Recipe: Portuguese-Hawaiian Sweet Bread (P O DOCE) and P O DO MINHO (Rough Country Bread of the Minho Province) (repost

Here are a couple of recipes that were previously posted on The Recipe Link. They sound similar to what you are wanting.
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Originally Posted on Recipe Link by Nalani AZ on November 10, 1998

Portuguese-Hawaiian Sweet Bread (P O DOCE)
rec.food.cooking/L. Merinoff

...here's my favorite recipe for Portuguese/Hawaiian Sweet Bread. Someone copied it for me from an out-of-print Hawaiian book, so I can't credit it. I've also slightly adapted it. The directions may look long, but the recipe is very easy; sometimes I just overexplain.

PAO DOCE / PORTUGUESE-HAWAIIAN SWEET BREAD
"Two of the most popular contributions to island life by the Portuguese are the ukulele and pao doce, a sweet bread. Pao doce was traditionally a holiday treat. Coins, charms, and even a whole egg -- at Easter -- were imbedded in the dough on special occasions. Today this rich sweet bread is available daily at island bakers.
Makes 2 loaves which can be frozen

1 large or two small potatoes
Water
1 package (approx 2 1/4 teaspoons) dry yeast
2 tablespoons + 3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
3 large eggs
1 cup + approx 3 cups unbleached all-purpose or bread flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
Tasteless vegetable oil

Boil the potatoes in water until soft. Save 1/4 cup of the water in which they were boiled and cool both potatoes and water to lukewarm. Mash potatoes and measure 1/2 cup.

Add the yeast and 2 tablespoons of the sugar to the lukewarm 1/4 cup potato water. If you already have some unseasoned mashed potatoes, you can just use warmed fresh water. Stir briefly, then let sit about 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved. Beat in the mashed potato and set aside for the first rising, covered with a damp towel, until it's doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.

Scald the milk and let cool to lukewarm. Add to the risen potato mixture. Beat the eggs just to break up the yolks, remove one tablespoon (for brushing the tops of loaves), then beat the rest into the potato mixture. Beat in the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and 1 cup of the flour. Set aside for the second rising, covered with a damp towel, until it's doubled in bulk, about 45-60 minutes.

Melt the butter and cool to lukewarm. Beat it into the risen mixture, then stir in the salt. Add the rest of the flour until the mixture is just kneadable, then knead until smooth and elastic (about 150 times if you're good at it). Pour a little oil into a bowl, add the ball of dough and turn it in the bowl so it's completely coated with the oil. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Divide the risen dough in half, then briefly knead each half and form into a ball. Put each in a lightly oiled 8-9" pie tin (or both on one baking sheet, as far away from each other as possible) and let rise, lightly draped with a slightly damp towel, one last time until doubled, about 1 hour.

Brush the loaves with the leftover egg (omitting this might give you a softer crust, but I'm not sure). Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 35-45 minutes until they're browned and the bottoms sound hollow when you tap them.
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Originally posted on the Recipe Link by Gladys/PR Fri Apr 4th 2003

There is so much about Portuguese bread in these Boards. Here is a recipe from one of my Portuguese cookbooks.

A recipe for P O DO MINHO (Rough Country Bread of the Minho Province).

It is in THE FOOD OF PORTUGAL by Jean Anderson, 1986, Hearst Books, New York. It describes the bread as "This chewy white loaf is the standard country bread of northern Portugal. It is slightly rougher than the simple P O.

P O DO MINHO (Rough Country Bread of the Minho Province)
Makes two 7 inch round loaves

3 packages active dry yeast
5 cups warm water
5 cups sifted unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup unsifted gluten flour (find in health food stores)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cornmeal

First make a sponge: In a large warm bowl combine the yeast, 3/4 cup of the water, and 1 cup of the unbleached flour; beat hard to blend. Cover, set in a warm draftfree spot, and let rise until spongy and doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.

Stir the sponge down and mix in the glutten flour, salt and remaining 1 1/4 cups of water. Now add enough of the remaining unbleached flour, 1 cup at a time,to make a stiff but manageable dough. Turn onto a lightly floured board (use only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking)and knead hard for 5 minutes.. Shape the dough into a ball, place in a warm, greased bowl, and turn the dough in the bowl so that it is greased all over. Cover with a clean, dry cloth, set in a war,m, draft free spot, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/4 hours. Punch the dough down, turn onto a lightly floured board, and knead hard for 5 minutes.
Once again, shape the dough into a ball, place in a clean, warm, greased bowl, turn the dough in the bowl so that it is greased all over, cover with a cloth, and set in a warm, draft free spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Again punch the dough down, turn out onto a lightly floured board, adding only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking. Knead hard for 5 minutes, then divide the dough in half. Knrad each 1/2 hard for 2-3 minutes, then shape into a ball. Grease two 8 inch layer cake pans well, and sprinkle 1 tsp of cornmeal over the bottom of each. Place the balls of dough in the two pans and dust the tops lightly with flour. Cover with a cloth, set in a warm, draft free spot, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, improvise the brick and steam oven as directed on page 223 of the book, setting the thermostat at very hot (500F) and preheating the oven a full 20 minutes. As soon as the loaves are risen, drizzle cold water directly onto the hot bricks, producing a head of steam. Arrange the loaves on the center rack at once so that they do not touch each other or the oven walls. Close the oven door securely and bake the bread 15 minutes, drizzling the bricks with cold water every 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to hot (400F) and bake the loaves 15 minutes longer, again drizzling the bricks with cold water every 5 minutes. As soon as the loaves are richly brownrd, firm and hollow sounding when thumped, remove from the oven and transfer at once to wire racks to cool.