Pan de Sal Chronicles: Wood in Action

This post is a continuation of my pan de sal adventures. I should have labelled them My Pan de Sal Chronicles knowing fully from the first post that there'll be more to come. Surely enough this is the 5th instalment in my quest to make the perfect pan de sal.

I think there is no better way to show ones sincerest appreciation of a gift than actually using it. So, for the first time last night I've put to good use my new dough cutter. It was fantastic! Not only did I use it in making my favourite breakfast bread (my kids' name for pan de sal) and its variations it proved to be quite handy as well in making ensaymada (Yes, I was up till the wee hours of the morning baking for this week's baons). I suppose, it's a very good all-around dough cutter. Thanks Tatay Rudy once again!

I'm not going to bore you with more narrative. So instead what I've got here are a series of photographs showing the wood in action!

To make sure my cutter is never lonely I've introduced it to my good 'ol friend the rolling pin... their similarities are quite uncanny, don't you think?

This is actually an ensaymada dough. I’ve used the cutter to divide it into pieces before rolling.

First ever cut of my pan de sal dough. The dough is divided into three strips.

The strips are then cut into pan de sal sized pieces

Ready for baking!

Ode to a Piece of Wood

Some of you are probably thinking I must have gone mad writing about a piece of wood. It’s probably the lack of sleep that’s causing this, some might say (well, I’m getting more Z’s lately so that’s not it!). And then some might wonder it probably is a metaphor for my profession which is often viewed as inflexible and humourless. I am a bean counter after all.

No, this is neither a dissertation on the parallels of accounting and a piece of wood nor am I going mad…well, maybe I am but that’s not the point! This "thing" is actually a gift from a friend’s father who’s had quite an influence in my recent baking exploits.

Tatay Rudy has got decades of baking experience under his belt owning and operating a bakery in the suburbs of Valenzuela for years. I did not know this at first but one time when we invited his family over for dinner (with pan de sal on the menu) he observed my pan de sal methodology quite intently. He was probably laughing inside seeing how clumsy some of my steps were. He was kind enough to show me some tricks of the trade. He’s also realised that I was missing a very essential tool!

Being the kind hearted man that he is he made me my very own pan de sal dough cutter…by hand! Isn’t that special! Well, I certainly felt special! It is one gift that I will treasure for a very long time.

The ingenuity of the Filipino is definitely not lost in Tatay Rudy. No new trees were hurt in making my cutter. Also, not having his woodworking implements here he’s made use of what’s available, including the concrete floor! I think it’s great and very earth friendly!

is that a prophecy?

So, from the bottom of my heart I would like to say, Maraming, maraming salamat po! I do hope to become a good baker…someday!