Spanish Bread

I managed to take photos the last time I made spanish bread, so here goes the step-by-step how-to's. For some reason, my computers (both PC with Windows XP and laptop with Linux) do not currently work well with slide.com. I have not had the gumption to make a new account with Flickr to attempt making slide shows, so I resorted to posting a series of photos here instead.

This is another kid-favorite rolls, they like these more than they do ensaymada, although I made both using the same dough (see my posts on Ensaymada).

(Update on 3/17/2012: I also brought several pieces to work and all my co-workers at the time liked these spanish breads/rolls. Well, the non-diabetics and those not gluten-sensitive ones, that is.)

RECIPE: I used the BM ensaymada recipe for the dough. If you have a bread machine, make sure you use the recipe that your BM bucket can accommodate.  Check your BM manual for instructions. Mine says to place room temp liquid ingredients first then the dry ingredients, then run on dough cycle. Once the dough cycle is over, proceed to the instructions below for making the spanish bread.

Ingredients (3-lb dough):
1 cup milk
3/4 cup water
1 egg
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 tsp salt
6-3/4 cups bread flour (plus some more; see note above)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp BM yeast

(2-lb dough) - [This yielded 9 ensaymadas and 12 pcs spanish bread]
2/3 c milk
1/2 c water
1 egg
2 egg yolks
6 tbsp butter
1-1/2 tsp salt
4-1/2 c bread flour
1/2 c sugar
1-1/2 tsp BM yeast

For the filling of butter-sugar mixture: 1 stick of softened butter (1/2 lb) + 1 cup white sugar. Adding 1/4 cup breadcrumbs to this mixture somehow aids in keeping them inside the rolls and minimizing the oozing when they melt. Some also prefer brown sugar.



Instructions:

Prepare the dough. Divide into portions the size of a golf ball. Mix sugar (your choice: brown or white. I prefer white.) and softened butter/margarine (I can't specify the proportions because I approximated. I just kept adding sugar and mixing until I got a consistency that was gritty yet spreadable.)

Flatten each piece

Flatten each piece with a rolling pin as shown. Go ahead, don't be afraid...Start from the middle outward up and down, especially adding pressure at the ends so they stick to the table/countertop. That way, they don't roll back or spring up.

Spread filling

Spread a good layer of sugar-butter mixture. Avoid the ends so you can seal properly.

Roll tightly

Roll tightly. Make sure end seals.

Coat with bread crumbs

Roll in breadcrumbs to coat.

Place on baking pain SEAM side DOWN

Place on baking pans with seam side down. (Note: Either you grease your pan with a thick coat of shortening or better yet, use parchment paper.)  Cover with plastic (to avoid drying up). Let rise for 15-30 minutes (depending on what yeast you used and the humidity/temperature of environment). Alternatively, you can place the pan uncovered inside the oven which is warmed up for one minute.

Bake at 350 deg F for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  (If you have too much for one-time serving and want to reheat these in the future, bake only for about 10 minutes initially, so when you reheat they won't look burnt. I reheat 2-3 pieces for merienda in an oven toaster at 350 deg F for about 3 minutes or so.).

(If you want them really mestisahin, bake at 325ºF for 15 minutes.)

You may want to let these stay on the pan so that their bottoms soak up the melted caramel until the caramel solidifies into sort of candy. Then transfer to the cooling rack to cool completely before you store in ziploc bags.

STORING:

When you cannot eat all freshly baked spanish bread, after cooling in the wire rack for about 30 minutes, they should be warm (not hot) or almost room temp. That is the perfect timing to place them in ziploc bags and close. Observe after several minutes if they sweat. If they do, open the bag and let the excess moisture evaporate some more, wipe the sweat inside the bag with paper towel. Whey they do not sweat anymore, close bag tightly. When done at the right timing, your spanish bread will remain soft for 3 days without having to reheat them. But then, I myself prefer heating them up in oven toaster for about 3 minutes. And these do not last more than 3 days (or even a day!) for my family.