Pandan Raisin Bread with Crumble Topping

This pandan raisin bread is made just a little more special, sprinkled with a sweet buttery crumble topping, with a soft and moist crumb.

Gosh, I’ve been on the bread wagon lately, feeling a whole lot of craving for sweet dough. Today, I’m sharing how to make pandan raisin bread.

This is an easy and delicious sweet bread loaf recipe for you! I promise this won’t take up too much time. I absolutely think that baking bread should always be fun and easy.

Hopefully, you won’t feel like you’ve spent an entire day in the kitchen. Though, I have to admit that I do enjoy whiling away hours in mine.

About this pandan raisin bread

I’ve just spent the past week baking these wonderfully old-fashioned looking, sweet bread loaves.

Sliced, toasted, and slathered with gobs of butter and kaya, pandan raisin bread is my idea of a none-too-sweet, none-too-indulgent afternoon tea. In spite of what I just said about the butter, mind you.

Hubs has been raving about it. Coming from a man who loves his bread and knows his food, it spoke volumes about Chef Alex Goh’s recipe and I just had to share it with you all here.

I was thinking of ways to use up my leftover pandan juice and coconut milk from when I made Nonya kaya (coconut egg jam) earlier this week. I didn’t want these to go to waste, so this pandan raisin bread recipe was just perfect.

The perfect tropical flavour combo of pandan and coconut

Infused with rich pandan and coconut flavours, and filled with sweet raisins, these are delicious! But wait, that’s not all!

This pandan raisin bread is made just a little more special. It’s crust is generously sprinkled with a sweet, buttery crumble topping baked to golden crispness.

And what ultimately awaits you is a tender and moist crumb that’s delightful to eat.

Let’s not forget too, that gorgeous, tropical pandan green hue. It will surely perk you up and make you feel so gratified.

Can I omit pandan paste and green colouring?

I’ve made an all-natural version of this bread. Basically, I omitted the use of artificial green colouring, and you’re perfectly welcome to do that as well.

But I’ve had to re-think that, as the bread turned out looking a little grungy. This is because the amount of pandan juice was just not enough to tinge the dough to a uniform light green hue.

So, I opted to add just a trickle of pandan paste. First, to infuse it with a more vivid colour. After all, we do eat with our eyes, right? Second, to intensify the pandan flavour.

Ingredients for pandan raisin bread

For the dough:

• Bread flour
• Instant yeast
• Egg
• Milk powder
• Coconut milk
• Pandan juice (here’s a post on how to extract natural pandan juice in 10 minutes)
• Pandan paste
• Raisins
• Butter (or ghee)
• Water
• Sugar
• Salt

For the crumble topping:

• All-purpose flour or plain flour
• Butter
• Sugar

How to make pandan raisin bread

This is an easy mix and knead recipe you can do by hand or in a stand mixer. Though a stand mixer would definitely make easy work of this. There are 5 easy steps to making the dough:

Mix and knead the dough

• Mix the dry ingredients – bread flour, instant yeast, milk powder, sugar and salt together. Separately, combine the wet ingredients – egg, coconut milk, pandan juice, pandan paste and water.
• Add the wet mixture to the dry flour mixture, and knead until you get a rough dough. Then add the butter (ghee) and knead until the dough becomes soft and smooth.
• Then, knead in the raisins until well incorporated. It might be helpful to finish this part by hand to get all the raisins well incorporated into the dough.

1st proof/rise

• Set the dough aside or in a lightly greased bowl, covered. Let it rise for 50 to 60 minutes (1st rise/proof), or until doubled in volume.
• Meanwhile, this will be the time to make the crumble topping.

Divide and shape the dough, and fill the loaf pan

• Divide and shape the dough into small balls. I took the easy way out! Instead of tediously weighing 15 to 20 g portions of dough, I simply portioned out one-inch blobs of dough and moulded these into balls.

• When placing these into your loaf tin, fill the base with a loosely packed layer of dough balls. Don’t worry about the gaps in between. The balls will expand in volume to fill those in-between spaces.

• Then pile the rest on top, working one layer at a time, and try to end up with a level top layer.

2nd proof/rise

• Set aside to rise again (2nd rise/proof) for another 45 minutes or so. Just long enough until the loaf has risen to or just above the edge of the loaf pan.

Bake!

• After 2nd rise, brush the top of the dough with egg wash and sprinkle crumble topping. In a pre-heated oven, bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Watch the magic happen in your oven, as that loaf bakes and crusts to a beautiful golden brown!

More pandan and coconut treats

Nonya kaya (Coconut Egg Jam)

If you want the perfect accompaniment to this pandan raisin bread, try making your very own home-made Nonya kaya (coconut jam) spread.

Kaya is a rich and creamy custard spread. It is prepared with eggs, coconut milk, flavoured with pandan juice and sweetened with sugar.

Pandan chiffon cake

Also, the love doesn’t stop there! You can’t afford to miss this recipe for a true-blue Asian cake classic – Pandan Chiffon Cake.

Enjoy this rich, moist, cotton-soft light and fluffy pandan and coconut-flavoured chiffon cake.

Enjoy this home-baked pandan raisin bread!

Continue to Content

Pandan Raisin Bread with Crumble Topping

Yield: 1 bread loaf (20-cm x 10-cm x 8 1/2-cm

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Rest time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes

This pandan raisin bread is made just a little more special, sprinkled with a sweet buttery crumble topping, with a soft and moist crumb.

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Ingredients

Ingredients A:

• 300 g bread flour
• 2 tsps instant yeast
• 45 g sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp milk powder

Ingredients B:

• 30 g egg (save the rest for egg wash)
• 60 ml coconut milk
• 1/2 tbsp pandan juice*
• 1/8 tsp pandan paste
• 105 ml water

Ingredients C:

• 20 g ghee (or butter)

Ingredients D:

• 130 g raisins

To make Crumble Topping (makes extra):

• 30 g butter
• 30 g sugar
• 60 g plain flour

Instructions

1. Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine all the dry ingredients (A) in the mixer bowl, and mix well.
2. In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients (B). Fit the electric mixer with a dough hook attachment, then add all the wet ingredients (B) to the flour mixture (A). Knead on medium speed (speed 3 on my Kitchen Aid mixer) until a rough dough comes together.
3. Add (C), and knead on medium speed until dough becomes smooth and elastic. Add (D), continue to knead to incorporate raisins in the dough. Turn out dough and remaining loose raisins, onto a lightly floured work top. Finish up kneading by hand, using lightly floured hands (dough will be slightly sticky) if necessary, until all raisins have been mixed into the dough.
4. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and set aside to ferment for 50 to 60 minutes in a warm, draft-free area (the inside of an oven, for example), until doubled in size.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the crumble topping. In a small mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar. Rub the butter into the flour-sugar mixture, until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.
6. Divide the dough into 15 to 20 g portions, and mould each into a ball. Place the dough balls into a greased loaf tin (L20-cm x W10-cm x H8.5-cm). Set aside, covered, to proof in a warm, draft-free area for 45 to 60 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 175 deg C (350 deg F).
7. When dough has risen to, or just above the edge of the loaf tin, it's ready to be baked. Brush the top with egg wash, and sprinkle with crumble topping.
8. Bake at 175 deg C (350 deg F) for 25 to 30 minutes. When done, turn out loaf onto a cooling rack and let cool completely. Slice and serve as desired.

Did you make this recipe?

I’d love to see! Remember to share your pics on Instagram and tag @foodelicacy or #foodelicacy.