Sunday, October 29, 2006

Pandelimon de Patatas

This month, the LP 15 is entitled "Recycled, Reloaded." Very appropriate for the culture who "waste not, want not." Visions of my recycled foods come into mind, both for re-cooking and for other valuable uses to lessen my contribution to the waste dump. How do I recycle foods? Let me count my ways.



First off, if I can freeze them, I do them in servings of one for quick lunch fix at times I am alone (or for my son who craves for heavy merienda). If I have leftover Korean beef and mashed potatoes or rice, or kare-kare with rice, or adobo with rice, I place them in a foil-lined small loaf pan and wrap, then freeze without the pan. I reheat these in oven toaster for 30 minutes at 350 deg prior to eating.



Second, I "remodel" some grilled or slow cooked meaty dishes to come up with new ones. Pancit, chicken empanada, chicken-veggie egg drop soup, chicken sopas and chicken mami noodles come to mind when I have leftover roasted chicken; special fried rice and ham-veggie omellet when I have leftover veggies and ham; beef siopao and asado roll when I have leftover beef pares; and fish lumpia, escabeche, sarsiado, or dinengdeng when I have leftover grilled/fried fish.



Third, I turn my old bread slices into bread pudding, french toast, biscocho or bread crumbs.



Fourth, I may not re-cook them. All biodegradable scraps (veggie peelings, seeds, or bones) and leftover I produce from my kitchen either go to chicken food bucket (goes to my MIL) or to my compost bucket (goes under the garden dirt). I do not consider them "waste" at all.



That said, I have tons of recipes in mind for this round of LP hosted by Lafang. But I do not have the luxury of time to post the recipes, or I might have posted about them in past entries, and I do not want to be redundant. Hence, I have decided to post two of them: Pandelimon de Patatas is my first entry. The next post will be Fish Lumpia.



I do not claim originality for this recipe. It so happened that in my wish to make use of leftover boiled potatoes, I looked for recipes for rolls/breads making use of them, as usual, from my fave bread machine recipe source, breadworld.com. I found Potato Dinner Rolls. After it was baked, it reminded me so much of pandelimon; hence , the name I gave it. I just omitted the egg glaze. I can't give you the link to the bread machine recipe because they seem to have deleted that and replaced with the conventional method (that is the link I used). Here is the bread machine version, edited by yours truly. The first time I made it, the dough was too sticky to form into balls. So on my second time (I baked again per husband's and son's request), I added more flour while the BM was kneading, and it solved my problem).




INGREDIENTS:



1 / 2 cup milk

1 / 4 cup potato water

1 / 2 cup boiled and mashed potato

1 / 4 cup butter or margarine

1 large egg

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

3 cups bread flour + 2-3 tbsp while kneading

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp Fleischmann's bread machine yeast



DIRECTIONS:



Mix the milk, potato water and mashed potatoes and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. Add the butter and egg, beat to mix then check temperature. It should be between 70-80 deg F (room temp). Pour into the bread machine pan. Add the dry ingredients. Set at dough cycle. after about 10 minutes, start adding flour gradually so that the dough is not too sticky (try to poke from time to time with fingers). It should appear relatively smooth and moist, not wet and flaky. The kneading ends on the 30th minute, then it rises for 1 hr.



Transfer the dough on a lightly floured surface (it will shrink). Divide dough into 15 equal portions (around 2 ounces if you are using a scale); form into smooth balls (sprinkle with some flour again as you get a new ball. Shaping this takes practice. The surface should not be too floury or you won't shape effectively, but must not have too little flour so that it becomes sticky and the surface of ball appears very rough). Arrange balls in parchment paper-lined baking pan as shown in the slide. Cover with damp flour sack in a draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.



Bake at 375oF for 15-20 minutes or until done. Remove from pan and serve hot; cool on wire rack completely then place in ziploc those you will not consume right away. Very good as chicken sandwich or toasted with cheese on top.



Announcement: Breadworld has a bread brigade movement. If you are in the US or Canada and a baking-with-yeast enthusiast like me, join for free recipes and coupons.



LP 15 entry

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Fresh Lumpia (Lumpiang Sariwa)

Thanks to thess for the recipe.

Since my success in making choco crepes (though no success in egg roll wrapper yet), I have been looking for the opportunity to try making fresh lumpia, which means, a time for another Filipino-get-together. Our supposed lunch meeting the previous week was postponed. I actually was no longer in a mood to bring anything (and I told the hostess Fe about that, and she did not mind). But when I still had cabbage from Vengie and some more carrots from my garden (getting quite wrinkly already), plus a scan of my freezer and pantry revealed that I still had that pack of frozen ubod and a small can of water chestnut, I immediately went online to print out that recipe that I saw a long time ago.

The best compliment I received was that it was very much like what they ordered in a restaurant that costed $27 each!(Did I hear it right??? Maybe it was in pesos at a PI resto. ) That's expensive! I am now thinking of making and selling this and maybe siopao to Filipinos as a sideline when I start working as a nurse in a nearby hospital that has 5 Filipino doctors, 1 PT, and 1 CNA (who have their own families, of course). I wonder how much I can reasonably price these two Pinoy goodies? Hhmmmm....Any ideas?

Since thess's recipe did not have any amount for the ingredients for the filling, I approximated (read: I did not measure, either) the proportions, and that is what I will post here. Also, I did not have the time to go to the grocery store to buy tofu and roasted peanuts, but I did have 1 small can of water chestnut (my first time to use it) and several pounds of uncooked pecan nuts, which I toasted at 200 deg F for 10 minutes then cooled before I chopped (in the chopper).

INGREDIENTS and PROCEDURE:
For the wrapper (crepes) --
2 cups flour
4 beaten eggs
4 cups water
dash of salt
2-3 tbsp melted butter
(I omitted the oil since I will be brushing the crepe maker with butter for every crepe)
Coffee filters - to place in between crepes


Mix everything well and let stand in room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Plug the crepe maker and brush with melted butter. Place the batter on the plastic pan that went with the crepe maker and stir well, then dip the crepe maker for 2-3 seconds, lift up and swirl while still upside down. Let stand upright to cook for 1-2 minutes (you will notice if the sides are beginning to get drier and start to separate from the pan; this takes practice! I wasted the first 1/4 of the batter to finally find this right technique!). Positioning the pan upside down above the coffee filter, use a silicone spatula or a wooden stirrer to start separating the edge. The crepe will smoothly fall right away. Repeat the process and place coffee filters between each crepe. (I had a layer of parchment paper at the bottom, placed on top of a wire rack to cool the crepes as I add to the stack.) You can then place this stack in a ziplock bag, squeeze out excess air, and refrigerate for up to one week.)


For the filling --
1-2 tbsp oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 pound pork, sliced into bits
1/4 cup shrimp, sliced into bits
1/4 cup pre-boiled chicken meat, sliced into bits
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced thinly
1 carrot, sliced thinly
1 small can water chestnut, sliced thinly
frozen ubod, thawed (I have had it in my freezer for months now, so I did not have to resort to bamboo shoots. I actually have not seen any bamboo shoots here.)
salad greens (these are not cooked with the rest of the ingredients, but placed at the bottom before putting the cooked filling)

Heat the oil. Cook the pork. Remove from pan and set aside. Sautee garlic, add chicken and shrimp and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the ubod and water chestnut, cook for a minute, then add carrots and cabbage, 1/2-3/4 cup chicken broth and let simmer for 1 minute.

UPDATE 7-25-09:
One of my readers, Toto, offered the following piece of information for those who do not have access to ubod/hearts of palm:

A little info about substitutes. I live in Norway and they don't sell Ubod here. I'm using Yellow Turnip instead. It's almost the same taste. I don't know though if you can find it outside Scandinavia but it's very common here.

Here's how it looks like:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga


Thanks, Toto!

For the sauce --

I had to research online for a good sauce because I had a hard time trying to imagine the proportion of the ingredients as described by thess, since she did not have amounts stated, and found one by a Filipino, which I tweaked to achieve what I imagined should be, according to what I recall of Goldilocks' fresh lumpia's paalat sauce. From recall, the sauce had a strong garlicky taste which I loved, but the recipe I found had only 1 clove of garlic. And of course, the peanutty taste. So what I did was to roast 10 cloves of garlic and mash them. Then I chopped roasted pecan nuts, about 1/2 cup. So I sauteed the garlic in peanut oil, then the nuts, then I followed the rest of the recipe. After cooking, I was not satisfied with the taste yet, so I added 1 tbsp white sugar and some more salt. I was quite disappointed with the dark brown color, and thought that maybe I should have used white sugar all the way, and light soy sauce instead of all purpose. I stirred the mashed roasted garlic into the mixture. Then as I tasted, still, something was missing -- the bite of garlic. So I minced one clove of garlic and just stirred those into the sauce. Suddenly I loved the taste! (Although I still did not like the dark brown color). Anyway, because it tasted good, I will share it here, although I think I could have made it look more like how I envisioned it if I used white sugar and light soy sauce. I liked the effects of pecans because the crunch was not too hard on my sensitive teeth, so I guess I will keep that. But as of this posting, I realized too late that there were other fresh lumpia posted a long time ago in other foodblogs: stel's and ting-aling's, which had the recipe for paalat. Oh well, I can try them another time. Maybe the tapioca flour and/or the peanut butter ingredients will give me what I want. Let me just claim (ahem!) that this sauce has turned out to be one of my creations that I am proud of because of its taste (never mind the looks). Here is my final recipe (which I may change in the future):

INGREDIENTS:
10 cloves garlic, roasted for 5 minutes in oven toaster then peeled and mashed
1/2 cup roasted pecans (peanuts if you prefer), roughly chopped

1 tbsp peanut oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup brown sugar (maybe white would be better) + 1 tbsp white sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce (maybe light would be better)
1-1/2 cups water
salt, if needed
4 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 cup cold water

1 clove garlic, minced (to be added after cooking the sauce)
1 cup chopped roasted pecan nuts for topping

PROCEDURE:
Mix the sugar, soy sauce, and water. Sautee the garlic in peanut oil until golden brown then add the chopped nuts and stir to cook for about 30 seconds. Pour the mixture and stir, add 1 tbsp white sugar, and salt as necessary. thicken by pouring the cornstarch-water mixture in a slow stream while stirring, stopping when the desired consistency is achieved.

To serve:
The fillings will, of course, occupy the middle part of the crepe/lumpia wrapper. Place a layer of fresh greens at the bottom (lettuce is most preferable), then the filling. You may want to add some sauce here before you fold the sides over the filling. Spoon the sauce over the lumpia, then top with chopped nuts and enjoy!

I will definitely, in the future, try those paalat sauces by stel and ting-aling, and maybe add some things to tweak them according to my taste.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

I got the recipe from the label of Helmann's Mayonnaise. But since this is baked and I wanted to bake everything that I will serve with it (to save on electricity and my own energy), I baked it on top of prepared poultry stuffing, and I also baked/steamed brocolli spears placed in oven-proof bowl with some water partially pre-cooked in microwave then covered.

Another husband-approved/"Can I have some for my dinner tomorrow?" dish. (He refers to his take-out lunch as dinner.) It turns out still very good even if reheated in the microwave.

INGREDIENTS:
For the chicken parmesan --
1/2 cup Hellmann's ® or Best Foods ® Real Mayonnaise
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1-1/4 lbs.)
4 tsp. Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs



INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Prepare the stuffing according to package direction and let stand.
3. In medium bowl, combine Hellmann's ® or Best Foods ® Real Mayonnaise and cheese. Brush chicken pieces with the mixture then coat with breadcrumbs.
4. Place chicken breasts on top of the prepared stuffing.
3. Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. (I usually bake such chicken breast cuts for at least 40 minutes to be sure they are throughly cooked. Hubby even says that the drier, the better, but I do not like my chicken dry.)

Chicken Zucchini Egg Drop Soup

I still had several chicken backs to make into chicken broth/stock and shredded chicken. Then my MIL gave me 12 zucchini on the day that we expected to have our first real frost (I gave 4 to my friend Ana and 4 to Vengie). This soup is another (healthy) way to make use of all these ingredients that I had, especially with the weather becoming quite chilly. All kids love this, including my fussy stepd, who first liked the crab soup that I previously served, and now looks at all such egg-drop-py soups as one and the same, so she and my boys always gobble it up.

Do not be overwhelmed by the amount of zucchini here. Shredded zucchini blends well with the soup that you (or the kids) will hardly notice its presence.

INGREDIENTS:
2 quarts chicken stock/broth (see how I make this here)
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup shredded chicken meat
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water
1 egg, lightly beaten

PROCEDURE: (Easy!)
Boil broth/stock with the chicken meat. Add shredded zucchini and wait for the soup to come to boil again. Stir in cornstarch-water gradually until desired consistency, then add the beaten egg in a slow stream while stirring. Serve hot!

Chocolate Crepes

This recipe was from the recipe book "Chocolate: Cooking with the world's best ingredient" by McFadden and France. The original recipe was for crepes, souffle and pineapple syrup, but since I only wanted to re-serve the leftover chocolate pudding as previously posted, I made only the crepes and used the pudding as filling. I made use of apple jam (given by a friend) instead of the pineapple syrup as topping.

I first coveted making crepes when I saw thess's posts on crepe and fresh lumpia. I knew then that I had to have one. So I ordered one from Villaware sometime in May.

Hubby liked it so much that he had three ("Thanks for introducing me to something new. I have heard of crepes before but just had them today for the first time.") Sweet ba? Me kwento behind that over-expression of appreciation but I am not sure if I should post about it...

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

PROCEDURE:
Sift the flour, cocoa, sugar, salt and cinnamon into a bowl. Stir, then make a well in the center. In a bowl, beat the eggs, milk and vanilla. Gradually add to the well in the flour mixture, whisking in flour from the side of the bowl to form a smooth batter. Stir in half the melted butter and pour into a pitcher. Let stand for one hour.

Heat a the crepe pan. Of course, I used my VillaWare crepe maker which I recently bought. (I have not had luck with trying to make egg roll wrapper with it, though. I need to find the right batter recipe that will work with it.) Using this, I just had to dip the gadget into the batter that I placed on the plastic pan that came with it for 2-3 seconds then let stand and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Peeling it off was so easy.

While I cooked the crepes I asked my older son to spread the chocolate pudding on half of each crepe then fold twice to make triangular crepes. The apple jam topping was optional, as is the jam flavor (you may use pineapple, strawberry, blueberry, etc.).

Monday, October 09, 2006

MS's Chocolate Pudding

This recipe was emailed to me by my hubby's favorite aunt. She said being the chocoholic that he was, my hubby would surely love this.

and she was right...I made enough to fill about 8 ramekins, and hubby finished his. So did my older son. My younger son and I finished only half of what was in our cups. I liked it, but not too crazy about it. But what's important is that all of us ate (unlike when I do prepare some Filipino desserts, almost always, hubby would not even try...). I had leftover which could fill about 4 more ramekins, but I served it sandwiched in chocolate crepes...(next post).

Martha Stewart's Chocolate Pudding

Sift together the dry ingredients:
12 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

In saucepan whisk together dry ingredients.

Measure the liquid ingredients:
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
12 ounces (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate (I use chocolate bits)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

In a bowl combine 2 1/2 cups cream with 2 1/2 cups milk and vanilla. Whisk 1 cup cream mixture into dry ingredients until completely dissolved. Whisk in remaining cream mixture until smooth.

Place sucepan over medium heat. Cook, whisking contantly until mixture comes to a boil and thickens - (8 to 10 minutes)

Add chocolate and cook on low, whisking until chocolate is melted, (about one minute).

Remove from heat and whisk in butter until melted.

Using a ladle, pour pudding into about 10 dessert cups.

Whip one cup of heavy cream and serve with pudding.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Bread Machine

For stel...

My bread machine was a wedding gift from my MIL. My husband was ecstatic that I got one, and he was so looking forward to homemade yeast breads. I myself was excited, and I asked my hubby to make the first bread as a demonstration of how to use it, which he did. He picked the recipe in the manual for a bread that could be prepared in just about an hour. We delighted in the smell of the yeast as the dough was rising and baking.

We were disappointed in the outcome (although not in the taste) because it was wrinkled and seemed to have shrunk.


Several tries later, I lost interest in using it, and resorted to going back to using my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and the conventional oven. I was feeling guilty because it was a gift from my beloved MIL. I hated seeing it just occupying a rather big portion of my countertop space (it is not as heavy as KA stand mixer, though). Until I thought of checking out the website written at the label of the Fleischmann's bread machine yeast and looking at their bread machine recipes...

One after another, I tried basic bread recipes the ingredients of which were usually found in my pantry. Some very good outcomes I have achieved were those of Basic Egg Bread, Rich Cheddar Cheese Bread, and Buttery Sweet Bread as they had well-formed dome and good crunchy crust, plus great taste. The Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Bread was superb in taste and crunch, although tended to have wrinkled dome.

Then as I examined the different settings, I added to my list some wheat bread recipes. Then I experimented with the dough setting using any of the above-mentioned recipes to try shaping them and baking them in the conventional oven.

Lately I have been trying to use it just to mix up the dough to the point when it is ready for kneading (which I like because it is less messy). What I like best about these recipes is that the amount is for family size only, usually requiring only 2 cups of flour, so that I do not have to worry about trying to consume the leftovers (I LOVE FRESHLY BAKED YEAST ROLLS, not 1- or 2- or 3-day old ones). My latest experiments include using the bread machine for recipes calling for rapid rise yeast and all purpose flour instead of the usual bread machine yeast and bread machine flour. Right now I am trying to "perfect" (according to my standards) my ensaymada using the bread machine (for minimal mess). Needless to say, if its life comes to its end soon, it would "die" having served its purpose and more. I love my bread machine, and it has been a great kitchen helper for me. The brand I have is a Sunbeam bread machine.


Making a research on bread machines will lead you to poor review of Sunbeam. I think it is mainly because of the same problems I encountered with tmy first usage of it. King Arthur Flour recommends the zojirushi, but it is way too costly (like, 3-6 times more expensive). I am quite satisfied with my Sunbeam.

TIPS for cleaning the...

PAN - Whether you used to make dough or to bake bread, soak in COLD WATER until the dough/bread softens. Then rinse in warm water either plain or a bit soapy. Let air-dry before storing in the bread machine.

BREAD MACHINE - Wipe with damp cloth only.

DO NOT PUT IN THE DISHWASHER! This will damage the non-stick finish (and also will affect the grease in the underside that rotates, according to hubby).

More tips on bread machine here.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Chicken Afritada

I have long been eating this dish and it is one of my favorites, but since I came to the US, I have cooked it only once.

Thanks to the different foodblogs in my blogroll, I have gotten some ideas. I also apply to this dish the same thing I do with menudo: marinate the chicken pieces first in soy sauce-lemon. I love the effect.

This is another addition to my collection of the dishes that hubby likes so much (as long as he gets the breast part).

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound chicken stewing cuts, marinated in
1/4 cup soy sauce
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
3-5 medium tomatoes, sliced
2-3 carrots, cut into chunks
4-5 potatoes cut in wedges
1/2 cup green peas
1 handful of red/orange/yellow bell peppers (Tip: When you buy bell peppers in packs of 3s but are not able to use up all at once, you may slice the rest and place on baking pan, freeze for 30 minutes, then transfer to a freezer bag and freeze for several more months.)

PROCEDURE:
Marinate the chicken pieces in soy sauce-lemon juice for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, chop/slice all veggies.
On medium heat, sautee garlic then onion, then the tomatoes, followed by the chicken. Increase the heat until juices bubble, then lower to medium low, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover, turn heat on medium high and let the juices evaporate, brown the chicken, then add the potatoes, carrots, and bell peppers. Cover, lower heat to medium low and let simmer for 20 minutes or until chicken is done. Add green peas during the last 10 minutes of cooking. From time to time, check to avoid drying and add water in increments of 1/2 cup to the desired consistency of the sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with plain rice.

PAHABOL NOTE:
I added hotdogs in the end for the sake of my stepd.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Pan de Sal

This is a re-posting from my old kusina, featuring how to make pan de sal using bread machine/breadmaker for the dough (or use manual method using the same recipe). I have received emails about how their pandesal using this recipe/method has received rave reviews from fellow Pinoys. May I add that I have served this also to Americans and most of them loved this crusty-on -the-outside, soft-on-the-inside buns. There's a slide show of how to shape and cut the dough and then bake them in conventional oven, to make learning easier for those who are going to try this for the first time. Pardon the poem inspired by the smell of the yeast dough as it was rising...

From pandesal
Nung nasa Pilipinas pa ang inyong Manang
At dumating ang bayaw na balikbayan,
Araw-araw, nagpapabili ng pandesal,
Ito kasi ang nami-miss nya sa kanyang almusal.

Ngayon, si Manang, nasa parehong kalagayan,
Pero walang panaderyang nagbebenta ng pandesal
Nang ipamalita ang "Kusina" sa mga kaibigan,
"Ayan! I-feature mo ang paggawa ng pandesal!"
(Patay! Ang pandesal, di ko pa nasubukan...)

Kaya sa alaala, pilit na hinalughog
Mga panaderong sa masa ay humubog
Ipinikit ang mata upang balikan
Mahigit dalawang dekada nang nakaraan.

Tulad ni Sassy, humanap ng sweet bread recipe
Pang bread machine, mula Fleischmann's Bakery
Kasi ang sangkap, pang-family size lang
Para pag pumalpak, di nakakahinayang
(Mahal kasi grocery eh! At mas madali ubusin.)

Si Manong Ken, me resipi nga,
Pero sabi nya, me halong daya
Di kasi kanya yun, di sya panadero
Ang sangkap at proseso, iba sa alam ko.
(Parang mahirap ba...)

Nung bata kasi ako, sa panaderya ni Tatay
Sa paghulma at pagsalansan, laging nakaantabay
Sa kakahawak ng dough, nahasa ang mga kamay
Yung nga lang, resipi't sangkap, di ako nasanay.

Paggamit ng pugon, di rin natutunan
Para sa batang patpatin, medyo me kahirapan
Pero paglabas dun, alam ko ang gagawin
Palamigin, hiwain, balutin, KAININ!

Kaya eto ngayon, aking sinusubukan
Papel ng panadero, kaya bang gampanan?
Unang subok, sumobra, medyo natusta
Pangalawang subok, umubra, tamang-tama ang timpla!

Wish ko lang pandesal ko ay inyong matikman
Keso o mantekilya ang gawing palaman
Pero ang tangi ko lang kayang gawin
Ilagay sa website nang sa inyo ay maihain.

Lika, kusina ko ay iyong bisitahin
Paggawa ng pandesal, iyo ring subukin (excited ka na no?)
Sana kahit paano, natulungan kita,
Kahit araw-araw, me pandesal ka na!

*************
On to pan de sal making...

INGREDIENTS (using Basic Egg Bread recipe from Breadworld.com. Other suggested recipes are Old Fashioned Buttermilk Bread and Buttery Sweet Bread.):


1-POUND LOAF INGREDIENTS 1-1/2-POUND LOAF
1/2 cup
1
1 tbsp
3/4 tsp
2 cups
1 tbsp
1-1/2 tsp
milk
large egg(s)
butter, cut up
salt
bread flour
sugar
bread machine yeast
2/3 cup
2
2 tbsp
1 tsp
3 cups
2 tbsp
2 tsp



DIRECTIONS: Update 7-20-09 - I added the manual method after the bread machine method due to readers asking for recipe if they do not have a bread machine.

BREAD MACHINE METHOD:
1. Use the 1-pound recipe if your machine pan holds 10 cups or less of water. Add ingredients to bread machine pan in the order suggested by manufacturer.
2. Set the bread machine to DOUGH CYCLE and let it do its job. (Saves you from getting your hands messy!
3-4. Wait for the dough cycle to complete the initial rising. While waiting, prepare the table (grease a bit), baking sheet (grease), and breadcrumbs. Grease your hands as well.
5. Punch the dough down (actually, as soon as you try to remove this from the pan, it will deflate.)
6. Lay the dough on the table and stretch as shown in the slide.
7. Using your two hands, roll the dough while squeezing some bubbles to make it more compact and turn it into a log about 2-3 inches in diameter. (Imagine wringing a towel, that is the effect you want to achieve here, only not too tight.)
8. Sprinkle the log on all sides with bread crumbs. (See how I make my own bread crumbs here.) Optional: Cover with plastic and allow to rise for 10 minutes. This will lessen your final rising time.)
9. Using a dough cutter, cut the log at intervals of 1 to 1-1/2 inches. Roll again on bread crumbs to coat the cut sides. (This makes about 20 pieces.)
10. Lay on lightly greased (with shortening) baking pan slightly diagonally, with the cut side up, 1 inch apart or at least one fingerbreadth apart. Cover with Cling wrap (or damp flour sack) and let rise for about 30 minutes (or 10 if you did an earlier optional rising of log) in a draft-free place. Alternatively, you may want to put it inside the oven and turn the oven on bake for 1 minute then turn off. This will make the oven warm and will hasten rising (about 10 minutes only, plus it is draft-free, but if you want fluffier pan de sal you can extend to 30 minutes. Just be careful when you open the door to take it our prior to setting the temp for baking per se. You do not want to create a sudden rush of air or else you might end up with a flat bread.)
11. Bake at 350 deg F for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown (depends on the size, spacing and oven used). If you want it darker, bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes).
12. Let cool (kung makakatiis ka!) for about 1 minute.
13. Enjoy either plain or with your favorite filling! (Mine is Reno liver spread, but I do not have access to that here, so I content myself with butter, jam, or Kraft Old English cheese spread.)

Here is a video of the actual shaping and baking of pandesal. The dough was pre-made using the bread machine.



Taglish version (requested by Jacklyn)
1.Gamitin ang resipi na pang 1 pound kung hanggang 10 cups lang ang kaya ng bread maker. Ilagay ang sangkap ayon sa suhestyon ng gumawa ng bread maker (sa brand na gamit ko, ilagay muna ang mga likido – tubig, gatas, mantekilya, at itlog – sa pan at kelangan ay maligamgam, Pwedeng hayaan sa countertop para maging room temp, o kaya ay i-microwave ng mga 30 segundo, haluin at i-check sa thermometer kung nasa 80-100 deg F. I-microwave pa kung malamig pa.)
2.I-set sa Dough Cycle ang bread maker.
3.Maghintay. Habang naghihintay para matapos ang dough cycle, ihanda ang lamesa o countertop (medyo punasan ng konting mantekilya o shortening para medyo madulas, at budburan ng konting harina), baking sheet/pan (punasan ng shortening), at breadcrumbs. Pahiran din ng mantekilya/shortening ang kamay mo.
4.Alisin ang dough sa pan pag handa na. Magfa-flat ang dough, gaya ng nangyayari pag sinuntok mo. Ganon talaga. Dapat pa nga medyo pitpitin mo.
5.Ilagay sa ibabaw ng lamesa/countertop at ayusin nang pahaba (i-stretch mo para humaba).
6.Gumawa ng baston: irolyo habang pinipitpit ang pandesal para maghugis “log” na mga 2-3 inches ang haba pag cross-section.
7.Budburan ng bread crumbs. Pwedeng takpan ng plastic at hayaan lumaki ng mga 10 minuto bago hiwain.
8.Gamit ang dough cutter, maghiwa (kelangan, mabilis ang kilos ng kamay mo sa paghiwa para hindi parang nahihila yung dough. Parang itak ang bagsak ng dough cutter tapos biglang ilihis para humiwa). Hiwain kada 1-2 inches. Irolyo uli sa bread crumbs bawat pirasong nahiwa.
9.Ilagay sa baking pan. Kelangan yung nahiwang parte ang nakapatong sa pan.
10.Palakihin ng mga 30 minutes o hanggang magdoble (baka mas maikli kung medyo mainit dyan). Eto ang second rising. Dapat ay walang hangin at dapat ay “moist” ang paligid, para hindi matuyot ang pandesal habang lumalaki. Pag walang hangin, hindi sya basta babagsak. Pag nabiglang nahanginan, maaaring bumagsak ang tinapay, lalabas na flat. Pwede mong gamitin ang pugon para sa second rising. Ilagay mo yung pan sa loob, paandarin ang oven ng isang minuto at patayin para yung namuong init sa loob ay makatulong mapabilis ang pagpapalaki ng tinapay, na hindi naiistorbo ng hangin.
11.I-hurno (bake) sa 350 deg F (nasubukan ko na rin hanggang 450 deg F, basta nakaantabay ka). Mas malutong at ma-brown ang ibabaw kung mas mataas ang temperature. Kung gusto mo medyo albino ang dating, ok na yung 350. Hayaan ng mga 10 minuto, paikutin ang pan para uniform ang pagkaluto/pagkabrown, at lutuin pa ng mga 2-4 minuto o hanggang total ng 15 minuto basta maganda ang pagka-brown. Tantayahin mo sa unang pagbake kung gano kainit ang oven mo.
12.Pagkahango sa pugon, alisin agad sa pan at ilipat sa cooling wire rack. Pag wala nang init, pwede na ilagay sa plastic para hindi matuyot at manigaw (pag nagpapawis pa sa plastic, palamigin mo pa, para hindi madali mag-amag).


MANUAL METHOD:
1. In a pyrex measuring cup, microwave the liquid ingredients for about 30 sec to 1 min to make it lukewarm (80-100 deg F or room temp).
2. In a large bowl, place all dry ingredients and make a well at the center.
3. Place liquid ingredients in the well at the center. Using wooden spoon, mix liquid with dry starting from center until all dry ingredients from the sides are incorporated and you have a soft dough.
4. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for about 8 mins.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 mins.
6. Stretch as shown on slides and form into a tight log.
7. You may opt to sprinkle with breadcrumbs and (1) slice at this point or (2) let rest for another 10 mins before slicing.
8. Coat the sliced dough pieces and placing on greased baking pan.
9. Place in pre-warmed oven (to hasten rising time) and let rise some more for (1) 30 minutes if they were cut right away, or (2) 10-20 mins if they rose before cutting. The point is, get them to a good size before baking (remember that they will do a final rise when you place them in hot oven, so bake them when they reach a size just a little bit smaller than the size of pan de sal you want to eat).
10. Bake at 350 mins (or 365 if you want them darker) for 10-15 mins (keep watching after 10 mins by opening the oven door and looking at how dark they are).
IMPORTANT TIPS for beginners in yeast doughs:
A bread machine not only makes it less messy for your hands during the initial phase of dough preparation. You can also learn how the dough must feel if you will touch and poke it before it goes into the initial rising phase (that is 30 minutes after you start the dough cycle). Familiarize yourself with that dough and then also after the initial rising (end of dough cycle). Once you have done so, you can then have the courage to do the conventional way of kneading the dough by hand and judging if the initial rising time is enough.

Make sure you don't disturb the initial rising phase and that it is warm and moist and there is no draft (bread machines have that ideal setting).

When checking for brownness, OPEN the door and bring the bread under natural light instead of looking through the oven glass (the yellow light shows the bread being white when in fact it is already brown, you might toast it).

If you want to use the old-fashioned buttermilk recipe, but you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can substitute it with 1 tbsp cider vinegar or lemon juice plus enough fresh milk to make 1 cup, then use the right proportion in preparing the dough as per ingredients. (I saw this tip in the Cooking Pleasures Magazine of CookingClub.com, which sparked the idea of trying that recipe in making pandesal.)

For those without fresh milk (presuming I have followers in the Philippines, but please help our small businesses by patronizing the local bakeries), use 1:1 ratio of evaporated milk and water.

Place the buns right away on a cooling rack so they don't sweat at the bottom and make the bottom soggy.

In STORING pan de sal:
Let the buns cool on the wire rack completely but do not overdo that they dry up (this take about 10-30 mins here in my place depending on the weather or season). Then place in ziploc bags or airtight container. If you do this while they are still warm, they will sweat and will invite molds very soon. If you do it too late, they will be hard.
VARIATIONS:

Corned Beef Pan de Sal: If you have access to Argentina CB, get a small can and add a small, chopped onion. Without the breadcrumbs, cut the pan de sal into pieces about the size of pingpong ball, flatten and place a tbsp of CB mixture, seal the edges and roll in breadcrumbs. (I used to sell these when I was still studying in Med school, but without the breadcrumbs. They sold fast! Perfect breakfast!)

Hotdog Pan de Sal: Roll pieces to flatten (like in my spanish bread post) then put the hotdog in, wrap the dough around, then roll on breadcrumbs. (This is probably the equivalent of "hoagie" here.)

Yun lang...

This re-posting is so that I can have it labeled properly and make it easier to locate.

UPDATE: Some Americans (my co-workers, friends' friends, relatives) have tried these and absolutely loved the soft interior and the crusty exterior. Just try to offer them to your co-workers or relatives who are open to new things, and I guarantee you, they will see you with new eyes...
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