Pandesal

Soft rolls cut from a log and rolled in breadcrumbs before proving.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 600 g strong white flour
• 280 ml warm milk
• 80 g caster sugar
• 60 g butter, soft
• 1 egg
• 8 g fast-action yeast
• 10 g salt
• 150 g fine dry breadcrumbs, for rolling

Method

1. Mix the flour, sugar, yeast and salt, then work in the milk, egg and butter to a soft dough. Knead 12 minutes until it passes a windowpane test.
2. Prove 90 minutes until doubled.
3. ROLL THE DOUGH INTO A LONG LOG AND CUT IT INTO PIECES WITH A SCRAPER, rather than weighing and shaping balls. The cut faces are what pandesal is: two rough sides that open up in the oven and go slightly pale.
4. ROLL EACH CUT PIECE IN BREADCRUMBS, pressing them on, and set them cut side UP on the tray with a finger's gap.
5. The breadcrumbs are not a garnish and they go on BEFORE the second prove, so they bake into the surface. Sprinkled on afterwards they fall off in the bag.
6. Prove again 45 minutes until the rolls touch.
7. Bake at 190C for 15 minutes only. They should be barely golden and still very soft — a deep brown crust means they have gone too far for the bread this is meant to be.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes