How To Bake Pandesal and Other Breads

 I am posting parts of this email from a blog reader and this is not the first time i heard of such story. The experience is not confined to our senior friends out there, but also to some middle age guys who had once tasted the old Spanish version of pandesal probably from their lolos who were once bakers or from "panaderias" who still cling to the old style of baking breads.  The most common denominator? The pandesal should be crispy and slightly toasted outside, light but slightly chewy inside, a bit salty and not sweet, not creamy yellow in color and the "piece de resistance", that aftertaste once you chew on and swallow the bread. The flavor clings to the throat and top of your mouth cavity, slightly yeasty and indescribable really since this flavor is not artificial but is derived from the long hours those pandesal lovingly sit on the pans to proof. Yeast i suppose is not in abundance in those days, they probably use fresh compressed yeast and rely heavily on