Lolo Buns

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 60 gsugar
• 7 gdried yeast
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• 250 mlwarm coconut milk
• or warm water
• 50 gbutter, melted
• 1egg, optional

Lolo sauce

• 400 mlthick coconut cream
• 100 gsugar
• or 100 g grated palm sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoonvanilla, optional

Sometimes added

• grated fresh coconut
• a little cinnamon
• a pinch of cardamom

To serve

• warm from the dish
• tea
• at a Sunday meal
• or a church fundraiser

Directions

1. Warm the coconut milk to blood temperature. Stir the yeast and a spoon of sugar in. Let it stand until it foams up. Give it about ten minutes to foam. Warm water works just as well. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
2. Make a well in the middle of it. Pour in the foaming yeast liquid. Add the melted butter to it as well. Add the egg if you are using it. Bring it together into a soft dough. Turn it out onto a floured surface. Knead it for a good ten minutes. It should become smooth and elastic.
3. Put the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover it and leave it somewhere warm. Let it roughly double in size. Give it an hour or a little more. Put the coconut cream in a pan. Add the sugar and the salt to it. Warm it gently over a low heat.
4. Stir it until the sugar dissolves. Coconut cream splits if boiled hard. Warm it gently and do not boil it. It only needs the sugar dissolved. Stir the vanilla in off the heat. Let the sauce cool down a little. White sugar keeps the sauce pale.
5. Divide it into even sized pieces. Roll each one into a smooth ball. Roll them under a cupped palm. Press down lightly as you circle. That tightens the surface into a smooth skin.
6. Butter a deep baking dish well. Pour all the lolo sauce into it. The sauce should be about a centimetre deep. Set the dough balls into the sauce. Leave a small gap rather than a large one. Cover the dish loosely with a cloth. Let them prove for about forty minutes. They should look visibly puffed.
7. Heat the oven to one hundred and eighty degrees. Bake them for about twenty-five minutes. A hot oven burns the sugary sauce. Cover them with foil if the tops darken. Judging them takes a careful look.
8. Let them stand for ten minutes. It also lets them firm up to lift. Let them stand before serving. Serving them is always done warm. Lift them out with a wide spatula. Spoon any remaining sauce over them. Serve hot tea alongside them all. They keep two days in a sealed tin. Warm them briefly to soften them again.

Technique

• The buns are baked sitting in the sweetened coconut cream rather than sauced afterwards: the bottoms soak it up and become soft and almost custardy while the tops stay dry and browned, and that contrast is the whole point.
• The sauce should be about a centimetre deep and never up the sides of the buns; too much makes them soggy throughout and too little dries out and burns. Most of it should be absorbed by the end, with a little caramelised at the edges.
• Coconut cream splits into oil and solids if boiled, so warm it only until the sugar dissolves; and a hot oven caramelises the sugary sauce before the buns cook through, so bake at a moderate heat and cover the tops with foil if they darken.

Substitutions

• Tinned coconut cream is the practical substitute for fresh pressed lolo.
• Grated palm sugar in place of white gives a deeper caramel flavour and a darker sauce.

Variations

• Grated fresh coconut is scattered over the top in some versions.
• Cinnamon or cardamom is added to the sauce in some households.
• They are made in large batches for church fundraisers.

History

Lolo means coconut cream in Fijian; the buns are a Sunday and church-fundraiser baking staple.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lolo Buns?

Lolo Buns is a bread & pastry from Fiji: soft bread rolls baked sitting in sweetened coconut cream. Lolo means coconut cream in Fijian; the buns are a Sunday and church-fundraiser baking staple.

How long does Lolo Buns take to make?

Lolo Buns takes 30 minutes plus rising of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 12 buns. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Lolo Buns?

Yes, within limits. Tinned coconut cream is the practical substitute for fresh pressed lolo. Grated palm sugar in place of white gives a deeper caramel flavour and a darker sauce.

What is the most important thing to get right in Lolo Buns?

Stir it until the sugar dissolves. Coconut cream splits if boiled hard. Warm it gently and do not boil it. It only needs the sugar dissolved. Stir the vanilla in off the heat. Let the sauce cool down a little. White sugar keeps the sauce pale.