have to melt the butter,
It all depends on if your machine has a preheat cycle. If it does, then it’s not needed. If it doesn’t have a preheat cycle, I’d go with room temperature butter.
Hmmm, I used to make Hawaiian style bread in our bread machine, but it has been years since I last made it. My wife asked me to make some the other day so I looked around the internet and found your recipe. I tried it out yesterday and as you suggested, I put it on the light crust mode. Also, my machine has a sweet bread mode so I used this too. The outcome; it was fairly dense and was a little burnt. I am not sure if I should increase the yeast or decrease the salt or a combination of both. I would like to get more rise and a lighter texture. What are your thoughts? Also, I have a good sour dough starter but haven’t been happy with the recipe I have used the last couple of times. Do you have a recipe for sourdough bread? The Hawaiian bread – put it in the freezer, will cut off the burnt sides and use it for turkey stuffing. Nothing goes to waste in our house.
I’m sorry the bread didn’t turn out, but I love that you’re using the bread. I imagine the stuffing will be great!
I advise that you make the changes to the recipe one at a time. Then you can really see what’s what. Also be sure to write down what happens. I always think I’ll remember, but I don’t. 🙂
I love sourdough bread, but don’t have a recipe for it.
Do you need to activate your active dry yeast before adding to all the ingredients? I made the bread and added the active dry yeast at the end, as per my bread machine’s instructions. But my dough did not rise at all (the yeast is brand new and not expired).
No you don’t need to activate the dry yeast. Here are some ideas for helping bread that doesn’t rise.
Don’t you have to heat up any liquid to activate the yeast? Any bread recipe I’ve made with my bread maker I heat the milk or water to 110 degrees and put all wet ingredients in the bottom. Then I add the flour with the yeast on top in a little well I made in the flour. Now, I’m afraid to make this because your recipe doesn’t say to heat the liquid. Will it work with everything cold?
It depends on your machine. If your machine says to heat up the liquids then you should do that. Some machines (like mine) have a preheat cycle and so that’s not needed.
Thoughts on adding coconut to the recipe?
I haven’t done that, but it sounds delicious. Let me know if you try it.
do you have to warm to pineapple juice? most of my bread machines call for adding warm water first.
It depends on your bread machine. If your bread machine instructions advise that you warm liquids then you’ll need to do that. My machine has a preheat cycle so I don’t warm the liquids.
can you use butter instead of olive oil?
You bet. I’ve read some reviews for this recipe saying that people actually prefer it that way.
This bread is ok. It baked beautifully and perfect density but I was hoping for a more yellow and sweeter taste. Hate to say this, but closer to what is in the stores. I will keep the recipe, but continue my search. I do think butter would be better than oil for taste purposes.
I have made this several times and got best results with a few modifications. For context, I live at 4,100 feet above seal level where it is very dry. As such, I used 1/4 of milk instead of 2 tbsp and have not needed to add any water during kneading. I also added an additional egg yolk and used 2.5 tbsp butter instead of olive oil. This gives a great rise with a tender crumb and my family won’t let is stay long enough to make sandwiches.
Is this on basic cycle, light crust? Or a different setting? I have a Zojirushi pac20. Thank you!
I made this in my bread machine today. It looked great in the mixing/kneading process and rose beautifully. I didn’t have to add anything. The bread came out stiff and doesn’t taste sweet or pineapple-like at all. I used the sweet setting with a light crust. What went wrong? I was hoping it would super soft or dense, but this was stiff and flavorless.
Same problem. Had no taste. Will not make again
Would you consider this a “sweet” bread”. I’m wondering what settings I should select for my bread machine….white, sweet, etc.
You know, I’m just not sure. My bread machine doesn’t have a sweet cycle.
Sweet cycles on bread machine bake bread at a lower temperature. The cycle is for bread recipes with eggs, cheese, a lot of sugar or a lot of fat.
If it were me, I’d make the bread one way and use the other cycle the second time. If you do this let me know how it turns out.
For some reason, my bread looks smaller than a usual 2# loaf. This is the first time trying it, for we do so love the store brand Hawaiian bread. I look forward to hearing from you and thanks for a great web site. I made the honey bread and it turned out great.
Hi Judith,
Thanks for writing!
I’m not sure why the loaf would look smaller than expected. I do know that my own loaves sometimes do that. I’d try it again and see what happens.
Take care and stay safe!
This bread is great I made it in my good old free to me West Bend that we had just replaced the heating element in, rose nice and taste great.. We will be having it with our Easter Dinner. Thanks for great recipes.
Thanks so much for the kind words. Happy Easter!
I’m new to making my own bread. My family loves Hawaiian rolls. Can you suggest how I could use the dough from this recipe into oven baked rolls? How big of dough balls should they be before/after rising and any suggestion on baking temp/time?
Check out this recipe. It’s the dinner roll version of the Hawaiian bread recipe. 🙂
We really like the Hawaiian hamburger buns/rolls from the store. I was just curious if you’ve done this on a dough setting and then shaped it and baked in the oven? Any adjustments that would need to me made to shape it?
Joy, great minds think alike. 🙂 Check out my pineapple rolls recipe.
I have several times. When the dough is done I put it in a loaf pan lined with parchment paper, cover it & let it rise 30 mins. & then bake it at 350 for 20-30 mins. It’s utter perfection! The loaf rises up so high. Maybe because my breadmaker is old, I just don’t like the consistency of the bread when it’s baked in it. I prefer to bake in the oven. This recipe is so yummy. Reminds me of my days when I lived on Maui! Mahalo Nui for this recipe!
Has anyone tried this recipe using egg replacer? My daughter is severely allergic to egg.
I have read that flax seed can be used in baking yeasted breads. I hope it works out for you.
This recipe is wonderful! I have the same Zojirushi machine you do, and it came out light and tender. I do have a couple questions:
1.) Does it matter what kind of pineapple juice? I used not made from concentrate which has less sugar than made from concentrate. Do you need to cut the sugar down if you use made from concentrate (large 46 oz. can)?
2.) This recipe made a smaller loaf for me, closer to 1 1/2 lb. than 2 lbs. How would you scale it up to make a 2 lb. loaf (using 4 c. flour)? Use 1 c. pineapple juice and 2 eggs? Just wondering.
Thanks, Marsha!
I’m so glad that you like the recipe. 🙂
Different types of pineapple juice will have different amounts of sugar. If you used a low-sugar option that might explain why the loaf was smaller. I used canned juice and thought that the size was about right for a two-pound loaf.
If you’d like to scale the recipe up here’s an article on how to adjust recipes. Let me know what you come up with. I always like to hear how others adjust, improve and vary the recipes.
I just made the recipe yesterday for my parents using my old bread machine. They raved about it and it is now one of their favorites. The adjusted recipe (below) made a perfect 2 lb. loaf for that machine (Oster Expressbake):
1 c. pineapple juice
2 large eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
I did the math according to the link you posted, and used the Basic and Light crust settings on the Oster. The loaf did rise pretty high, but the top didn’t split. If you want a lower rise, I think you could increase the salt to 1 1/2 teaspoons or just use 1 egg. I also used the 6 oz. canned pineapple juice (+ 2 oz.), so the sugar content seemed about right. You could even decrease the added sugar if you think the loaf is too sweet. Hope this helps, and thanks again!
Thanks you for sharing your recipe! I just made the best Hawaiian bread!!
I made this into hamburger buns and deli sandwiches. We loved it! Also great for pulled bar b q! I’m going to purchase a sub roll and try them as subs! Love this one!!! Wish I could add pics!
My new favorite bread recipe for EVERYTHING! thank you from the bottom of my heart! My entire family is raving about this bread! I’m going to Oregon to visit more family and they are already asking me to bring loaves of the bread! THANK YOU!
I havea one and a half bread machine how can I adjust to make this recipe. My son loves hawaiian bread.
Hi Leslie, Here’s a page tells you how to convert the recipe for differently sized machines.
Can I add pieces of pinapple?
You can try it and see if it works. I’d start with half a cup.
I usually use crushed pineapple but have to add more liquid. Check at the start of the cycle like you say to make sure the dough looks right.
I would like to try this recipe. One challenge I have is making it low sodium / no sodium. Can this recipe be tweaked to make it low sodium or remove the salt all together?
I’m sorry, but I don’t have a low sodium version of this recipe. I don’t recommend removing the salt either as that would cause the bread to rise way too much.
Yes, you can make it lower sodium. Just half the amount of salt BUT you will need to half the amount of yeast as well.
It’s great this way
What’s the difference between bread flour and regular flour?
Great question! This blog post explains it.