Adapted from Portuguese pão doce, brought to Hawaii beginning in the late 1870s by Madeiran and Azorean laborers recruited for the sugar plantations — the same wave that brought malasadas. The Hawaiian variant added more sugar and, in many recipes, a little potato or a splash of pineapple juice as a tenderizer. Robert Taira opened a bakery in Hilo in 1950 (originally Robert's Bakery), worked out how to extend the bread's short shelf life, and settled on the round loaf shape (around 1958) that made it easy to mass-produce; the business moved to Honolulu in 1963 as King's Bakery and reached the U.S. mainland (Torrance, California) in 1977, which is why mainland Americans now know this bread by the King's Hawaiian brand.
Adapted from Portuguese pão doce by 1870s Madeiran and Azorean laborers. Robert Taira opened King's Bakery in Hilo in 1950 and later commercialized as King's Hawaiian, which is why mainland America knows this bread by that brand. Pineapple bromelain is what gives the cottony crumb — it partially digests gluten.
A round, pale-gold loaf with a soft cottony crumb and a crust thin enough to dent with a thumb. Sweet — closer to brioche than sandwich bread — with eggy richness and a faint pineapple tang in the better versions. Pulls apart in long shreds rather than crumbling. Used as dinner rolls, slider buns, or for French toast where it soaks heavy without falling apart.
The pineapple juice isn't just for flavor — bromelain enzyme partially digests gluten, which is why the crumb is so cottony where a typical brioche is more elastic. The high egg-and-sugar load means the dough proofs slowly; rushing the second rise gives a dense, tight loaf. Bake covered for the first half so the crust stays pale and thin — uncovered the whole time and the top hardens before the inside catches up.
Variations
King's Hawaiian round loaf (the brand standard); Punaluʻu Bake Shop's taro sweet bread (Big Island); Liliha Bakery's Coco Puff cousin uses similar dough; the original Portuguese pão doce in Funchal still uses sugar and lemon zest, no pineapple.
On the Palate
Where Hawaiian Sweet Bread sits in the Hawaiian flavor cloud
Ingredients
How it's made
5 steps · 3 hours
- 110 min
Combine flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl.
- 249 min
Add warm pineapple juice, melted butter, honey, and eggs.
- 323 min
Knead dough until smooth and elastic.
Watch outKnead until the dough turns smooth and springs back — the pineapple juice softens the gluten, so give it time to come together.
- 416 min
Let dough rise until doubled in size.
Watch outLet it fully double — the heavy egg-and-sugar dough proofs slow, and rushing the rise gives a dense, tight loaf.
- 582 min
Bake until golden and fragrant.
Watch outCover the loaf for the first half of baking so the crust stays pale and thin — uncovered throughout, the top hardens before the inside catches up.
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