Pan de Sal (Philippines)

"Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao island"

I am half Filipina… and very proud of having part of my roots in this Asian archipelago. One of the things i love when going back to the Philippines is sharing a meal with family and relatives, and in particular at breakfast. The conversation is laid-back - of course, everyone still trying to have their spirit clear, lots of small  dishes, sweet and savory, on the table. One of the things that can be found on the table are pan de sal (= salt bread)… so easy to make and so good once out of the oven, warm and soft. Just love those little breads. Once in Mozambique, 2 weeks after a short trip to the Philippines, i woke up with a craving for those little buns… so i pitched it and dough-n it !Here is the result :

Well, I still have some effort to make to find that original softness… I shall let the dough rest longer next time !

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of flour
•   ½ cup of sugar
• 5 tablespoon of melter butter
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1¼ cups of warm milk
• 10g of baker’s yeast
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of bread crumbs (crushed cornflakes or mixed stale bread – squashing it in a plastic bag will do too)
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of oil

1. Mix the  yeast with the sugar and the warm milk. Let it rest for a dozen of minutes.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.
3. Add to the flour mixture the egg, the melted butter, the oil and the yeast mixture.
4. Knead the dough and let it rest, covered in a moistened cloth, for at least 1 hour.
5. Divide the dough in 4 equal parts, roll each part into the shape of big sausages. Cut diagonally each part into small buns.
6. Roll each bun in the bread crumbs.
7. Let it rest for 10-20 minutes. In the mean time, pre-heat the oven.
8. Cook the pan de sal for about 10 minutes.

PS : For metric conversion, check the following website : The Metric Kitchen