Butter Flap or Coco Bread is a soft, layered, butter filled bread. In Guyana this wonderful bread is called butter flap and in Jamaica, it is called coco bread. This recipe brings me right back to my childhood where I peeled away layers and enjoyed every butter filled bite and I am happy to share it with you so that you can share this delicious bread with your family. In Guyana most baker shops add yellow food coloring to the butter so that it is prominent in the layers. They do this to mimic an orange colored salted butter that was used in the original butter flap recipes. In Jamaica a delicious patty is sandwiched between the layers of bread. When I was in undergrad I bought a beef patty and coco bread almost every day because there was a popular Jamaican chain restaurant a block away from campus! Those were glorious days.
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The Butter Flap / Coco Bread Video Tutorial
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Tips for making Butter Flaps / Coco Bread
- If the dough is too sticky to work with, be very careful about how much extra flour you add to the dough. While testing this recipe, I made a batch with a pretty stiff dough and the end results were a pretty stiff coco bread
- When shaping the coco bread, roll the dough out to a ¼ inch thickness. Then brush with butter and fold in half. This will make a really thick coco bread, just like the ones I enjoyed in New York.
- Don't add too much butter. During one of my batches I thought, the more butter the better, but the butter just oozed out of the dough, flooded the pan and the dough just fried in the butter, making the bottom of the butter flaps crunchy. It was tasty but not what I was going for.
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The Printable Butter Flap / Coco Bread Recipe
Printable Recipe Card
Butter Flaps / Coco Bread
Soft, butter bread folded into layers and filled with butter
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups of all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon of rapid rising yeast
- ½ cup of salted butter for the dough + 2 cups more for coco bread and 4 cups more for butter flaps (at room temperature)
- 1 ¼ cups of warm water
- ¼ cup of sugar
Instructions
- Add sugar to warm water and stir until all the sugar crystals dissolve then set aside
- Then to a large mixing bowl add the flour and rapid rising yeast. Mix together well, using a whisk or your fingers
- Next, rub ½ cup of salted room temperature butter into the dry ingredients using a fork, until a crumbly texture forms. You may also use your finger tips
- Then make a well in the center of the ingredients and add the sugar-water solution
- Mix until the sugar-water solution and dry ingredients come together to form a soft dough
- Next turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes to form a smooth dough ball
- Place the dough ball into a greased bowl, cover and let sit in a warm place to allow the dough to rise until the dough doubles in size. This should take about 45 minutes
- Preheat Oven to 350 °F
- Then turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for a minute before cutting the dough into 8 to 10 pieces. If you are making coco bread I recommend cutting your dough into 8 pieces. If you are making butter flaps cutting the dough into 10 pieces will make perfectly sized butter flaps
- Roll each piece into a smooth round ball.
- Then roll your dough out into a round disk about 3/16th of an inch thick for butter flaps and ¼ inch for coco bread
For Coco Bread
- Next add 2 teaspoons of room temperature salted butter to one half of the rolled out dough leaving a bit of space at the edges.
- Then fold your dough in half. Press the edges to seal
- Repeat until all the coco breads are folded
For Butter Flaps
- Add 2 teaspoons of room temperature salted butter to one half of the rolled out dough leaving a bit of space at the edges.
- Next fold the dough in half then add another teaspoon of butter to half of the folded dough, then fold again so that the dough in now in quarters. See video.
- Then press edges to seal
- Repeat until all the butter flaps are folded
Before Baking
- Damp hands with warm water and brush over butter flaps or coco bread to remove any flour on the surface
- Then bake on the middle rack of the over for 20 to 25 minutes
- Remove from the oven then brush with some butter, cover with a kitchen towel and allow to cool completely
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Doing some baking? These these other recipes that bake at the same temperature as Butter Flaps / Coco Bread
Tennis Rolls
Plait Bread
Tricia says
Like to know different recipes.
Althea Brown says
Give it a try. It’s so good.
CHRIS COOK says
I'M SO AFRAID TO MESS THIS UP. IT'S A LOT OF BUTTER TO WASTE. ABOUT $12 WORTH.
J says
Do like what i did and use margarine, it came out great (in my opinion) aNd it’s a much cheaper ALTERNATIVE.
CHRIS COOK says
As a cook, Margarine is one molecule short of plastic. Should be banned along with soy bean oil. Just my opinion. no offense.
J says
NAH, NONE TAKEN, I KNOW IT’S NOT THE HEALTHIEST ALTERNATIVE. YOU COULD ALSO TRY TO MAKE YOUR OWN BUTTER, THERE ARE SOME REALLY SIMPLE VIDEOS ON HOW IT’S DONE.
IN ANY EVENT, HOPE YOU DO EVENTUALLY GET TO TRY THEM ONE DAY 🙂
Natalia says
Overdue for a review! I made these for Thanksgiving. I was in charge of bringing diner rolls, but went for this instead and they were a HUGE hit! I like that there was a video for this recipe. I replayed it about 100 times while I was making these and they came out great! Thank you Althea
Althea Brown says
Thank you so much for trying them and sharing.
Becky says
Hi Althea,
Just wanted you to know that you've made your recipes easy to follow. It helps alot. Just needed to know if I wanted to cut the recipe in half, should I reduce the rest of ingredients in half also? For example the butter, sugar, etc . Please let me know. Thanks.
Althea Brown says
I would do 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon yeast and half everything else.
Maysa Wilson says
Can I use unsalted butter?
If so,how much salt should I add to the dough?
Thank you
Althea Brown says
You can and just a pinch about 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
Dana S says
This was my first time making butter flaps and they came out SO great! I'm Jamaican, so was tempted to make the coco bread, but decided to try the flaps and that extra fold adds some marvelous fluffiness. My husband thinks they are very tasty as well!
Nadira says
These came out really soft and buttery. My daughter and I love this recipe
Stephanie says
Made these twice there so good 😊
How do I incorporate salt into the dough my is a little bit fresh????