Fa’apapa

Ingredients

Dough

• 600 gplain flour
• 200 gfresh coconut, finely grated
• or 150 g desiccated coconut
• 150 gsugar
• 3 teaspoonsbaking powder
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• about 350 ml thick coconut cream

Sometimes added

• 80 gbutter, melted
• 1 teaspoonvanilla
• 2 tablespoonsgolden syrup

To wrap and bake

• banana leaves
• or foil and baking paper
• an umu, earth oven
• or an ordinary oven

Directions

1. Soak it in warm coconut cream first. Give it ten minutes to soften. Crack a mature brown coconut open. Keep the water that runs out of it. Peel off the brown skin with a peeler.
2. Grate the white flesh very finely. Coconut cream is the thick first pressing. Use the thick part from the top of the tin. Put the flour in a large bowl. Add the sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. Whisk them together thoroughly. Stir in all the grated coconut. Adding the cream needs a light hand. Add the coconut cream gradually. Mix it in with your hand as you pour. Add the melted butter if you are using it.
4. Bring it together into a soft dough. It should be soft and slightly sticky. Add more coconut cream if it is dry. Add a little flour if it sticks badly. Do not knead it much at all here.
5. Turn the dough out onto a leaf or paper. Press it out flat with your hands. Aim for a rectangle about two centimetres thick. Score the top into squares with a knife. Lay the dough out onto a leaf. Fold the leaf over to enclose it. Tie it or tuck the edges under.
6. Wrap it in a second leaf for strength. Baking it in an umu takes judgement. Set the wrapped dough on the hot stones. Cover the whole umu with leaves.
7. Let it bake for about an hour. The heat is uneven and needs experience. Heat the oven to 180C before baking. Set the wrapped dough on a tray. Bake it for about forty-five minutes. Open the wrapping for the last ten minutes. Let it cool inside its wrapping. Serving it is done warm or cold. Break or cut it along the scored lines. It keeps four days if wrapped well.

Technique

• The umu is the Samoan above-ground earth oven, built with stones heated in a wood fire and covered with leaves, in which everything for a meal cooks together.
• Coconut cream is the only liquid in the dough, with no water at all, which is what makes the bread so dense and rich.
• The caramelised edges are the prized part, which is why the wrapping is opened for the last part of the baking.

Substitutions

• Desiccated coconut soaked in warm coconut cream stands in for fresh grated coconut.
• Foil and baking paper replace banana leaves for oven baking.

Variations

• Some cooks add golden syrup or vanilla to the dough.
• A version with more sugar is baked as a sweeter bread.
• Fa’ausi uses the same coconut caramel idea as a sauce.

History

Baked in the earth oven alongside taro and palusami, it uses grated coconut and flour and keeps for days without refrigeration.

Frequently asked questions

What is Fa’apapa?

Fa’apapa is a bread & pastry from Samoa: dense coconut bread pressed flat and baked in the umu until the edges caramelise. Baked in the earth oven alongside taro and palusami, it uses grated coconut and flour and keeps for days without refrigeration.

How long does Fa’apapa take to make?

Fa’apapa takes 20 minutes of preparation and 45 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes one flat loaf, 12 pieces. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Fa’apapa?

Yes, within limits. Desiccated coconut soaked in warm coconut cream stands in for fresh grated coconut. Foil and baking paper replace banana leaves for oven baking.

What is the most important thing to get right in Fa’apapa?

Bring it together into a soft dough. It should be soft and slightly sticky. Add more coconut cream if it is dry. Add a little flour if it sticks badly. Do not knead it much at all here.