Getting Back To Baking Bread With My Favorite Pandesal Recipe

 

      I cannot recall the last time I made bread. I think it was when I still had my commercial bakery and all my equipment. But I still remember how the dough feels in my hands. The warmth, texture, and weight of it feels so homey. Some would even go as far as calling the dough a living, breathing thing because of the presence of yeast. I guess it is true to some extent. And don't get me started on how the smell of bread baking in the oven perfumes the whole house with its homely aroma. There's nothing quite like it.

     So it is with a bit of nostalgia that I make bread again at home after almost 20 years. And what a way to honor my baking history than with pandesal as it was one of our bestsellers back in the day. People in the area used to troop to the bakery shortly before 3pm everyday for a taste of our warm from the oven giant pandesal.

     There is no other bread that is quintessentially more Filipino than pandesal. As the name implies it means bread with salt. It is basically water, yeast, flour, sugar and salt plus a little grease. Simple as it may be, fresh from the oven and smeared with butter, eating pandesal is the closest thing to heaven for me. And who can forget such classic pandesal pairings like coco jam, kesong puti and of late Lucky Me pancit canton? Pandesal will always be a part of the Filipino table.

     I like my pandesal soft with a slightly crisp exterior and a little on the sweet side. I also want that classic oval shaped cut on the top of my pandesal.  To achieve that, we must use a wooden dough cutter in portioning the dough as it is the only tool that will give you that mark and classic pandesal look.

     Another important thing to note is to make sure you use freshly made bread crumbs. No matter how good your dough is if the bread crumbs you use is stale, you would get lousy pandesal.

   

Pan de Sal

Ingredients
500 grams bread flour
60 grams refined sugar
8 grams iodized salt
5 grams instant yeast
290 grams water
20 grams shortening
fine bread crumbs for rolling dough in 

Instructions
1. Mix together the bread flour, sugar, salt, instant yeast and water in the mixer bowl with dough hook attachment on low speed.
2. Continue mixing until the dough forms a ball.
3. Add shortening and mix until you get a smooth and elastic dough.
4. Turn out dough on a floured surface and roll into a big ball.
5. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel or cling film and let the dough rise.
6. Once dough has doubled in bulk, divide the dough into 4 equal pieces.
7. Form each into a cylinder and roll in breadcrumbs. Let the dough rest again covered with cling film.
8. Divide each roll with a wooden dough cutter into 8 equal pieces approximately 25 to 30 grams in weight. Roll cut sides in bread crumbs.
8. Arrange scaled pieces on a sheet pan or baguette pan cut side up 2 inches apart.
9. Let dough rise until double in bulk again. Meanwhile preheat oven to 375°F/190°C.
10. Bake pandesal for  20 to 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Transfer to racks to cool.

Makes 32 pieces pandesal.