SPANISH BREAD

Time and again, bread is a staple flour base food next to rice not just in the orient but most probably with the rest of the world. Too many versions and variety and if you look into it almost the same basic ingredients: Flour, Eggs, Butter/ Oil and Sugar. 

Spanish bread is believed to be an inspiration of bread from Spain, which is presumed to be the origin of its name. In fact, it's an offshoot cross-breed of the famous Spanish pan de sal and ensaimada. True enough, the coating of bread crumbs from pandesal and the rolling of the dough from ensaymada are breeding evidences. No doubt Spanish bread emerged as another iconic bread of our cultural heritage and then evolved into variety of colours, flavours and fillings of pandan, ube, tres leches, cheese, coco and many more.

Here is my take on that hybrid, iconic cultural bread in its classic state. The rest of its variety will follow suit 😁😋

 SPANISH BREAD

Makes 921g raw dough yields about 26 pc at 20g each bread

 

3 c bread flour

½ c caster sugar

1 ½ tsp instant yeast

1 c fresh milk

1 egg

1 tbsp unsalted butter softened

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp oil to grease the bowl where you will proof the dough.

 

Proof bread only until doubles, over proofing will produce a yeasty smell dough.

 

Breading/ Coating:

Parmesan bread crumbs

Fresh Milk if needed

Since the dough is moist there is no need to brush it with fresh milk, unless necessary.

 

Filling - double the amount to have a generous filling. You can do this a day before just chill in the fridge and thaw the next day before using.

¼ c butter

2 tsp flour

½ c bread crumbs (Panko)

1 ½ tbsp milk

½ c brown sugar-muscovado sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Pinch of salt

In a saucepan over a medium heat, melt butter, add flour and bread crumbs

Once it gets thick, add milk, sugar salt and vanilla. Cook until it gets thicker. Remove from heat and continue stirring.

 

Softened butter for brushing before assembling, using a rolling pin, flatten one ball and spread the middle of the bread dough with butter and place the filling.  Tightly jelly roll from the wide to the narrow end.  Brush with milk (when necessary) and roll on a bread crumbs. Rest before baking.

After assembling:

Rest for another 30 minutes or maybe an hour again.

Bake at 150 degrees for 20 minutes.

Enjoy your hot Spanish bread.

CHARCOAL BURGER BUN

Burgers are one of our comfort foods. Patties of pork, beef, fish or chicken accompanied with slices of cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles smeared with mayonnaise and mustard, ahhhh... just imagining it makes me drool!

After successfully made my charcoal pandesal, i decided to try it in a burger bun and it worked well too! Here is it--

CHARCOAL BURGER BUNS
Makes about  869g raw dough yields about 10 buns

3 c bread flour

2 tsp instant yeast

¼ c caster sugar

1 tbsp bamboo charcoal powder

1  tsp salt

1 egg

1 c fresh milk

2 tbsp softened unsalted butter

 

Topping:

Melted butter to brush the buns before baking

White Sesame seeds or combination of black & white

 

Greasing the bowl:

1 tsp oil

 

Place dough ingredients in a bowl of stand mixer.

Mix to rough dough, after which start the timer of 15 minutes and knead to smooth dough.

When done, form the dough into a big ball.

Place in a greased bowl and proof for an hour or until double.

When ready, punch the dough.

Divide into 80g each and roll into ball.

Place the bun on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and gently pat the top to flatten.

Brush with butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake at 175° for about 15 minutes.

Cool and ready to use.

I made pork burger patties to go with this bun, emmental cheese, lettuce, tomato and sliced onions. It's sooo good!

BRAISED PORK RIBS in MISO

Little did we know that miso is a popular Japanese seasoning. It is a fermented soybeans paste with salt and kōji. It's interestingly delicious that almost every dish we might think of blends perfectly with miso. Even a simple mixture of hot water and miso paste-- miso soup, is satisfyingly flavourful. The primarily reason how my kids came to love miso.

Tonight is a venture of braising pork with fermented soyabeans.

Check this out!

BRAISED PORK RIBS IN MISO

About a kilo of pork ribs (6 big slices) 

2 c water for simmering

1 tsp cornstarch mix with 1 tbsp water, to thicken the sauce, if needed.

 

To Sauté

1 thumb size ginger (grated)

1 head garlic, minced

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks scallion,

Star anise

Cinnamon quill

1 tbsp butter, optional

About 1 tbsp EVOO

 

Sauce, mix and pour

2 tbsp fermented soy bean paste (miso)

2 tbsp LKK Superior light soya sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp black soya sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

4 tsp Shaoxing wine

 

Method:

Place butter and EVOO in a pan.

Brown the ribs, remove from pan and set aside.

Sauté the sauté ingredients in the same pan until aromatic.

Add mixed sauce. Simmer.

Add ribs, water. Bring to a boil under high heat.

Lower the heat and let it simmer until sauce is reduced and ribs are soft, stir occasionally.

When you are satisfied with the amount of sauce, add the dissolved cornstarch, if needed.

Let it simmer until sauce thickens.

When done, remove the spare ribs and place it on the serving plate.

Pour the sauce over the ribs and garnish with sliced scallions.

Serve with steamed rice.

Enjoy!

ROASTED VIET CHICKEN

Chicken is one of the easiest dishes to create. With just a few of spices mix here and there, pour over chicken and cook or bake. Inspite of its simplicity, careful handling must be observed as this white meat has the tendency to dry and becomes rubbery and we don't want that in a meat dish and proper seasoning is a must to produce a palatable meat on a plate.

If you are up for some roasting and you don't mind basting, here's one of the dish to explore--

ROASTED VIET CHICKEN

1 whole Chicken (1 kg)

Marinade processed in a blender

1 head garlic

1 large onion

2 thumb size ginger

5 lemongrass stalks

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 ½ tbsp kalamansi juice

2 tbsp LKK soya sauce

1 tbsp honey

Dash of ground black pepper

2 tbsp EVOO

 

Basting sauce:

1 tbsp honey mix with 1 tbsp LKK Light Sauce

 

Clean chicken and open carve.

Rub the marinade all over the chicken and let it rest for at least 2 hrs.

Bake at 175 degrees for an hour  covered with foil and the next half hour remove the foil and baste with honey soy and continue to bake til chicken is charred. 

Serve with apple cucumber salad and blue pea rice.

FLOSS BUN

Meat floss or Rousong as they call it becomes our favourite addition in baking especially bread. It comes in pork, beef, chicken, mutton, fish or squid. A light, fluffy dried meat prepared with spices, sugar, salt and soya sauce to produce a sweet and savoury meat wool. 

Today, i am using meat floss to garnish an ordinary bun into an extra ordinary delight. Here's how--

FLOSS BUN
Makes   1049 g raw dough, yields 13 buns at 80g each

 

Tan zhong, mix to combine

1 c bread flour

1 c boiling water

 

Dough

2 ½ c bread flour

1 c milk

1 egg

1/3 c sugar

¼ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp instant yeast

¼ bar butter (50 g) softened

 

Fresh milk for brushing before baking the dough

 

For topping

1/3 c Japanese mayo

2 tbsp condensed milk

1 tbsp light corn syrup

1 tbsp lemon juice

 

1 c Pork floss, you can mix with a little of white sesame seeds and shredded seaweed (Furikake)

 

Place all dough ingredients in a bowl of stand mixer. Mix and knead for about 15 minutes to achieve a smooth dough. Proof for an hour or until dough doubles its size. 

When done, punch the dough and divide dough into 80 grams each.

Flatten and roll the dough to form a log.   Place the log buns on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Rest for about an hour. When ready, brush with fresh milk.

Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes. Cool before finishing it with the toppings.

Enjoy!

DECADENT CHOCOLATE COOKIE

Everybody love cookies. But no one pleases more by this tiny little bites but the petite hands of little children.  Cookies are children's comfort bites particularly chocolate cookies. A bite size of chocolatey, chunky and bittersweetly crunchy piece of biscuit that they can hold and eat as much as they wanted to 'til emptying a cookie jar. 😄

This is one of my kids' favourites (guess everything is their fave😂) glad to share this this recipe with moms out there whose kids love tiny bites.

DECADENT CHOCOLATE COOKIE

Makes about 83 pcs of 1 tsp cookies

 

½ c black cocoa powder

1 ½ c bread flour (apf)

1 tsp baking soda

½ bar unsalted butter

½ c brown sugar

½ c white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

½ c Chopped 70% dark chocolates

¼ c Semi sweet choco chips

 

Using a stand mixer or just a whisk and a bowl and mix the cookie dough manually.

Cream butter and sugars.

Add egg and vanilla.

Add flour and baking soda.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Place in a tray lined with parchment paper.

No chilling and waiting.

Bake at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes.

HAMONADO CHORIZO

 One of the heavy breakfast treats is a combination of fried rice, egg and what else but link meats of either longaniza or chorizo. What's the difference?

Ok let's see... Longganisa or Longaniza is made of minced meat and spiced with black pepper.  On the other hand, Choriso or Chorizo is a ground pork spiced with paprika. The rest of the ingredients are almost similar to both dishes. In the Spanish culture these two dishes are differently identified in many ways. But in our community, longaniza and chorizo are interchangeably used.

Living away from what used to be our residence gave us the longings for what used to be our comfort foods. Once in a while, we look for that flavour to reconnect with the past and walk down memory lane, reason for me to recreate and be occupied.😁. Sharing this recipe--

HAMONADO CHORIZO

Makes about 20 small links

1 head garlic minced

1 large onion

¼ c brown sugar

¼ c pineapple juice

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 ½ tbsp LKK Superior light sauce

1 tbsp paprika powder

Atsuete Oil : 1 tsp atsuete powder dissolved in 1 tbsp hot oil

½ kilo ground pork with fats

Salt & Black pepper

Fresh baby intestine (small intestine, pork), cleaned or you can buy artificial casing from the grocery or online. 

In a bowl, place all ingredients except the intestine. Mix to combine. Ready for stuffing.

Clean the intestine. Turn the intestine inside out, rub it with salt and rinse completely. Ready to use.

You can use your sausage stuffing machine, some of the stand mixer have this feature, but i did the manual process using a funnel and manually push the mixture into the intestines. Tied it with kitchen twines to make smaller links, and this is how it looks like... You can cook it right away or freeze for future cooking. Great for breakfast serve with roasted garlic-vinegar dipping sauce!

What a beauty!

Amazingly Glazed! 😋

CREAM CHEESE MUFFIN

Cupcakes are all time fave for tea time, snacks, school or family potlucks. A great way to share a cake in small bites. Another creation from my kitchen is this sweet, citrusy, fruity cake in a cup for busy students.

Try this and enjoy it's freshness.😉

CREAM CHEESE MUFFIN

Makes 1 dozen regular cuppies

 

Ingredients 

½ c Fresh Orange juice from large Navel Orange

2 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c butter, softened

1 c sugar

2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Orange zest from 1 large orange

 

In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar.

Add eggs, orange juice and vanilla. Mix to combine.

Add flour, baking powder salt and orange zest.

Mix to combine. Ready to use.

 

Scoop into a cupcake liner placed in a cupcake pan, fill the liner fully up to the rim.

Then pipe the cream cheese filling.

Ready to bake.

CREAM CHEESE FILLING

1 bar cream cheese (4oz/ 250g), softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp milk

Cream the cream cheese and sugar.

Add flour, milk and vanilla.

Whip to frosting consistency.

Place in a piping bag.

Ready to use.

 

Baking

Pre-heat oven at 180° C.

Bake cuppies for about 25-30 minutes.

Remove from oven and enjoy hot, warm with tea or coffee or cold beverages!

POLLO ASADO (BAKED)

"Moms at home" is always a complex world. Multi tasking is our prime game. Thanks to technology life is a little less chaotic and multi tasking is a breeze. One of my favourites is baking meat. A simple dash of salt and pepper here and there, can be a mouth watering plate for the busy household. Taking one step further of marinating can create a gourmetlicious meal.

This is one of my favourites. A mixture of herbs and spices sitting on our cupboard, a chicken griller and a piece of zipper bag. Here's how--

POLLO ASADOS (Baked)

1 chicken griller, sliced into quarter

2 head garlic, minced

¼ c olive oil

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp onion powder 

½ tsp black pepper

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp cumin

¼ c fresh orange juice

¼ c kalamansi juice

1 tbsp smoked paprika 

1 Large Zipper bag

Wash the chicken and place inside the zipper bag.

In a bowl, add all the ingredients and stir to combine. Pour the marinade into the chicken and  close the zipper bag.  Shake the bag to coat the chicken with marinade. Place the bag in the fridge and marinate overnight.

If you want to baste your chicken with marinade: 

When ready to bake, remove chicken from the bag and place it on a baking rack. Then simmer the marinade to reduce and become pasty. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tsp atsuete powder. Baste the chicken before baking and 30 minutes before its done.

 

Pre-heat oven at 175 degrees C.

Baked at 175° for 1 hr and a half. When done, remove chicken from oven cover with foil and rest about 10 minutes before serving, or you can just serve it right away.

Enjoy with your aglio olio pasta, steam or flavoured rice and some greens on the side.

Without the Marinade Paste

With the Marinade Paste

PAN DE SAL

Pan de sal (Pandesal) as we know it is considered an indigenous bread in the Philippines. Wherever you go, there is always pandesal to consume at any time of the day. This bread is nothing special to it except for the "ingenuity" of this bun. The mixture of flour, yeast, egg, sugar and salt is nothing new in this bread making, but the crumbs that goes around the dough and the flashback of memories after each bite --- that makes it extra special! 😊

I have been challenging myself to make recipes to my liking and every creation is a piece of delicious art. Kinda poto (pride of the owner)😁. This sure deserves the archive. Sharing this piece--

PAN DE SAL

Another original recipe

Yields  about   806g raw dough, makes about 20 pcs pan de sal at 40g each

Placed in a 12x16 baking tray at (4x5)

 

Ingredients

2 ½ c bread flour

1 tsp instant yeast

1 large egg

1/3 c caster sugar

1 c fresh milk

1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt (Hao-chi😉, or any seasoned salt you prefer)

 

Additional

1 tsp oil to grease the bowl

Bread crumbs to coat (I used the Parmesan Bread Crumbs)

 

Equipment:  Stand mixer

Method

Place flour, yeast, seasoned salt and sugar in a bowl of stand mixer. Mix to combine at low speed. 

Stop the mixer and add milk, egg, butter and vanilla. Knead to a rough dough. 

Continue to knead and start the clock of 15 minutes until you achieve a smooth dough (the clean bowl is an indicator that you have been kneading it correctly).

When done, take the dough out of the bowl, form into a big ball.

Grease the same bowl with 1 tsp oil before putting back the dough in it or grease another bowl where you will proof your dough. 

Cover the bowl with cling wrap. Proof dough for at least an hour or until double in size. 

Yup, that's the parmesan bread crumbs you see!

When done, divide into 40g each. Roll into a ball and dredge with bread crumbs. 

Place the mini balls in a baking tray  at least an inch apart to rest for another hour.

Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

Bake pan de sal for about 15 minutes or until lightly brown.

Serve hot with spread or eat it plain.

Enjoy!

To warm it up... you can heat it up in a microwave for 10-15 secs or pop in the oven at 175 degrees C for 5 minutes to re-heat and you'll have as good as fresh Pan De Sal.

PUTO PAU

Another steamed fusion of cake and bun, sweet and savoury.

Puto is a steam cake made of rice or flour, sweet and fluffy. On the other hand, siopao or pao/ pau or bao is a steamed bun made of flour filled with meat, fruit paste, nuts or  chocolates, soft and chewy buns, a whole meal in itself. Puto or pao are usually eaten as a snack or "meal in betweeners" as it is light meal to be called a meal yet quite a heavy snack to be called a snack. The reasons they are perfectly referred to as "hi-tea." But, the world has drastically changed into a complex community, so whatever you call it, once you popped it into your mouth, it's a food for the soul!😊

There are many ways of mixing the puto base but i would go the path of mreingue-less puto to save time and ingredients, so here it is---

PUTO PAU

Makes about 18 pau. (You can also make this puto without the filling just garnish with cheese)

Ingredients

Egg whites from 2 whole eggs

1/4 c fresh milk

1 1/2 c water

1 c caster sugar

1 3/4 c cake flour

2 tbsp baking powder

Cheese for topping (cubes, strips, grated or shredded)

In a bowl, place egg whites and using a whisk, beat the egg.

Pour milk and water into the egg and whisk to combine

Add sugar and whisk to dissolve the sugar.

Add flour and baking powder.

Mix until all ingredients are combined and no flour lumps.

Let it rest for about 30 minutes or while you prepare the filling (you can use any filling you like)

Assembly

Using a silicone (cupcake) moulder, place the moulder inside the steamer and put the filling at the center of the mould. Then, pour some puto batter to cover half of the filling.

Place the steamer in the heat or steaming base (if using an electric steamer), cover with cheesecloth and steam for about 5 minutes. This is to paste the filling at the bottom of the pau and prevent it from floating to the top of the puto while steaming.

When done, take the puto out and pour additional puto batter up to the rim of the moulder. Then return to the heat or steaming base and continue steaming for another 10 minutes.

When done, take the puto out (you can top it immediately with cheese or let it sit to warm before topping with cheese, so the cheese will not totally melt but will still be sticking to the puto).

That's it enjoy!