Recipe: Pandesal

Pandesal is a very simple bread, but oftentimes the simplest things are the hardest to make. This recipe has few ingredients, as it should, and also uses a folding technique that strengthens the gluten structure of the dough and redistributes air. This trade secret is rarely done by home bakers because they're never told about it.

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Pandesal

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c bread flour
1/2 c milk
1/2 c water
1/4 c + 3 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp margarine, softened
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast
breadcrumbs

Procedure:
Bloom / activate yeast in warm water and 1 tsp of the sugar (about 5 minutes or until frothy). Warm milk together with remaining sugar. Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add liquids to the flour and mix together. Add margarine. Knead by hand or in a machine for 8 to 10 minutes on medium setting. Transfer to a greased bowl or plastic tub, cover, and let rise for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, take one side of the dough, stretch slightly and fold over the other half of the dough. Do the same for the opposite side, then again for an adjacent side. Turn dough over and let rise for an additional 45 minutes. On an oiled work surface form dough into a log about 14 inches long. Roll in bread crumbs. Divide and cut equally into 16 pieces and lay each piece cut side down. Pat bottoms of pieces with breadcrumbs then place in a pan 1 cm apart. Let rise 1 1/2 hours. Sprinkle tops with bread crumbs then bake in a 420 F oven for 10 minutes or until tops are browned.

notes:
- We mix together the liquids and flour first before the margarine so that the flour absorbs the liquid better. Fats like margarine create a natural barrier which makes it difficult for the flour to fully absorb the liquid.
- The folding of the dough halfway into the first rise is done to strengthen the gluten structure and redistribute air within the dough.