Pão de Deus

Ingredients

• 500 g strong white flour
• 100 g caster sugar, for the dough
• 10 g fine salt
• 10 g fresh baker's yeast (or 5 g instant dried)
• 125 ml whole milk
• 2 eggs, for the dough
• 100 g butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200 g unsweetened desiccated coconut
• 150 g caster sugar, for the topping
• 2 eggs, for the topping
• 1 tbsp butter, for the topping
• 2 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

Before you cook

• Weigh the flour, the 100 g of sugar and the salt into a large bowl and mix them together.
• Beat two eggs in a small bowl for the dough, and two more in a second bowl for the topping.
• Leave the 100 g of butter at room temperature until it is soft enough to smear.
• Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Steps

1. Warm the milk in a small pan until it is just tepid, no hotter than your finger.
2. Crumble the yeast into the milk and stir until it dissolves.
3. Pour the yeasted milk, the two beaten dough eggs and the vanilla into the flour.
4. Mix to a rough dough, then knead it on the worktop for five minutes.
5. Add the softened butter a little at a time, kneading until the dough takes it all up and turns silky.
6. Keep kneading for another eight minutes, until the dough is smooth and pulls cleanly away from the surface.
7. Cover the bowl and leave the dough somewhere warm for one hour, until doubled.
8. Melt the tablespoon of butter for the topping in a small pan and let it cool.
9. Stir the desiccated coconut, the 150 g of sugar, the two beaten topping eggs and the melted butter together into a thick, spoonable paste.
10. Knock the dough back and divide it into ten equal pieces.
11. Roll each piece into a tight ball and set them well apart on the lined trays.
12. Flatten each ball slightly with your palm.
13. Spoon a generous mound of the coconut paste onto each bun and spread it almost to the edge.
14. Cover the trays loosely and leave the buns to rise for thirty minutes.
15. Heat the oven to 180C.
16. Bake the buns for twenty to twenty-five minutes, until the coconut peaks are golden and the bases sound hollow when tapped.
17. Cool them on a rack for at least fifteen minutes so the topping sets firm.
18. Dust them with icing sugar just before serving.