50 States of MoFo: Hawaiian Bread

Back in ancient pregan times, I used to like sweet, spongy King's Hawaiian Bread.   As it appears all but impossible to  obtain poi from afar, I thought a vegan version of this bread might make a nice entry for Hawaii.  Hawaiian bread is a variant of Portuguese Sweet Bread, brought to the islands by Portuguese immigrants and Hawaiianized through the use of ingredients like pineapple juice.   There are several copycat recipes floating around the internet.   The following is based upon a couple of them with vegan changes:

4 c. all purpose flour (plus probably 2 c more)
1/2 c. plain soy milk
2 T. ground flax
1 1/3 c pineapple juice
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 t. ground dried ginger
3/4 t. vanilla
4 1/2 t. yeast
1/3 c. melted vegan margarine

Beat together the soy milk, yeast, flax, juice, sugar, ginger, vanilla, and melted margarine.  Switch to the dough hook and gradually add 4 cups of flour.  Continue adding flour until the ball of dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, but is still soft and somewhat sticky.  (It is much easier to do this with a dough hook than by hand, due to the stickiness of the dough.)   Allow the mixer to knead on low for 5 minutes.  Then let the dough rest for 5 minutes.  Finally, knead for 3 more minutes.   Turn into a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour.

Punch down the dough, split into two, and shape into loaves.  Place the loaves in two greased and floured bread pans, cover, and allow to rise another 30-60 minutes until roughly doubled.  Bake at 350 F for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown.  The tops split around the edges, so these were not the most attractive loaves of bread I've ever baked -- but the flavor and texture were very close to the original!