QUEZ-O ENSAYMADA

Ensaymada is another staple bread in my community. There are dozens of variants in dough and several flavours flooding the market nowadays and each one looks delicious as the other. I got challenged.  Although I already perfected my own recipe, the thirst for searching and creating new ones is always calling. So, I decided to create another ensaymada recipe to have variations too. And this is where the fun comes in, create, re-create and test my creations. And if it passed the test, it goes to my archive. Yay!

Cheese is important in ensaymada making and there is no hard and fast rule on what cheese to use. Cheese is always subjective and of preferential taste, if  a particular kind of cheese impresses your palate, then use it. 

Sharing to you today is  another recipe which EDAM CHEESE is the key😊.  Surprisingly, our famous Christmas red waxed ball cheese called Queso de bola is a semi-hard Edam Cheese from Netherlands. What a coincidence 😋! 

Here it is --

QUEZ-O ENSAYMADA

Yields  about 988g raw dough

Makes about 19 pcs of 50g dough

3 c bread flour 

2 tsp instant yeast

½ c caster sugar

1 tbsp powdered milk

1 c fresh milk

1 tbsp honey

4 egg yolks

¼ salted butter, cubed (if you use unsalted butter, add ¼ tsp salt )

1 tsp vanilla

½ c grated cheddar cheese

1 tsp oil for greasing the bowl when proofing – to prevent the dough from sticking to the bowl if this concerns you much, otherwise this is optional.

 

Topping:

2 tbsp powdered sugar

¼ c softened butter

Edam Cheese, grated (I used a zester to get that shreds of cheese as compared to the classic Ensaymada which I have with longer cheese ribbons or strands).

Cream butter and powdered sugar. Spread on a cooled ensaymada buns then top with Edam Cheese.  Ready to Serve.

 

Method for Dough

In a stand mixer, pour flour, yeast,  sugar and powdered milk. Using a low speed, mix to combine. 

 

With the mixer running, slowly add fresh milk, honey, eggyolks, butter and vanilla. Continue mixing and slowly add cheddar cheese.  Increase speed and continue kneading for at least 15 minutes to create a smooth dough. 

 

When done, take the dough out and transfer to another bowl then pour 1 tsp of oil in the bowl to grease it (again greasing with oil is optional)

 

Mould the dough into a big ball and return to the greased bowl.

 

Proof for at least 1 ½ hr or so (I proofed mine for 3 hrs cause I have other things to do ) until dough doubles or have risen properly (mine is when my dough reaches the top rim of the bowl, that’s good enough for me😉).

 

When done, punch the dough, place it in a chopping board (or your working space) and divide the dough into 50g each. Prepare the bread flour in case you need some for dusting.   Some other times, In my case of having a small kitchen space, I usually leave the dough inside the bowl (this way I don’t have to clean a lot of space afterwards) after punching and just scoop some dough, weigh it for 50g. then--

 

Roll small dough into a nice small balls.

 

Flatten using a small rolling pin, brush with softened butter (you can have other spread according to your preferences: Fruit Jams, Nutella, Kaya, Ube Halaya, Matcha,  etc)  Starting from one side, roll dough into a long cylinder and coil. Slightly Tuck the edge under or just stick the edge to the dough this should be fine especially if you are using mamon cups. You will have a nice twirled ensaymada even after baking. BUT, if you rest it freely on a baking tray, make sure you tuck it under securely so it won't come out while the dough is expanding.

Place this buns into a mamon liner, or cupcake liner or a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Let it rest to triple its size, at least an hour or so, this will give you more time to finish other chores😉

 

Pre-heat oven at 175°C and bake ensaymada for at least 10 minutes each.

Cool and finish it off with topping.  Enjoy!😉