Dealing with Flour, My March session

Below is a photo of my Tercera or Third Class flour that i sifted, and you can see the tiny maggots in. I could the flour and the weevils with it but this is just to show you what the temperature does to your flour.

Some say you can still use it, some say throw it away. You either belong to one side for sure but what exactly do you really do?

If my flour has a real weevil, they look black like over fed ants, and if they are really one whole barangay in number, then i throw the flour. If that ever happens to me, which is very rare because i always ran out of flour here and in New York.

Smell the flour. If it smells foul and rancid, then by all means there is no way you can use that flour.

Now since there are no weevils, i smelled the flour and it smells like flour so yes, you can still use this one.

The next step is to..... clean the container and do not i repeat, make the mistake of saying oh well, there is no more flour inside, blah blah blah.

The container will have residual flour particles in it, that is old flour and it will contaminate your new fresh batch.

Goes the same with any of your other ingredients, milk, shortening, margarine etc.,

Wash and dry the container. Make sure it is totally dry and then put your fresh new batch of flour.

Last tip is this. It is important that YOU KILL those weevils or worms and throw them down the drain. Do not let even 1 tiny worm sneaking out on you or it will repopulate and ruin your rice, pasta, flour, noodles etc.,

My March students, thank you so much!

Taking turns baking the breads. You're not leaving without experiencing the loading.

I can't divulge all the activities we do in class because i know someone is copying my lessons, down to the ebook which is so expensive it's murder. Email me instead or drop by to see what we do in class.

They love to take photos of their breads. Why not? Be proud of what you make, right?

If you happen to drop by during one of my sesssions (see schedule at www.breadmakinglessons.com or www.bakingpandesal.wordpress.com), you will definitely take home some samples with you.

In fact, i always give free breads when someone visits and i happen to have baked goodies in the kitchen.

For hands on classes, email or text 09495705091 for details and for hands on classes as well.

block 6 lot 11 Yakal street, Northridge Park Subd Sta. Monica Novaliches QC.

Pandesal Recipe, a Beginner's Guide

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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 ...

Kape at Pandesal

When someone emailed me about Kape at Pandesal, i suddenly felt home sick. Just these two words. Dipping Pandesal in coffee. Who got this phenomenon or practice started? We all know the colonial Spanish era and Gregorio Zaide mentioned our fondness for idling around in the history books (Juan Tamad and siesta), but for breakfast? Who wants to jump up and down when you wake up? This is the answer. Dunking the warm, crispy Pandesal into hot, steaming coffee. How did this thing start? Who invented it? What made the Pinoys dunk their Pandesal? Maybe the Pandesal in those days are rock hard, or maybe it is one way to sweeten the bread. Baka may alamat dito. Is it because the Pandesal is salty in those days? After all, sal means salt right? The Italians love to dunk their Biscotti in coffee, but the Biscotti deserves it. Seriously, Biscottis if not dunked in coffee can give you a free tooth extraction. But the Pandesal? Okay to some, it cools down the coffee. Don't tell me they...

How To Bake Pandesal and Other Breads

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