How To Bake Pandesal and Other Breads

So baking Pandesal is what everyone who wants to bake breads ask all the time. No one in the Philippines start out with wanting to learn how to bake Putok or Monay, or Soft Buns, maybe Ensamaida comes second but Pandesal is always the first one they ask. Want to know how you can bake the best breads or Pandesal FAST? I mean fast not 1 week fast but at least not dragging 1 month fast or months and you still have not done a decent Pandesal. Learn how to knead properly. What do you mean knead properly? Is there a technique into making kneading much easier and faster? Well, technically bakers will tell you there is only one way to knead, siempre by the hand or "mano mano". Pag masa ang tawag in Tagalog and i have to say there are, not just one but at least 4 ways to make the kneading faster and way more efficient. For proprietary reasons, not to be stingy though, I show my students how. It is their choice whether to use them or not. Not all appreciate the finer points and b...

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.  ...

Here are some of the photos from my January special one on one class. Tonette inherited a bakery and has been the purchasing officer for her Aunt for some time but decides to learn the trade herself. She missed my group class so she is taking the one on one session with me. I love the enthusiasm and the interest, the hard work she put in during the class and her determination to succeed. My only advice to beginning students out there and this is what i tell my students all the time. You cannot force the baker out of you in two days, not in 4 days, or even a month. It's a lot of hard work, patience, understanding, calculating, more patience and TIMING. Not every student will learn the same way, same time, same manner. You cannot put a clock into coaxing the baker out of you. If you will expect to perfect your pandesal just because you took a crash course in 4 days, then you will be setting yourself to more frustrations. It may have taken 1 sack of flour before i was able to writ...

Here are some of the bakes this month, i am resting for two days and will be having a special one on one session this weekend with a lass who visited me while i was having a session this month. She is from Batangas, a province famous for their bakers or panaderos/horneros so we had a grand chat the other day regarding her problems with her Aunt's bakery. They used to average 10 sacks a day. This was when her Aunt still manages it during her prime years but the 10 became 1. Dismal if you think about it and i think it is the right decision to finally put her own stamp into the bakery. She told me the bakery used to have at least 30 employees. My students were already arriving so i forgot to ask how many there are now. Definitely not 30 if your production went to a low 1 sack a day. So anyway, here are the breads my class did this month. Join February, March, April and May sessions. Slots are still open.

One aspect of a hands on class is learning and experiencing how to load the dough in the oven, basically baking the breads. I think i have attended at least 10 baking classes in my lifetime and i only had the chance to do some actual baking, meaning loading the mixed dough inside the oven once. This is what i want my students to experience, even is some feel very intimidated by the prospect of getting burned, still i encourage the students to try it, even for just a couple of times. Not all students welcome this idea sad to say, but if i am a student, a beginning baker, i would love love love to have the chance to load the dough inside the oven myself. This is why it is called a hands on class right? Male students are not fussy so they mostly volunteer to do the job. It is funny to see the hands and arm quiver since most have never done this before. There is always the first time and once must, i insist to go through it. Best part of baking the breads yourself is...

Right. I did not even plan to end up doing cakes since i am a bread enthusiast. Cake is just something pretty to eat for me back then but nowadays, caking or baking a cake and decorating it has spread like a virus and you can't help yourself enough. It's just too pretty to not do it. In fact, when done during lull days meaning when you have lots of extra time, decorating a cake can be therapeutic. Just make sure you plan it ahead and everything you need will be there at your table. Piping Royal Icing and Buttercream is cheaper than Gumpaste and Fondant. All you need are the basic piping tips, a parchment paper or piping bag and a tip nail. Prop your tablet in front, or plug your music app and listen to your favorite hit list and pipe away. Royal Icing flowers can harden and keep for at least a year if stored properly. No kid can resist eating these after the candle is blown. I remember throwing a tantrum when i did not get a rose when i was 5 years old. This pink R...