Pandesal Recipe - Jeanelleats Food and Travel Blog (2024)

FAQs

Why is my pandesal so hard? ›

Why is the crust on my pandesal so hard? Your bread should be fluffy on the inside and slightly crusty on the outside, but the crust should not be rock hard. If your crust is too hard, it could be the result of under kneading your bread. Make sure your dough is completely smooth after kneading.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and allow to rise at warm room temperature (75°F/24°C) until almost doubled in size, about 1 hour. (Alternatively, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight until puffy and soft, between 10 and 12 hours).

Pandesal is the most popular local bread in the Philippines. It is the Spanish term for “salt bread,” since the name originated during the 16th century Spanish colonial era.

Pandesal, also known as Pan de sal (Spanish: pan de sal, lit. "salt bread") is a staple bread roll in the Philippines commonly eaten for breakfast. It is made of flour, yeast, sugar, oil, and salt.

Commercial bread is softer due to the steam process used by bakeries, which is made to keep bread hydrated and fresh.

“If the dough has risen too long, it's going to feel fragile and might even collapse as you poke it,” says Maggie. If this is the case, there's a chance you can save your dough by giving it a quick re-shape. Learn more about this fix in our blog on saving overproofed dough.

Yes! If a recipe calls for proofing bread dough overnight in the refrigerator, it can be proofed on the counter at a warmer temperature for a shorter period. Rather than placing the dough in the refrigerator overnight, leave it covered on the counter for 1 to 4 hours until it's ready to bake.

Carbon dioxide is responsible for all the bubbles that make holes in bread, making it lighter and fluffier. Because gas is created as a result of yeast growth, the more the yeast grows, the more gas in the dough and the more light and airy your bread loaf will be.

For us Filipinos, this could be traced way back to our childhood when our parents would serve it for breakfast or as our baon for school. Who can forget pandesal with hotdog, pandesal with your hot choco drink, or pandesal with your favorite palaman?

Pandesal are best eaten directly from the oven. You can store them for 2-3 days in an airtight container and reheat them in a toaster oven — if you happen to have any leftovers. They're delicious with peanut butter (as I've told you) or smeared with salted butter and honey or jam.

What does pandesal mean in tagalog? ›

Definition for the Tagalog word pandesal:

pándesál. [noun] a very common, potato-shaped bread, usually small and served during breakfast or snack time.

Why is my pandesal dense and not fluffy? A dense and pandesal can be caused by using inaccurate proportions of ingredients, for example, not enough liquid or fat, or using too much flour. Another reason is under rising. If the dough did not have enough time to rise, then the bread might come out dense and hard.

Is Pandesal healthy? HEALTH BENEFITS OF PAN DE SAL: Pan de sal has 4 grams of protein, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, and 3 grams of fat. Pandesal also has iron, which is necessary for developing hemoglobin, for carrying oxygen in the blood. This is helpful for people with anemia and pregnant women.

Your Bread Has Too Much Flour

Adding too much flour is one common mistake for beginning bakers. This produces dry bread with more crumbs. The key is to find a balance between the flour and liquid ingredients in your recipe. It can be tricky because bread recipes don't always give you an exact amount of flour.

There may be several reasons for a dense, cake like texture in bread. It may indicate the kneading wasn't enough for the gluten to develop properly, or the dough was proved for too short a time or the dough may have been too dry. It is also worth checking the flour you used.

Put the bread in a cold oven, then turn the heat to 300° F. Let the loaf slowly heat up for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the density and dryness of the bread. Start checking the bread after 10 minutes.

Overworking the dough. Particularly if you are using a machine to knead, if you knead it for too long, that will over-develop the gluten strands, which can cause the dough to be a bit more tough. If you think this might be the case, try kneading for a minute less and see if the result is better. Not enough rising time.

foil. Storing bread in either plastic, cloth, or foil helps retain the loaf's moisture. This moisture retention is a plus when it comes to the bread's crumb (interior) — but a minus if you're talking crunchy-crispy crust, since wrapping bread will inevitably soften its crust as well as its crumb.