Caribbean Butter Bread Recipe

January 3, 2020
Looking for a simple bread recipe to create a solid sandwich loaf? Then this is the bread you need. 

A Caribbean butter bread loaf that is smooth and sturdy. Perfect to eat alone or create the perfect sandwich.

Two loaves of Caribbean butter bread

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It's is 2020.

And my first recipe is a bread recipe. There goes my resolution of "less flour".

But I had to share this buttery bread with you guys.

A smooth, bread, doused in butter during the folding process.

This is a loaf of sandwich bread, like the hard dough bread.

Caribbean people especially bought a lot of this butter bread loaf and hops bread from the bakery. They would be steaming hot in a brown paper bag. The rush home to get to it was too real.

People especially loved it with butter or some cheese or even guava jelly on it.

What makes this different from other bread recipes is that we don't make these in loaf pans. These are not those uniformed loaves

Caribbean butter bread loaves

We roll the bread into shape and just place them on a baking sheet and bake away. If you have a baking stone, even better.

For added ease, I placed the loaves on top of some parchment paper on the baking sheet.

I always make my bread in my Kitchen Aid mixer. For me, it beats the hassle.

I throw all my ingredients into the bowl, put on my dough hook and let the motor do the mixing.

I don't have the mixer on too high of speed when using the hook. I do make sure to make sure it runs long enough to activate the gluten in the flour. A moderate speed (Speed 2) is good.

KitchenAid says that kneading for 2 minutes in your mixer is equivalent to kneading 10-12 minutes by hand.

It's sometimes a good idea to lightly oil the dough hook prior to using. This helps the dough to not "climb" when the mixture starts to come together.

Also, note that if the dough is continuously "climbing" it has been mixed enough

Caribbean butter bread proofing in a bowl

If after you do the dough hook the ball is not as smooth in appearance as you like it, knead it with wet hands for a little to get the ball smooth.

Don't have a mixer? You can do this all manually. If you are using dry yeast make sure you activate it in warm water to help get it started. (see tips below)

Now what makes this bread a bit different from your basic simple bread is that you need to now roll it out and brush it with butter to roll it back up to bake.

It's not hard at all.

The first thing is to make sure you have your baking sheet ready to go before getting ready to roll.

Also, you want to make sure your oven is already warming up (see tip below)

Separate your dough into two equal parts. Roll out each part into as much of a circle that you can. Make sure you do this on an oiled surface. Or even on a silicon pad.

Take 1 tablespoon of the melted butter and brush it onto the rolled out bread mixture.

Then we need to roll the bread up. As you roll the butter will push to the edge a bit. Do not be worried. Take your time and keep rolling the loaf in.

This bread is a bit soft and long so you need to be careful when moving to the sheet. Have your sheet ready and close by.

Be mindful of where the end closure is and where you want to place it on the baking sheet (on the bottom to hide that end or on the top)

Tips for baking bread:

Pick the best yeast. There are two types: Dry active and Instant/Rapid Rise. Dry active yeast must be activated in warm water before use (see tip below for temperature of water). 

Instant yeast can just be added as-is

Be careful of the water temperature. Be careful of how hot you make the water that you are going to use. Slightly warm water works best.

You can do a heat test by putting two fingers all the way into the water. If while you are pulling it out slowly it's too hot, then the water is too hot for the yeast.

Store your yeast well. Store dry yeast in the freezer. It keeps best there

Preheat your oven. Try to make sure that it's heated for at least 20 minutes before you put your bread in there.

Let the bread cool. Well, I fail at this all the time. Hot bread and cheese is a must when the bread is baking. BUT... it is definitely better to cut a cooled bread. There is no cracking on indentations made.

If you look at my main pic you might see a crack in the bread. Yup, I sliced this as soon as it came out to take pics.

I also find it better to slice the bread up sided down. (bottom of loaf facing up) It gives a cleaner cut

Sliced Caribbean Butter Bread

Good items to have to bake bread:

A baking stone: Something I need to invest in for myself. Not just for bread but also pizza. A baking stone helps to create a crust that doesn't crack and allows the bread to bake all the way through and not over brown

Oven thermometer: this little gadget will let you know for sure what the temperature of your bread/meat is and not just based off of your oven's digital reading

Scale: Makes the measuring of dry ingredients (especially flour) much easier. An off measure of flour can easily mess your bread up.

Baking Sheet: Perfect for baking things that do not fit into the traditional loaf pans.

This bread can also be made in a bread machine if you have one. Just follow their process directions as this may vary depending on the machine.

After all that work of mixing, waiting and baking your bread, you don't want it to spoil quickly, do you?

I suggest you keep your bread (this or any other bread) at room temperature for about two days. There are some other breads that can be kept a little longer like sourdough and rolls

If you happen to make a bigger batch, freeze the ones that you know would not be used right away. Freeze, not refrigerate. Fridge bread gets dry.

Just make sure you wrap it in plastic wrap first then put it in a freezer bag. You can keep these for up to three months. When ready just bring it to room temperature then toss in the oven for a few minutes.

And you're ready to dive in and use this bread to make all the sandwiches you need.

I want to make more bread now!

More baking recipes I personally love:
Coconut Bake
Coconut Bake Biscuits
Saltfish Pizza

Make this bread and eat it with
Pulled Jerk Chicken
Stewed Oxtails
Jerk Shrimp

Butter Bread, Bread
Yield: Makes 2 Loaves
Author: Renz @ HomeMadeZagat

Caribbean Butter Bread

Caribbean Butter Bread

prep time: 1 H & 35 Mcook time: 30 Mtotal time: 1 H & 65 M
A smooth buttery bread


  • 8 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
  • 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast
  • 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1 cup whole milk, warm
  • 1 cup of water, warm
  • 4 tablespoons melted butter


How to cook Caribbean Butter Bread

  1. Mix together flour, yeast, salt, sugar, shortening (both sets), milk and water
  2. Mix into a soft, smooth ball
  3. Leave the mixture in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave to yield for an hour 
  4. After the hour, punch mixture down then divide into two equal parts
  5. Heat oven to 350 degrees
  6. Roll each part into as much of a circle that you can
  7. Brush 1 tablespoon of butter on each roll
  8. roll each part into a tight loaf (Do this slowly, the butter is going to gather at the end as you roll)
  9. Place rolls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper
  10. Leave to rise for 20 minutes
  11. Before placing loaves in the oven, brush with remaining melted butter
  12. Bake loaves for 25 - 30 minutes

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Created using The Recipes Generator

A simple popular Caribbean butter bread loaf recipe where the bread is rolled up with butter. Perfect to eat alone or create the perfect sandwich.


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Renz HomeMadeZagat
Renz HomeMadeZagat



  1. I only have active dry yeast. How much of it should I use for this recipe?

    1. HI. Here is the conversion: To use active dry yeast instead of instant (bread machine) yeast in a recipe, multiply the amount of yeast by 1.25.

  2. As soon as I can get my hands on 8 cups of flour, I am definitely trying this recipe! I have just discovered your blog.

  3. What type of flour is best? Bread flour or all purpose?

    1. Hi. I used all purpose. It is the only flour I buy to be honest. Will update the post to be more specific. Thank you!!

  4. Hi. I will try the recipe today. You mentioned by the ingredients 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening and 2 tbs of vegetable shortening but in the instructions you wrote shortening milk. So I am guessing the 1/2 cup is for the shortening milk. My question is though what can the shortening milk be replaced with? Thank you.

    1. HI Sorry. I forgot a comma between shortening and milk. Edited. Sorry for the confusion.

  5. I live in South Korea and just made this recipe and almost cried cause I was instantly transported to my childhood days living west in Fredericksted! Thank you for this recipe.

    1. You are welcome!! Thanks for posting and stay safe!

  6. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of Vegetable shortening and 2 Tablespoon of Vegetable shortening. Do you add it all to the mixture or is the 2Tbsp used when rolling into a ball.

    1. Hi, the 2 tablespoons is a little extra oil that is needed for the mixture.

  7. Hi, is the vegetable shortening Crisco shortening?

    1. HI yes. Crisco is actually the brand I prefer to use also

  8. What can I do to keep my bread bottoms from burning or getting to dark. Also any tips on how to make sure the bread is thoroughly cooked and avoid the bottoms from getting to dark. Should I bake at a lower temperature?

    1. Hey. Are you putting it on the lowest rack? It could be getting too much heat You can try to move it up a level. You oven temp could be really strong too so another option would be to lower the temperature a bit. You can also put a sheet pan on the lowest level between the heat and the bread and it will help reduce the intense heat to the bread.

    2. Thank you very much. I use the middle rack. I will try and put a sheet pan on the bottom rack to help. That's a good idea. Thank you again.

  9. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of Vegetable shortening and 2 Tablespoon of Vegetable shortening and to add it all together to the flour mixture. I am using the 1/2 differently from the 2 tbsps?

    1. Hi. yes it's a 1/2 cup plus the 2 tablespoons additional

  10. Can I substitute butter for the shortening?

    1. Hi. Yes you can.. 1 for 1. BUT.. know that the texture of the bread would be a bit different

  11. I am so glad I came over from the Bloggers Group on Facebook. I have been looking for another sandwich bread recipe. The only thing I see different in your recipe and the two I make is you use solid shortening, and I use butter/oil. I can't wait to try your recipe and see the difference shortening makes.

    1. Oh hey Lori. Does the butter/oil make much of a difference with bread texture?

    2. I'm sorry, I don't combine the two. One recipe uses butter and the other uses oil. I like the one with butter better than I do the one with oil. I find the oil recipe to be a little more dense than the one with butter.

  12. Glad to find this recipe. As a child on Aruba I used to get butter bread when I visited my godmother, but never knew how to make it.

  13. Hi, would it be okay to let the dough do the first rise overnight in the fridge?

    1. Hi Thoya. I have never done this myself, but my mom says yes you can. After mixing cover and put in fridge. You can punch down one hour in and then let it rise again for whenever you need to use it. It's best to use it in about 48 hours of mixing once it's in the fridge

  14. Hi. I’m about to make this. It calls for vegetable shortening. Is that the same as vegetable oil

    1. Hi. I use crisco. Sorry I'm late to see your comment.

  15. It came out absolutely fabulous. Thankyou for your wonderful recipes.


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