Fresh Portuguese Sweet Bread
Portuguese immigrants to the Hawaiian islands brought with them the old world style of baking in a wood-fired stone oven called a forno. In an effort to preserve this tradition, the Kona Historical Society has created a replica of a traditional forno in a field below the old Greenwell Store (now a museum) in Kealakekua. Every Thursday morning, volunteers light a fire in the forno in the wee hours, and by 10 am the action begins as more volunteers help to prepare the dough for pao doce, a traditional Portuguese sweet bread.
The dough sits nearby, rising as the baker waits for the oven to reach the proper temperature.
Once the oven is close to the appropriate temperature, the baker weighs out pieces of dough.
She’s surprisingly accurate!
Now everyone’s invited to participate. The measured dough must be further divided into seven equal portions and rolled into smooth balls of dough.
As each pie tin is filled, it is set aside for one last rise.
The forno cooks 30 loaves at a time.
In no time, the air fills with the aroma of freshly baked bread.
The baker sets the cooked pao doce out to cool, and then packages each loaf for sale.
As you can imagine, the loaves go very quickly!
Watching or participating in making the loaves is free. The fresh, warm bread is sold immediately, and at $5 a loaf, it’s a bargain. The funds from the Thursday bread sales go to support the Kona Historical Society. The posted hours for this event are from 10 am to 1 pm every Thursday, but I’ve arrived during the latter part of this window only to find the bread sold out. If your heart is set on fresh bread, get there early!
mmmmmm. I love Pao Doce. Thanks you for this info. On Feb 12 (the only thursday of our Hawaii trip) we are driving from the Kohala coast to Hilo. You bet I am making a detour to pick up some great fresh bread. Please save me a couple of loaves!!
[...] got it through and now we all get to share in the√Ǭ†reward — this is an awesome write-up about Fresh Pao Doce – Thursdays posted at Big Island on the Cheap.√Ǭ† Pao√Ǭ†Doce (Portuguese sweet bread) for all!√Ǭ† The pictures are [...]
[...] in a beautiful mauka setting at the KHS site in Kealakekua, while other staff bake bread in the Portuguese oven. The Greenwell Store Museum is also open for [...]
I love Portuguese sweet bread – it’s great to see photo of how it’s made! Thanks for this post
That bread looks delicious…and fun to make…is it as divine as Portuguese Tarts? Then I’m in!
Fascinating process and so well documented here. And wow–30 loaves at a time.
Sounds delicious and the oven is beautiful.
How amazing. I would have loved to see this when I was in Hawaii. We enjoyed lots of sweet bread when we were there!
Wow, that looks delicious! Wish I’d seen this on my trip to Hawaii a few years ago, but I will keep this in mind for the future!
I love the photo of the dough rising in all those pans! I have tasted this sweet bread in Lisbon. We have a Portuguese community here on Cape Cod, so the local stores carry Portuguese bread. I had no idea Hawaii had Portuguese immigrants, too! Thanks for sharing this information.
What a wonderful post and photos. Thanks for alerting me to something else I need to try.
This is really unique to Hawaii. What a great tradition and and wonderful money maker for the historical society. I am sure it makes everyone happy, not to mention that the bread is probably better than anything you could get in the store.
Love the photos. They almost tell the whole story here. Love that they are making the bread still in the traditional way, too.
My husband loves this Portuguese sweet bread and this traditional way of cooking it looks so cool!
This looks so delicious. I wish I’d known about it when we visited the Big Island! I love that participating in making it is free. Thanks for all the mouthwatering photos.
Wow!! Doesn’t that look amazing!!!
[...] we suggest that you indulge in a little pao doce? If you’re on the island, you can get fresh Portuguese sweet bread on Thursdays. If [...]
Yum, this looks fabulous! I love your photos.