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!

Of Fried Noodles and Flat Peaches

Fresh egg noodles and I don’t get along well. I mean, I love eating it but cooking with it is another matter. All my past attempts to work with thin fresh egg noodles were failures. That’s why I am so delighted when a friend of mine introduced me to Kwan Wo Fried Noodles. This is not a product placement hiding behind a blog. I am just genuinely pleased about this noodle!

Fried Noodles are not new I’ve been told. They’ve been around for a while I just wasn’t aware of them. Probably because after so many disastrous endeavours I have steered clear of the fresh egg noodle section. I don’t know why it is called “fried” in the first place when it looks quite fresh to me. But regardless, I’m just so happy that this noodle retains its texture and shape even when subjected to high heat or boiling hot soup.

Ever the advocate for uncomplicated food I made a simple beef stir-fry noodles using this product with some baby bok choy (pechay to us Pinoys). The resulting meal was satisfyingly good (Refer to the recipe at the end of this blow).

Another new discovery in the past week was Donut Peach. I thought I’ve seen every kind of peach that is available. Apparently not! Looking at this peach variety at first you can be forgiven for thinking someone just stepped on it. It looks flat a little bit deformed. Apart from its unusual appearance it tastes exactly like a “normal” white fleshed peach. The other benefit of this strain is that it is easier to eat as it has got a much smaller stone.

Beef Stir Fry Noodles ala Beancounter

200g Fried Noodles
Some slices of beef
Some bok choy
1 clove garlic chopped finely
Oyster sauce
Soy Sauce
Chicken stock
A bit of oil

1. Heat up a bit of oil in a wok.
2. Brown the meat pieces then set aside. You might have to do this in batches to avoid steaming the meat.
3. Add a bit more oil if necessary. Stir fry the chopped garlic for a few seconds.
4. Add the meat back in.
5. Add the bok choy.
6. Add some oyster sauce and soy sauce to your taste.
7. Add about a cup of stock. Let it boil.
8. Add the noodles and cook for about 2 minutes. Serve hot.

Cute's Blogger Award - 10 random Food Habits

I would like to thank Laura of Amazing Thirty Something for this award.
My apologies...it took me more than a month to accept this...but thank you so much!

I am, by the way, slowly running out of "random" things after being tagged in various networking sites. Anyway, I decided to focus only on my "food" habits

Here are the rules of this award:
1. Each blogger must post these rules.2. Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves.3. Blogger that are tagged, need to write ten facts about themselves. You need to choose ten people to tag and list their names.

Here are the 10 Random Facts/Habits About Me:
1. I like soy in my coffee...but no sugar.
2. I don't dunk bread/donut/biscuit/or any other pastry in my coffee...i hate the texture of wet, soggy bread/donut/biscuit/or any other pastry.
3. I think Starbucks is overrated...there are plenty of better ones out there. Go explore!
4. I want my ulam on the side not on top of my rice...I do not like Toppings...
5. I have big breakfasts on Saturdays.6. Fresh bread or chocolates? Fresh bread anytime!7. Airline food can be good!8. Filipino ice creams are much better than Haagen Dazs.
9. I use stock cubes!
10. I like leche flan made from condensed and evaporated milk.

Here's the next 10:
1. Thennie
2. Jim
3. Joh
4. Sheila
5. Desh
6. Lourdes
7. Merla
8. Nette
9. Charm
10. Lawrence

Thai Beef Salad (Yam Neua)

It is probably pretty obvious by now how fond I am of Thai cuisine. If you're not convinced yet here's another family favourite that you'll hopefully like as well.

Warm Thai Beef Salad was one of the dishes that got me hooked to Thai cuisine. My idea of what salad should be was totally turned upside down after trying Yam Neua. Salad, which I thought was supposed to be a cold and an unexciting, not very filling nor satisfying, side dish, is one of the main attractions in the Thai gastronomy and a great one at that!

Typical of Thai dishes, this salad also requires you to put together ingredients with very strong flavours of their own but when combined together contributes a nuance to the final taste that it can be pretty difficult to use substitutes.

Coriander root, for example, is a pretty unconventional ingredient that I think has no other alternative (apart from other parts of the coriander plant). Mint is another. Lemon is just not good enough as a stand-in for lemongrass.

Although a food processor can do a decent job in making the dressing I still suggest you acquire a proper mortar and pestle (if you haven’t got one yet) to do this dish. It is a worthwhile investment as you can use it to make all sorts of pastes to add to your cooking repertoire.

You do not have to stick to the selection of salad vegetables I’ve listed in my recipe. Feel free to add or take off ingredients to suit your taste. Also, the levels of sweetness, spiciness, sourness and saltiness can be adjusted to your liking by adding more or less of the dressing ingredients. The dressing can also be used as a marinade for other meats like lamb, pork, chicken or even fish.



Thai Beef Salad

A couple of steak pieces of your choice

Dressing
3-4 pieces coriander root
1 lemongrass - white part only chopped finely
6-8 mint leaves
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 birds eye chilies
Juice of 2 limes
2-3 tablespoons of palm sugar or white sugar
2-3 tablespoons fish sauce

Salad
Iceberg lettuce
Bean sprouts
Cucumber
Spanish onion
Snow peas
Coriander leaves
Mint leaves

1. Combine all the dry dressing ingredients in a mortar and pestle and pound until it turns to paste.
2. Add the remaining ingredients. Adjust the saltiness, sweetness, sourness and spiciness according to your taste.
3. Using some of the dressing marinate your steak for at least half an hour. Set aside the rest of the dressing.
3. In a large bowl combine all your salad ingredients.
4. Barbequing the meat adds more flavour to the final dish but pan frying can work just as well. Heat up a pan on very high heat. Rub the meat with a bit of oil before frying. You decide then how done you want your meat to be. Let your steak rest for a few minutes before slicing.
5. Place the sliced meat on top of your salad. Pour the remaining dressing over the salad. Enjoy on its own or serve with other barbequed meats.

Variation(s) to Pan de Sal

Before I delve into this variation to my pan de sal I just would like to tell you that the frozen ensaymada dough worked really well. It worked so well it gave me an idea for a “new product” to rival canned cinnamon rolls… well, to Filipinos at least. I can make millions out of this…



Enough of that dreaming…

The great thing about making your own pan de sal is the fact that you can vary the recipe to suit what you like and what you need at that time. And I’m not talking ‘bout just adding more sugar for a sweeter variety or salt if you feel like salty bread (the sal, by the way, of Pan de sal is actually the word salt in Spanish).

Tonight, as we were preparing for another new week ahead my wife and I were wondering what to put in the kids lunch boxes? Well, they’re fond of hot dogs and they like pan de sal a lot. Why not combine the two together?! It’s neither gourmet nor very original but it is a variation that we’re all excited about at home. The possibilities seem limitless. Next would be cheese. Then ham… Then ham and cheese. Maybe pan de sal cheese dogs after that. Then we’ll go for something sweet like nuttella. Then…who knows!

It’s not hard at all. To make hotdog pan de sal all I did was put a piece of hotdog in the middle of each piece of dough (refer to the previous post for the pan de sal recipe). Bake it for the same amount of time as the plain variety and voila, instant lunch (or breakfast!)

Pan de Sal Revisited

I guess it was just natural for me to then move on to making pan de sal after a very successful ensaymada experiment. It's no longer an experiment, I suppose, as I have made ensaymada a few more times the latest batch always better than the previous. I froze half of the dough of the most recent one. I'll tell you how the frozen dough works in comparison to a fresh one in a future post.

But anyway, this post is about pan de sal. It's been a while since I made pan de sal. I was disheartened as all my attempts in the past fell short of my "ideal" pan de sal. (read earlier post on pan de sal). We've never made it at home in the Philippines that is why my "ideal" pan de sal is store bought hot pan de sal. Our neighborhood bakery bake pan de sal all throughout the day. You're almost always guaranteed to get hot pan de sal any time you feel like it.

Although pan de sal is available here down under they are normally not freshly baked. They are either frozen or, if you’re lucky enough to have a Pinoy bakery nearby, already packed but never fresh from the oven. There is no other way for me to get hot pan de sal unless I bake it myself.

Thank God once again to Miss Eufemia C Estrada who wrote a really wonderful book that renewed my interest in baking! I, of course, used her recipe which she apparently got from Dexter Rebolledo (of the famous Dexter’s Bakeshop & Coffeeshop in Manila).


I was a bit ambiguous about step 2 of her recipe but nevertheless the resulting pan de sal smelled, looked and most importantly tasted like my "ideal"!

Here's the recipe:

Dexter's Pan de sal

2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup hydrogenated shortening
2 egg whites
1 cup scalded milk
1 cup lukewarm water
7-8 cups flour

1. In a bowl, sprinkle yeast in lukewarm water. Wait about 5 minutes for yeast to dissolve. Add sugar and wait for the mixture to bubble. Add the salt, shortening, egg whites and 1 cup flour to make a soft dough. Mix by hand thoroughly. Add 1 cup milk with 1 cup lukewarm water. Add all of the flour. Knead until smooth. Form into a ball and let rise until double in bulk. Do not cover with cheese cloth. Do not brush with butter.
2. After dough has doubled in size, divide into 3 parts. Flatten each piece into a rectangle and place one on top of the other.
3. Divide rectangle pieces into strips. Powder the strips with bread crumbs. Cut into serving pieces. Place each piece on slightly greased cookie sheets, standing on cut side. Bake in preheated 450F oven for 15 minutes. Yields 62 pieces.

Ensaymada

This would have to be one of my proudest moments as a home cook! I made Ensaymada for the first time and the final result was just what I wanted!

Ensaymada is the Filipino version of the Spanish Ensaimada, a pastry distinguished by its use of pork lard. Instead of using lard the Filipino Ensaymada substitutes butter and adds aged Edam cheese as a final touch. What results is a far richer and tastier product (in my opinion!).

I actually made Ensaymada two days in a row. My first attempt was a bit of a disaster but my second one was close to perfect if I say so myself.

I used two different recipes. The failure of my first try I partly (mostly) attribute to the recipe I got from this lame excuse for a Filipino cookbook. I knew something was seriously wrong with this book of supposedly “Favourite Filipino Recipes” that includes French Onion Soup, Lobster Thermidor, and Katsudon, just to name a few!

But anyway, I’ve been saved by another Filipino cookbook titled, Baking Made EC: 70 Family Favourites, by Eufemia C Estrada. I feel that this book is a lot more honest and “real”. It has no pretension that is quite rampant in the other one. It saved me from another disappointment. As a matter of fact it unleashed in me a brand new interest in baking! Thanks Miss Eufemia!

Miss Eufemia’s recipe, which I copied below, was relatively easy to follow and results is an Ensaymada that is both tasty and reminiscent of my childhood.

Ensaymada

4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup evaporated milk, scalded
8 egg yolks, beaten
6 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup butter
¼ cup grated cheese
More butter for brushing tops
More sugar and grated cheese for dusting

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1 cup lukewarm water. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes to grow. Add butter, sugar, salt and scalded milk. Add the beaten egg yolks. Beat in flour and knead until smooth and elastic. (You can throw the dough onto a lightly floured surface as part of your kneading).

2. Form into a smooth ball, place on lightly greased bowl, flip over so top is oiled, cover with dry cloth and let rise until double in bulk.
Cut dough into half and form 12 balls from each half to make a dozen. Roll each ball real thin, brush with softened butter, dust with grated cheese, roll with the help or a thin skewer and form into rings right onto slightly greased sheets. Cover lightly with cloth and let rise until triple in bulk

3. Preheat oven to 400°F while dough is rising. Bake about 15 minutes.
Brush tops with butter while hot. Let cool, then brush with butter once more and sprinkle with sugar and grated cheese. Wrap individually with greaseproof paper, if desired.

Note: Dough rings can be frozen to let rise and bake when needed.