How To Bake Pandesal and Other Breads

Getting inquiries on cupcake and decorating lessons so maybe it is worth opening a class or two, squeeze it in between my regular baking classes before i leave for New York on February. If you ask me, i would rather work here forever, winter in the Northeast is punishing especially to someone like me who has a weak bone due to my radiation therapy. I can actually feel the cold burrowing through my bones when we go out, then you step in the mall and it is warm like a proofing cabinet. Below are the cupcakes done by my students ( Day 1), which will later on be covered and decorated with Italian Merengue Buttercream, that super yummy icing perfect for everything even Ensaimadas and Macarons. You just need to learn the basic creaming and mixing and you are done. I can actually load my 5 quart Kitchen Aid with 3 batches of my favorite butter cupcake recipe, lots of time covered there in a whirl so i love it. My only beef with the new Kitchen Aid Professional Series is the switch setting...

FUTURE POSTINGS ON TUMBLR ABOVE.. If you still haven't checked it out, although i do not post stuff there as often as others do, it is still worth seeing when you are into baking. To avoid confusion and creating a hodge podge blog, i separated my cakes and pastries blog from the bread making stuff, but i do post photos of some specialty breads over there for a twist. Just photos, not much texts. Check out my tumblr y'all.

Just got a call 'again' from GMA 7, probably one of their researchers if i could do a videotaped demo on Malunggay Pandesal with a couple of their GMA KID talents. I had to beg off on this one, for the second time and i could not think of anyone to recommend really. Anyone who is interested to be ON TV, feel free to drop me a message so i can give him your name. The first time i was asked to do a video on Malunggay Pandesal was about 2008 i guess, i got a visit from one of Jessica Soho's researcher and we talked about the videotaping thing but i cancelled it when they did not arrive as planned. I am a fan of Jessica Soho among the many other magazine shows i watch from both rival channels so i was surprised when they aired the story on Malunggay Pandesal that weekend itself. So fast huh, i thought they can or store and preserve shows in the studio but it was impressive that they can do the feature show in just a week. Anyway, my nephew wanted me to do the video, i had t...

These are the latest images from my October session. I took photos of the second day only, the first day went like a whirlwind, i did not even notice it ended but i had fun watching them knead towards the last part of the session. French Bread, part of what the students kneaded on the first day. Half of which we made into pizzas and foccacias for their snacks. I still have a slice of the baguette, 3rd day after i made one slice into a sandwich, more or less giving you the idea that a retarded dough has a longer shelf life than the No time dough or Straight Dough method. After kneading, i froze the individual doughs with their names on each plastic and thawed them for our second day session. Only 1 student managed to finish the dough in under 30 minutes, and was the only one to fully develop the gluten. To each his own. She started with a very sticky dough and used her whole upper body to knead which was the ideal way of doing it. So you see, it is not the heft and the gender, th...

Another batch from my baking class. Although i teach the same basic breads and variations, sometimes it would be the variations that would inspire another variation. A whole wheat pandesal with malunggay, which i had blogged about 4 years ago? and now has sprung up everywhere? For those living in the province, i know it is a huge sacrifice to come here to Manila especially in Fairview, but judging from what i hear lately, i deeply encourage you to take the risks and make a bit of a sacrifice which i did too when i started. Just the other day, i went to my sister's house to teach her and her helpers how to make cupcakes and icing, then basic decorating and we sort of reminisced how she took me to Maya Culinary Arts in Paseo (is it still there?) way back when i don't know when, i think i was only 18, my first year of college, around summer time. It was a disaster, i did not know anything about pre heating, about the oven thermometer, about creaming, none of the things i saw and...

My Royal Icing class will learn how to do make their own sugar flowers, hopefully through practice they will make these lovely flowers after two weeks of constant piping at home after class. I squeeze the said lessons only in between my private and group commercial bread making lessons, i am happy to know that more and more people are now getting into the food business. Kudos to you all, go for it, pursue that dream, that long time lingering thoughts of opening your small bakery could be a reality only if you make a small sacrifice. No pain, no gain. So true. So to all those who dared it, battling wind and rain to attend baking lessons anywhere, i wish you all the luck in the world. There is only 1 thing though that i hope you would allow me to say here, NEVER START SOMETHING YOU NEVER WANT TO IN THE FIRST PLACE. If you think you can psyche yourself into liking bread making maybe after getting a couple of bites into that sweet cinnamon rolls, you are mistaken. I would like to comp...

Using the same dough for regular sized Cinnamon Rolls, i made both my private baking class and group students create minis for a petite size version. Takes a lot of hard work but it was definitely much more fun to eat. When my nephew Luke was only 7 years old he told me it tasted better than the large rolls, and wanted more. Judging from what happens to them when i place them on the table, the mini petite rolls disappear faster than the bigger cousins. Try baking them at 350 F to golden brown crispy to get the sugar thick and gooey or the paler light brown at 325 F for a softer texture. I prefer the first one because the sugar and syrup sort of turns taffy like although this one will definitely have to be eaten the day itself or the next day. We used a sweet yeast dough, do not put cinnamon on the baking pans and use the best maple syrup (ours is from Vermont in Canada). This is the one made by the girls as show below; I show how to do the first one and the rest is done by th...

Group class, divvying up the dough and other stages of bread making.. I tell them what to do and the students work on them. They made regular size and mini Cinnamon Rolls. Letting the Hard Monay proof just a tad bit. I have to say, this is the simplest dough i have in the lesson but quite so many students love this plain Tasty Loaf Bread. The September Girls Putok or Hard Monay Ciabatta or Flatbread, dough taken from the French Bread. This is what i use to make sandwiches or Paninis. Just showing you the Siopao after steaming. I was thinking, pwede kaya akong magdala ng All Purpose flour sa New York? Ang itim ng all purpose flour sa US. Only for my baking lessons, and for the Siopaos, other than that, i am fine with the regular APF there. Just thinking. Hindi kaya ako madeport? What about the dough conditioners or softeners? They are pure white like cocaine or heroin? Can i bring this? Anyone?

Here are some of the photos taken from my baking class this September, i will try to put them out here as soon as possible while i nurse my aching feet from standing for long hours during sessions. Ouch! Anyway, i think i forgot to tell you about the visit i had from a friend of a former student way back 3 years ago, i think. So this lady, (if you read this, please visit me again and hopefully you make it to my class as well), and i talked about her short stint taking a class somewhere in Fairview and was totally taken aback because there was no food costing in the lesson. If the class is about bakery business, there must be right? Anyway, it was a very interesting conversation on a quiet afternoon while i was preparing for Doris' private class, much of which centered on her baking snafus, trying out one formula after another hoping to perfect her Pandesal until she finally just had it, bought my ebook and polished her breads at least. She still wanted to attend my baking cla...