Pandesal is a popular bread in the Philippines that is commonly eaten during breakfast or as a snack. It is a bread that is fluffy, slightly sweet, coated with breadcrumbs and is best eaten with butter, sardines or cheese. Though simple in appearance, it is actually one of the best bread I have ever tasted.

I have been missing this bread lately, so I decided to try and make my own. There are a lot of recipes out there on the internet but I have decided to create my own recipe based on my experience with bread. I tested different variations and the third recipe that I tweaked was by far the best. I am very pleased with the outcome. So here I am sharing with you my recipe. Take note that I am using all butter and fresh milk as commercial Pandesal mostly use margarine and milk powder to lower the cost. Since I am making it for my family, I naturally used the best ingredients.

This recipe yields 15 pieces at around 65g each. You may half the recipe if you find it too much.

Ingredients

• 530g high protein bread flour
• 85g sugar
• 9g salt
• 10g instant yeast
• 45g butter (cut into small cube)
• 125g egg (2 Large egg)
• 210g milk
• 40g fine bread crumbs

Note

1.You may reduce your yeast to half if you are not rushing. As I was rushing for the bread to rise, I doubled the yeast. The more yeast you add the faster the rise, the warmer and humid the environment, the faster the dough increase in size.

2. I prefer to use instant yeast, instant yeast can be mixed instantly with the flour without the need to dissolve it in liquid and sugar.

3. The temperature of the ingredients you use affects the rising time of your dough, so if you are not rushing , it is best to use milk, butter and eggs from your chiller. Otherwise you need to warm the milk and let the eggs and butter warm naturally to room temperature

4 You need to knead the dough until gluten develops. You can check by using the window pane test ( see picture below). A fully developed gluten would make your dough stretchy and extensible therefore it can trap more air making your bread softer

Method

• Toast the bread crumbs with low heat on a pan. No need to add oil. Stir until all the crumbs are golden brown and evenly toasted. Set aside. Toasting it allows your bread to get golden in colour without baking it long therefore preserving the moisture of your bread. Blend it into fine powder.
• Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius
• Put all the ingredients into the mixer at low speed except the butter, salt and bread crumbs. Mix for about 2 minutes until all the ingredients come together.
• Add in the butter cube by cube, increase to medium speed and knead for 2 minutes.
• Add in the salt and continue kneading for 8-10 minutes, depending on your machine. Note that you should check the dough every few minutes for the window pane test as over kneading will also cause the gluten to collapse. The dough would be somewhat sticky and stretchy that it would be a little bit an effort to pull it out from your mixing bowl. If it is way too sticky, add 1 tbs of flour at a time. Note that humidity of your surrounding will affect the dough hydration.
• Roll the dough into a ball and place it into an oiled bowl, set aside for about 45 minutes or until the dough rises and doubles in size. Note that mine rises to double its size in an hour and half because of the cold ingredients that I used. 45 minutes is just a guide line.
• Punch out the air in the dough, roll the dough into a log (refer to picture) and use a dough cutter to slice. I sliced 15 pieces as I prefer bigger pandesal. Each pandesal weighs about 65g. Coat each slice with the toasted breadcrumbs. Better do the coating after shaping everything.
• Place each slice on the tray with baking paper with enough space for the dough to double in size. Do the the same for the rest of the slices. Cover and let it rise until doubled. Mine took about 45 minutes.
• Bake for 13 minutes. Turn the tray at 7 minutes.
• Serve warm

Note that you can warm the bread the next day in a preheated oven for 2-3 minutes at 180 degree celsius. I usually do it in my air fryer instead. Preheating it at 200 degree celsius for 3 minutes, then warming up the bread at 180 degree celsius for 2 minutes.

See how soft and fluffy it is? This batch of bread was finished the next day for a family of four! LOL!