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Dense Ensaimada


This is in response to an email from Chris Porgee regarding his ensaimada, why it almost did not rise at all and why it was dense once baked....

Inside the ensaimada, light and fluffy texture, the dough melts in the mouth, and shelf life is up to 7 days....




The baked ensaimada, bursting out of the molds... You can see the dough tripling almost in size...This is how your bread should look like in the end.
The "ovenspring" i was talking about, if your dough does not puff up after about 10 minutes of baking, then it is time to go back to the drawing board.




HEIGHT OF THE DOUGH AFTER 3 HOURS OF PROOFING. I used a sponge and dough method here... I only use a No time dough method when i make breads with very low sugar, eggs and fat...





Chris i hope these images and my response would give you an idea of what is wrong with your dough..




**Ensaimadas are made with high eggyolks, sugar and butter to really get that creamy light rich pastry goodness,... the problem is, these ingredients if used in high percentages make the dough heavy, longer to proof and if the flour you are using is not strong enough will most likely fail (babagsak) during baking. Result, a pastry that has a small volume and dense texture... not light and fluffy(see picture above).

The first time i baked ensaimadas and cinnamon rolls back home, my formula takes at least 18 hours to end its proofing... Since i know that my flour is top of the line, high in gluten and able to tolerate a rich formula, i used the sponge and dough method and dumped the old no time dough method to speed up the proofing... My proofing time was cut back to a low 7 hours...

Your formula (how much eggyolks, butter and sugar), the method you are using (straight dough?), the mixer (maybe you did not develop the gluten well enough), the amount of hydration, the temperature in your proof box, the brand of yeast you are using (it matters since this is a high ratio formula), the BRAND OF FLOUR,and many other factors all affect your ensaimadas...

For example, if you are using all purpose flour and your eggyolks are a high 25% forget it..  I can already tell you that your dough will most likely rise in 7-8 hours. What kind of mixer do you use? Are you sure you have developed the gluten well enough to contain the gas being produced during proofing? If not, your dough will simply rise and then fall flat after baking..

I suggest that you look into all these and make the necessary corrections, if you are still baking in cups or household measures, start converting them to grams so you can have an idea of the levels of ingredients in baker's percent...

A good ensaimada dough should have an "ovenspring" once it hits the heat of the oven, that sudden burst of life, the dough puffs up to as much as 2 inches (depending on the kind of dough)during its initial stage of baking. If this does not happen to your dough, then you may need to correct your formula, procedure and method.

Lastly, do not use evaporated milk, substitute it with either buttermilk or nonfat dried powder milk sold in bakery supply stores... this will help in water absorption and increase the volume of the bread.

Use Saf Gold instead of the ordinary yeast in the market, this is specially formulated for high ratio formulas (high sugar, butter and eggs). I have tried Gold Medal (imported from the US) in my ensaimadas and they turned out good, if this is the brand you are using then maybe you can add some bread flour into the mix.

I will write something about the sponge and dough method here, sorry, i cannot give you the ensaimada recipe here but you can get one from the ebook, it is a basic recipe that i teach in my class, you can still tweak it if you like and you will have an idea of how good an authentic ensaimda is when made the right way.


The height of the dough before proofing....

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