Pinterest Tested: Easy Hawaiian Rolls #2 vs King’s Hawaiian Bread

*DING*DING*DING*….let’s get ready to rumble! I’m here with another Pinterest Tested challenge. This time I chose to compare two Hawaiian sweet bread recipes – Pinterest Tested: Easy Hawaiian Rolls #2 vs King’s Hawaiian Bread. Growing up in Hawaii, I ate my fair share of Hawaiian Bread and have never been able to find a recipe that even compares to King’s Hawaiian Bread. I chose to compare Easy Hawaiian Rolls #2 from The Midnight Baker and King’s Hawaiian Bread from La Petite Brioche because of the difference in preparation and ingredients. Let’s see how these two recipes stacked up next to each other.

Easy Hawaiian Rolls #2 from The Midnight Baker

Judy at The Midnight Baker posted this recipe in February of this year and I don’t really see any reviews of anyone who has tried this recipe before. There are several differences in Judy’s recipe compared to opposing recipe: makes a smaller batch of 9 rolls compared to 24 rolls, gives you the option of using water or pineapple juice, varies in preparation, and uses bread flour.

For this recipe, I chose to use water for the liquid instead of pineapple juice. The preparation was very easy and the dough came out beautiful. I didn’t have a 9″ x 9″ pan, so I used my 8″ x 8″ pan. It probably would’ve been better with a slightly larger pan because  I had to make my rolls slightly smaller to fit in the smaller pan. Making the rolls smaller left me with some leftover dough to make two or three more rolls.

When the rolls first come out of the oven, I rubbed butter over the tops of the rolls as suggested in the recipe, which gave it a nice glisten.  The rolls have a crisp outside when eaten fresh from the oven. The texture and taste are actually closer to the King’s Hawaiian rolls if you eat it the next day. Covering it while still slightly warm and letting it cool makes the outside soft and chewy, which is more like the King’s Hawaiian rolls you buy in the store.

King’s Hawaiian Bread from La Petite Brioche

This next recipe came from Christa at La Petite Brioche blogspot. It was published in August of 2012 and there were some reviews about the bread not rising properly. In this recipe, you don’t bloom the yeast prior to adding the dry ingredients. The yeast is put in after the wet and dry are mixed together. For me, I’ve noticed that when I don’t bloom the yeast prior to adding other ingredients, I have some difficulty too.

Okay, these don’t look as nice as the other recipe, but in my defense I made these late in the night…lol. I did however follow the directions exactly for the baking time and amount of rolls to portion out. The only change I made was to puree 1/2 cup of pineapples and substitute that for part of the pineapple juice in the recipe.

 These rolls came out a lot drier than the first recipe and did not have the right texture, but the taste was closer to the real King’s Hawaiian rolls.

Final Thoughts

This Pinterest Tested: Easy Hawaiian Rolls #2 vs King’s Hawaiian Bread challenge had a clear winner! If I had to choose one to make again, it would be the Easy Hawaiian Rolls #2 from The Midnight Baker. However, I would tweak it and make some slight changes. See the table below for the suggested changes.

Comparison	Easy Hawaiian Rolls #2	King’s Hawaiian Bread
Ease of making?	Very easy to make.	Very easy to make, just has a few more ingredients.
How much does the recipe make?	Makes about 9 large dinner rolls.	Makes 24 dinner rolls. Recipe can be cut in half.
Recipe ingredients	Uses bread flour and uses 6 ingredients.	Uses regular flour and uses 9 ingredients.
Overall Taste	This recipe gives you the option of making it with water or pineapple juice. I made it using water. The taste was close, but missing something and it wasn’t quite sweet enough.	The taste is closer to the King’s Hawaiian bread, but the recipe was very dry.
What changes did you make to the recipe?	I only used a smaller pan than stated in the recipe.	The only change I made was to substitute 1/2 cup of pineapple puree for the pineapple liquid.
Which ones did the kids prefer?	Kids aren’t in love with this, but I think with a few tweaks it will be a winner.	Kids didn’t like this recipe at all.
Would I make this again?	YES, but I would add more sugar and use pineapple juice. Pineapple juice is the key ingredient to make it taste like King’s dinner rolls. These also taste better and have a closer texture to the King’s Hawaiian dinner rolls after they have softened.	No. While the recipe tastes good, the bread is very dry and does not have the right texture.