I Love Homemade Pandesal

I took a break from baking so I could work on my Christmas project. I missed eating pandesal though so I got to work today to bake. It just takes 12 to 15 minutes to bake pandesal but it takes a few hours to prepare it. I've made a few adjustments to a base recipe to fit my taste. It's not the same as Pan de Manila's pandesal though haha. 

The smell of freshly baked bread filled our home this afternoon. Ahhh, that's what I like best about baking. I wish one could have freshly baked bread as a scent. Haha. Same as new books, fresh roses and a newly opened balikbayan box from the US. 

I haven't tried the pandesal I baked today. I'm still thinking about what I'm going to eat it with. Normally I eat pandesal without any filling, but sometimes I eat it with cheese and mayonnaise, spam or luncheon meat, peanut butter, Cheez Whiz and tuna mayo. Pandesal is so versatile, you can eat it with anything. 

What about you? What's your favorite bread? What's your favorite palaman? 

My Ninang Jane asked me if it's hard to bake pandesal. It's not hard, you just need to be patient because it takes time. The only thing to watch out for is the milk temperature when you bloom yeast. It should be around 32'C. I made that mistake once and put the yeast on very hot milk, it did not bloom. I actually like waiting for the dough to proof because it gives me time to rest while baking (it's like a workout for me). 

I haven't made an updated video of baking pandesal, but I think I have improved after baking it five times now. It also helps to have a stand mixer since it kneads the dough more evenly. Here was my first attempt at baking pandesal --

CB//200 #StuckAtHomeDay/230 #StayHome #BeKind

Learnings from Bread Baking

I embarked on a home panaderia project last May. My target was to learn how to bake Filipino bread buns. I have so far baked the following: dinner rolls (for practice!), ensaymada, Spanish bread, pandesal, putok, monay and pambonete. All of it was edible, but it wasn't necessarily the taste I aimed for.

Here are some things I realized I should have done/had before I embarked on my home panaderia project -

(1) Equipment - if you bake cupcakes/cookies, you just need a few more things -

Dough slicer
Weighing scale
Bigger baking mat
Rolling pin

Of course you should already have a baking bowl, hand mixer (stand mixer better!), measuring cups/spoons, spatula, oil brush, wire rack etc.

(2) Kneading abilities - oh kneading requires patience and technique! I watched a couple of videos to learn how to knead properly.

(3) Blooming yeast - some recipes don't require you to bloom yeast, but if you need to make sure the milk isn't too hot.

(4) Use the right kind of milk - I discovered that there are certain types of milk that go well with bread and the taste changes depending on what brand of milk you use. This is true for both powdered and fresh milk.

(5) Use the right weight depending on the bun you are baking - this is something I need to understand better since sometimes the dough goes so big! Haha.

Doesn't look like putok or monay hahaha. It tasted good though.

(6) Practice shaping the dough several times before going through the whole dough - my pambonete, ensaymada and putok did not look like pambonete, ensaymada or putok after baking it hahaha.

I've also embarked on second attempts to find the best recipe. I'm getting a bit adventurous and changing things here and there. What about you? Have you tried baking Filipino bread buns?

You can check out my attempts on this playlist.

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