How To Bake Pandesal and Other Breads

Anyone having a grand time steaming siopao, mine went well except that i have no idea why the tops are shiny and proofing for 3 hours still created a dense dumpling. My siopao back home is very good, light and fluffy but it has always been a hit and miss. There are days when some of the buns would have wrinkles on top, other days perfect. I have not figured out what is ruining the buns, i tried putting the buns in running boiling water, steaming them before the water boils and both gave good results, but then, a fluke batch would come out just out of nowhere... I am thinking about the proofing time, which is so out there, i used many 30, 45, and hour or so, i thought that if i overproof the dough, the buns would shrink, but i once steamed two buns i left out in the proofing room for like an extra hour and they did not shrink, so i am ruling out the proofing time. What then causes the shrinkage and the pockmarks, like mushrooms, they spring at will.

finally, my mixer is arriving this thursday. i chose the cheapest possible i could find, only $1150.00 from Uniworld, it is 20 quarts, after so much tug of mind, i did not cave in to the idea of getting a smaller model. i used a 10 quart planetary mixer back home for 12 years, i know what the feeling is when you need to mix a larger batch and your mixer cannot take it. i bought my Hoqurt model, funny right, sounds like Hobart you got it. so the supplier told me never to load it beyond 1000 grams, that is 1 kilogram, so i did. one of my students who wanted the same model bought one and after just a month or so had problems with grease leaking down the mixer where the dough hook attachment is placed. i asked her why, and found out that she puts on 1.2 kilogram batch after batch, something the supplier specifically warned us not to. lessons learned. i want a bigger model this time, at 280 lbs. our biggest concern is how to bring it inside the house. grabe pala dito. they will only deliver...

BAKING YEAST DOUGH BREADS

So now that i am here in the Big apple, in between munches and a side stir of the puttanesca, i manage to bake here and there. Folks, i am buying my mixer, i left behind my trusted friend back home, and the prices are giving me vertigo believe me. Searching the best deal is the hardest, the price is second to the quality and in my case, i prefer that this time i get a mixer that can mix more than 1 kilogram per batch. Imagine my horror when i bought my mixer in 1998. Like most beginners, i did not know anything about the load, the horsepower, the minimum and the maximum flour and dough capacities of these mixers, gear versus belt drive etc., Now that i managed somehow to keep the mixer going for almost 12 years, i hope the one i am buying, please Lord at a price of $1600.00 is better. It is bigger, 20 quarts and has a safety guard. Choosing what kind of mixer gave me a headache, i bake cakes and cookies so i had no choice but to give in to my culinary calling, planetary it was, not spi...

To all the students who made it to my class despite the distance, thank you very much for making this course a part of your life. Briefly speaking, i wish you all the best in baking and congratulations to those whose bakeries are doing so well!!I am moving to New York and i am ending the sessions here in the Philippines this January since i need to start packing. I will miss my mixer, my oven, all the baking gadgets i have garnered since i started telling myself i can bake. I wish i can bring my favorite items of production but i think they all have extended their usefulness to me in a way no gadgets or tools ever have. So i will leave it at that, hoping some of my family members will follow suit and love this craft the way i did. Will keep you posted on New YOrk bagels!!!

the baguette and soft buns my students made last sunday december 13, perfect and not bad for beginners. although i shaped most of them or should i say reshaped them in tagalog "retoke", their baguettes are pretty good to look at. being a bread eater myself i couldn't wait to have at least one hotdog bun for dinner even if i had rice already. ooops, there goes my diet!!! so i tucked in some tuna and tofu burger patty inside and sent some to my niece (a lame excuse to not eat all of them). i cannot eat hotdog buns sold commercially so i am lucky i know how to make breads.

adding seeds to your challah makes it extra special such as this one right here, i used black sesame, i can't even remember when i got hold of the seeds. The other one is regular sesame seeds. Proof the dough to triple its size to get a perfectly softer loaf. You can place the challah in a loaf pan to a straighter side Or leave them on the pan, this one is glazed with eggwash, the dough has lots of eggs so the color does really get darker than your plain loaf bread.

Boulangerie Prints by Katharine Gracey at AllPosters.com I WAS LOOKING FOR BREAD POSTERS, ANYTHING TO DO WITH COFFEE AND BREADS, CAFE, BAKING BREADS AND I SAW THIS LINK ON A SQUIDOO SITE I VISITED, ALLPOSTERS.COM HAVE ALL THE VINTAGE LOOKING POSTERS I WANT. I WILL GET SOME OF THESE WHEN I TRAVEL TO THE US HOPEFULLY. I BARELY SEE THESE VINTAGE OLD LOOKING POSTERS, I DON'T WANT ORIGINAL BREAD PHOTOS, I CAN TAKE THEM MYSELF!! ALSO IT GIVES ME AN IDEA, WHY DON'T I TAKE PICTURES OF SUCH, NOW THAT I HAVE A SONY HD CAMERA. MAYBE WHEN I GET BORED I CAN TURN INTO PHOTOGRAPHY AND SAVE THE BREADS I BAKED THEN TAKE THEIR PICTURES. ANYWAY, IT'S ONE THING TO BAKE BREADS AND ANOTHER TO PHOTOGRAPH THEM. IN MY COMMERCIAL BREADMAKING BOOK, I DID TRIED MY BEST TO TAKE PICTURES OF THE STEP BY STEP PROCEDURES IN BREADMAKING. THERE IS THIS PAGBABASTON, OR ROLLING A LOG AND CUTTING IT, WHICH HAS AROUND 70 IMAGES!!!I AM NEVER LEAVING A SINGLE STEP UNSEEN, SO I HAVE ABOUT 3 THOUSAND TO DATE IMAGE...

YOU CAN NOW BUY THE BOOK ( P2500.00) WHICH YOU CAN DOWNLOAD INTO YOUR COMPUTER, SAVE AND BURN INTO CD FOR BACK UP. PRINTING IT IS A BIG TASK SINCE THE BOOK IS SO LARGE, ALL 100 MB PLUS DUE TO THE LARGE IMAGES (STEP BY STEP PHOTOS OF THE PROCEDURES). A HARD COPY CAN BE PICKED UP AT OUR PLACE FOR FREE ONCE YOU MADE THE PAYMENT OR YOU CAN HAVE IT SHIPPED TO YOU FOR A FEE (DEPENDING ON THE COUNTRY OF DESTINATION). ALMOST EVERYONE KNOW HOW TO DOWNLOAD SO I DON'T THINK YOU WILL HAVE HARD TIME DOWNLOADING YOUR BOOK COPY. SAVES YOU MONEY IN THE PROCESS. I HAVE NO PLANS OF HAVING THE BOOK PUBLISHED AS OF NOW, MAYBE WHEN SOMEONE GIVES ME MORE ROYALTY OTHER THAN THE USUAL MINISCULE 40%, THAT MIGHT NOT EVEN BE ENOUGH TO BUY ME FLOUR IN THESE DAYS. ANYWAY, DUE TO SO MANY INQUIRIES, WHAT SHOULD BE A TUTORIAL COURSE FOR 4 MONTHS (4000.00) NOW MORPHED INTO INSTALLMENTS FOR THOSE WHO ARE HARD UP WITH CASH. I GIVE IN, YOU CAN GET A TASTE OF THE TUTORIAL COURSE FOR P500.00 A MONTH AFTER PAYING FOR ...

WHILE VACATIONING AT MY SISTER'S HOUSE, I WHIPPED UP A FRESH BATCH OF THIS SALAD THAT I INVENTED BECAUSE OF MY NEED TO INCLUDE THE AMPALAYA OR BITTER GOURD SOMEWHERE IN MY DIET. TO GIVE IT A NEW FACE, I HAD TO ADD INGREDIENTS THAT ARE ACCEPTABLE TO THE PALATE AND AT THE SAME TIME MASK SOME OF THE BITTERNESS OF THE GOURD WITHOUT COMPROMISING ITS HEALTH BENEFITS. I RUMMAGED MY SISTER'S PANTRIES, LOOKING FOR ANYTHING I CAN USE, PICKLES, PINEAPPLE TIDBITS, HMMMN, NO BEANS..., TOMATOES, CHECK, RED ONIONS, TWO CLOVES OF GARLIC, CANNED TUNA, OOOPS.... THERE YOU ARE, APPLES... LOTS OF APPLES. WHILE WORKING ON THE SALAD, I WAS LAMENTING THE FACT THAT DESPITE THE DRIZZLING OF ORANGE AND CALAMANSI JUICES, THIS PRETTY LOOKING BUT UNUSUAL DISH WILL NOT HAVE AN AUDIENCE ON OUR DINING TABLE. I WAS WRONG, EVEN MY NIECE LIKED IT. IT WAS A HODGE PODGE OF A SALAD, ANY FRUITS YOU CAN THINK OF, NEVER LEAVE THE AMPALAYA, YOU CAN OMIT THE TUNA IF YOU PREFER THE VEGETARIAN STYLE, BUT ADD PLENTY OF S...

I MADE THIS INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS BREAD WHILE STANDING IN FRONT OF MY GROCERY SHELVES. I SAW A CAN OF BLACK OLIVES MY BROTHER SENT TO ME LAST YEAR AND I HAD THE AFTERTHOUGHT OF ADDING SOME TO MY DOUGH. BLACK OLIVES GAVE THE DOUGH OR BREAD NEW UMAMI TO SWIM WITH THE FLOW, FLAVOR. EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT UMAMI, I SAY, UMAMI TO THE BREAD AS WELL. I ADDED SOME MINCED GARLIC TO THE DOUGH AND VOILA!! I SERVED IT THE OTHER DAY TO MY STUDENTS, SORRY GUYS, LAST PIECE SO I HAD TO CUT THE LARGE CIABATTA INTO 4. THEY LIKED IT AND OF COURSE, I WILL NOT FEED THEM WITH SOMETHING I DO NOT EAT MYSELF. THE PROBLEM IS , WHEN I GOT HUNGRY THE FOLLOWING DAY I HAD TO GRAB THE SANDWICH INSIDE MY FREEZER AND FORGOT I ALREADY SERVED IT TO CLASS. OOOPS. THIS IS WHAT I DO. I MAKE A LARGE BATCH OF WHOLESOME BREADS, NOT THE SWEET TYPE YOU GUYS LIKE. I SLICE THE FLATBREADS IN HALF, FILL THEM WITH MUSHROOMS, MUSTARD, TUNA OR FLAKED WHITE FLESH FISH LIKE LAPU LAPU, ONIONS, PICKLES, PINEAPPLE AND FREEZE T...

We just finished two sessions of cookies and cakes with former breadmaking students of mine, sort of a reunion to some since 4 of the attendees were from my february class. They put up the class together and i gathered up the recipes from the dust and we hit it. It was fun, we exchange stories of how their bakeries are doing, one couple are planning to put up another branch, complementing on how "better than .... my pullman recipe was" according to their customers. "She" she said, while i was washing my hands, "ang sasarap ng mga recipes mo", to which i couldn't say much since i was getting ready for our lunch. They were happy with what we did, the sponge cake, decorating the kababayans, the icing and the cream puffs, etc., If they were happy, i think i was happier seeing them like that. We laughed when bobby said his brownie which cost p150.00 sold for p750.00. That's more like it, learn and earn. good luck guys!!!

I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD PANIC OVER THE FLOUR I USE IN CLASS. IT PROBABLY WOULD NOT HAVE MATTERED THAT MUCH IF I ONLY BAKE BREADS FOR EATING, BUT WHEN YOU SELL AND USE A PARTICULAR TYPE OF FLOUR THAT YOU HAVE TESTED FOR YEARS, IT DOES MATTER. BIG TIME. LAST WEEK'S CLASS BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION THE DISPARITY BETWEEN TYPES OF FLOUR IN THE MARKET. I HAVE BEEN USING THE SAME FLOUR FOR YEARS AFTER MY SHORT STINT AT PUREFOOD'S AND WHEN THIS BRAND RAN OUT FROM MY USUAL SUPPLIER, I MADE DO WITH THE AVAILABLE BRAND. MY FIRST IMPULSE WAS TO TEST THE FLOUR BEFORE USING IT IN CLASS. IT TURNED OUT WELL, I TESTED IT USING A HIGH RATIO FORMULA AND THE FLOUR'S ONLY NOTICEABLE CHARACTERISTIC IS THAT THE WATER ABSORPTION IS QUITE LOW, IN FACT WAY TOO LOW FROM THE ONE I REGULARLY USE. I MADE SEVERAL RECIPES USING THE FLOUR AND AGAIN, THE BREADS LOOKED FINE IN TERMS OF THE VOLUME AND CONSISTENCY. BUT WHEN I GOT TO THE CINNAMON ROLLS, THE FLOUR BECAME A DIFFERENT ENTITY. BOY, IT REMINDED ME OF T...

THIS IS PROBABLY THE 10TH SIOPAO I MADE EVER SINCE I STARTED TEACHING BREADS IN GROUPS LAST 2007. I PERSONALLY DIDN'T LIKE SIOPAO OR STEAMED DUMPLINGS, I DON'T LIKE THE FILLING, THE BUN IS TOO WHITE TOO PALE FOR MY TASTE. BUT SINCE MY STUDENTS WANTED ME TO TEACH THIS, EVERY SESSION, I WOULD BE ASKED IF SIOPAO IS INCLUDED IN THE LESSONS, I WILL ANSWER NO BUT I CAN GIVE YOU THE RECIPE. WHAT A LAME ANSWER. IT WAS JUST A WAY FOR ME TO STAY OUT OF IT, HONESTLY BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE TO TEACH SOMETHING I DON'T LIKE TO EAT. HOW CAN I CRITIQUE THE DOUGH AND THE BUN IF I HAVE NO REASON TO PUT IT INSIDE MY MOUTH. SO ANYWAY, I GOT TIRED OF ANSWERING NO SO I STARTED EXPERIMENTING, IT TURNED OUT GOOD BUT NVER EXCELLENT, I AM AT THE STAGE WHERE I AM STILL LEARNING, SOME TURNED OUT PRETTY GOOD, BUT THERE IS ALWAYS A PROBLEM WITH THE STEAMING PART. HMMMN. IT TOOK ME A YEAR TO PERFECT ALL THE BREADS I TEACH IN MY CLASS, I AM SOMEHOW NEARING INSANITY OVER THIS STEAMED BUNS. I HAVE GOT TO P...

GEE, I NEVER THOUGHT THAT HAVING AN ALL BOYS BAKING SESSION WOULD BE THAT NOISY. THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT I HAD AN ALL BOYS GROUP, THE MEN IN MY CLASS WOULD ALMOST ALWAYS ACCOMPANY THEIR WIVES, NEVER ALONE BY THEMSELVES. ANYWAY, IT WAS INDEED VERY DIFFERENT, THEIR ATTENTION SPAN ISN'T THAT AT ALL 90% GLUED TO THE LESSONS AS THEY WOULD CRACK JOKES AT EACH OTHER HERE AND THERE, TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE, AND BELIEVE ME I KINDA GOT LOST SOMETIMES, IN BETWEEN THEIR GUFFAWS AND PERSONAL INFORMATION COUNTERS THEY ALL SET UP. WHEW!!!! all in all , i think it was still very successful. i was flattered by one student who kept on telling me how he appreciated what we or i was teaching him since he had been to other schools and never really got to bake that perfectly. the problem was, he kept on and on, never stopped telling about it, his life stories etc.,etc., poor guy. but i am glad he finally saw the daylight now that he is already 58 years old. big dream, what do you know, he still h...

i am transferring some of the blogs that i have written here in my webpage, http://breadmaking.googlepages.com for more visibility. i finally decided to open my class again, didn't do much at all this past few months and i think i lost some weight thinking what to do. i have a renewed energy this time. just 3 weeks ago, i bought a new computer so i can rearrange my files, do some more webnetworking and get a life. the old laptop i am using sucks, it is so hard to use something that gives up on you just like what i do to this world. there can't be two of us!!!! i am a bit daunted by the fact that gosh, here i am again, teaching? oooh, pain and pain and more pain. is it worth it? like hell yeah, whatever, although i can't take advil the way i do before, my liver took a toll doing just that, i will try to limit the load and let the students do most of them. geeesh, like that happens. anyway, i will be going to megamall and have my class advertised hopefully start the class 3...

some baking students regard water in breadmaking as the most unimportant ingredient of all. just because you don't pay for it that much the way you shell out for a tub of butter or a couple of eggs shouldn't diminish the importance of water, which in my view is how most students in breadmaking do. when i was just starting to learn how to make bread, this was how i got the beating. by underestimating the role of water. in cakes and cookies, water or liquid should be very, very exact, no more no less. in breadmaking, the water content is variable. meaning, it could go as high as 65% today, and only 55% the next day. this is why, a breamaking student needs the aid of science to fully understand why and how come? when i try to explain these things to my students, i get many blank faces, whooo, like you have to repeat it over and over, and hope that the next time you see each other he or she has some idea of what you are talking about. i mean, i understand why it is hard, the many v...

when sombody asks me what the best method in breadmaking is, with hardly a wink, i say of course it's the sponge and dough method. this method which for thousand of years has been in use is absolutely magnificent!!! the flavor of the bread is exceptional, it has this yeasty and mouthwatering aroma that you don't need to slather your bread with anything at all to eat it off hand. i devour the bread while it is still hot. aside from the fact that it really smells wonderful while it is still in the oven, the idea that you painstakingly laboured to get this lively lump of dough for hours, excites your senses. whenver i make some for my family, sometimes i keep an extra slice for myself, hey, what if suddenly crave for it and its gone, huh. yeah, i admit, sometimes you get selfish when all this thing cost is roughly around 30 pesos, but the attention it gets is like nursing a weaning toddler so i think there is a reasonable explanation to that. whenever i make a sponge based bread,...

i first tasted my first burrito at Tia Maria's way back in college at annapolis, and i remember it was a chicken burrito. i tried to imitate the whole thing but it was a disaster from the beans to the rice i used and well, the salsa was the ultimate challenge. lately i was home alone and i looked at our grocery shelves and saw the taco shells and taco mix with the bottled salsa beside it. hmmm. i gave it a try and i loved the taste of the salsa, except that our helper at home said that it was the exact same smell of the saudi arabian foods that she had unfortunately smelled when she worked there for two months. i experimented with the flavor and used whatever spices i had on hand and so now, it is no longer a pandesal craze i am embarking on, but all kinds of tacos, burritos, enchiladas and my own version of thincrusted pizza mexican style. using the same mexican flavored salsa i added chunks of tomatoes, onions, peppers and slivers of garlic to make it healthier. then i also use ...

i am posting everything there is to know regarding the 3 day bakery course here so those who do not have email addresses can read the details here. one important question that i get is whether 3 days is all there is to take for someone who wants to open up a bakery business. certainly not, this course is offered to those who hav e no background in baking breads, but want to open up a mini bakery of their own, sparing themselves a full month's salary for tuition in one of the prestigious schools in the metro area. i have had students who took only two days and managed to sell pandesal and plain buns in their garages, but i have tailored this course to even up the odds, to at least 3 days. the advance course which is optional takes on the Sponge and Dough Method of breadmaking which is hardly used in the philippines. 3-day course NO TIME DOUGH METHOD the no time dough method is a process of making bread in under 4 hours. more of this method, advantages and disadvantages will be discu...