Skip to main content

Sponge and Dough Pandesal, Your Best Pan de Sal

Yes, to those who are asking if you can use a sponge to make the best ever Pan de Sal. Not only will the rolls be larger in volume, the flavor will be exceptional, shelf life extended. To Marge, my friend sorry i am posting this only now, you can use any kind of sponge you want to use, 50 60 70% sponge flour is fine.
There is a huge difference when cutting with a plastic and wooden dough cutter. Find out how you can perfect this baston in my Ebook. See how the dough is tapered on both ends, making the "singkit" style of cut. There are 70 images in the ebook on how to make this baston, and another recipe Pandesal B using the freeform style.
My proofing area is a separate closed room, this is why you cannot see any sheet cover etc., The window allows me to peek through the rising dough. Very convenient, a welcome surprise when i had this bakery/proofing room built.
















Visible signs of the cuts on top of the Pan de Sal, another indicator that you did a good job, the consistency of the dough is perfect, did not flatten at all. I did practice maybe 3 times before i was able to perfect this. Check out old postings on Pan de sal in this blog, especially the Malunngay Pan de Sal..

Comments

Anonymous said…
this is a very old blog post but i was wondering if you would recommend a proper sponge and dough recipe
with the proper proportions of salt and what the best flour to use would be?

Popular posts from this blog

3rd Class Flour, What's It All About

For starters i cannot make this Hard Monay if i did not bring any 3rd class flour or soft weak flour to New York. Once i ran out of 3rd class and tried Cake Flour, it turned bad, do not even think of using All Purpose, it will be soft but not chewy as this one made with yes, 3rd class indeed. So third class is hard to find here in the US if you will use that term. You have to say or look for soft wheat flour, that's it, not hard wheat flour, not cake or All purpose but something in between these two. It is easy to find in the Phil., just ask your local bakery suppliers and they know it is Tercera. Tercera is not for bread, bakers use it basically for cookies, cakes and other pastries, but we bakers know how to create bread recipes using part of this flour with the bread flour or hard wheat flour. It makes a softer version of any of your fave breads, with a cheaper price tag. Plus if i own a bakery, i get to use the third class for my cakes and cookies, lowering my food cos...

Cutting Pandesal, Baston Style

So how do we really do the Baston style "singkit" cut? First start with a slightly stiff dough, if your dough does not have eggs or eggyolks, a hydration of around 55% is ideal. I have seen bakers use less water, but that will make your Pandesal too dry and dense after 1 day or so so try to keep it slightly on the soft side, but not too sticky. Why? If you use a sticky dough for the Baston style cut, the dough will spread and will have a flat look rather than a rounded shape we are all familiar with. In Tagalog, "lalapad" ang dough so medyo flat ung Pandesal. So after you mix the dough, divide it into 2 to 4 portions if you are mixing  kilogram. Experienced bakers divide their dough into 500 gram portions, i do mine the same way. Flatten the dough, focusing more on the length and not on the height. The height of the dough should be around 2 to 3 inches only. Next, fold the dough while pinching the edges making sure the dough surface ...

Bake Malunggay Pandesal and Set Up A Bakery At Home

Two of my students for this month, Jenn Apares and Belle Nakpil. Having fun on our 3rd day of session making Monggo Breads. Jenn was able to bake these Malunggay Pandesal as part of their assignment and things to do at home in between our session. This is why there are always a 2 day gap in my class, to give the students time to practice what they've learned and then bring some dough and bread for me to look at. Belle forgot her breads at home so i am very satisfied with Jenn's first time with Pandesal. It needs at least 3% malunggay to be visible but the Pandesal is excellent. I am so happy for Jenn, she can now help her parents' bakery. Finally. This is only after our 2nd session, i admit i have to push my students but it was all worth the challenge. Plus, they had fun doing it!!! after chopping the fresh leaves, just pulse them into the finished dough, lightly kneading to incorporate the veggies. Now that obviously has Malunggay! My...