Pan de Coco

I was craving for some Pan de coco. And I still have left over grated coconut from cooking kutsinta quite a while back, sitting in the freezer, and I wanted so much to use it. So I searched on the internet for a good recipe. Luckily, I found this recipe and luckily, it is quite good too. At least in my humble opinion. What I like about this dough recipe is there's no Kneading. Yup, NO KNEADING.

I tweaked the recipe a bit, but not too much. As they say, if it's not broken, don't fix it. It just that from experience, I need more yeast than what it says in the recipe. And less sugar, without compromising the taste of the pan de coco.

And I must say, the result was very very good. I made some pan de coco, the way it was written in the recipe, but I also made some traditional round ones. I dunno if that's traditional, but that's the way I've known them since childhood.

Dough:

1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
2 tbsp instant dried yeast
1 1/2 tbsp salt
4 eggs, beaten lightly
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup butter, melted
7 cups all purpose flour
egg wash

1. Mix yeast, salt, eggs, honey and butter with the water in a bowl.
2. Add the flour and mix without kneading. Use a wooden spoon or wet hands.
3. When thoroughly mix, cover the bowl with cling wrap or tea towel and allow to rest at room temperature until dough double in size. I put mine on top of the oven, switch the oven 100 C and rest the bowl on top of the oven.
4. This dough is heaps. As in lots, plentiful. I was able to make 1 bread and lots of pan de coco. Apparently, the dough freezes well. Only use half of the dough for the pan de coco, and either freeze the rest of the dough or make this bread from the same cook of the pan de coco.

Coconut Filling:

2 cups unsweetened grated coconut
1/2 cup sugar (I used raw brown sugar)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup water

Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan, simmer in medium heat until all the liquid si absorbed. Set aside to cool.


Directions:

1. Dust the half the dough with flour and roll into a ball. Let rest for 10 minutes. Divide into two smaller balls.
2. Take one dough and roll out into a rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick. Spread the coconut filling in the centre of the rectangle, leaving about 1/2 inch on all sides. Roll lengthwise and seal seams and ends. Now you have a long log. Divide it equally using a sharp knife in the desired size you prefer.
3. Alternatively, make the round, traditional pan de coco. Take a small amount of dough, the size of a golf ball. Roll it and flatten it. Put the filling in the middle. Then, gather the edges of the dough and pinch it towards the middle. Shape into a ball again, and lay it on the baking tray, seams down.
4. Place in a non stick tray about an inch apart. Cover with a tea towel and put it in a warm place until doubled in size. Again, I put mine on top of the oven.
5. Preheat oven to 190 C.
6. Remove the towel, brush the top of the pan de coco with egg wash.
7. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in a wire rack.

Pandesal using the bread maker

Pandesal is a breakfast favourite, eaten by itself or with a bit of cheese or butter, it's simply divine. I remember when I was still a very young girl living with my grandparents in the province of Apalit, Pampanga, my grandpa and I used to wake up at 4 in the morning so that we were one of the first if not the first to get pandesal from the store where it's being delivered. And yes, they will still be very hot then and the store smells of freshly baked bread. We get 2 pesos worth, and that will be 20 pieces of pandesal then, and the sizes of the pandesal is about 5 or 6 inches long. Yup, they were only 10 centavos a piece during that time. And no, that wasn't in the 60's ... it was in the 70's. I'm not that old. Last time we went back to the Philippines (1997), I used to send my hubby to the nearest bakery and asked him to buy pandesal. That time, not only they're 1 peso a piece, they're only 2 inches long and mostly air inside. Oh bring back the 70's ... LOL. Now with the help of a bread maker, I can make my very own pandesal. I have tried so many recipes, and this is the one I prefer the most.

Ingredients:

2 cups lukewarm water
½ cup shortening or cooking oil
1 ½ fine salt
½ cup white sugar
6 cups plain flour
3 tsp dry yeast
2 eggs (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 220 C. Reduce to 190 C (180 C fan forced oven) when you put in Pandesal.

1. Place ingredients in baking pan in order listed or according to your manufacturer’s machine. Insert baking pan and close lid.
2. Program your machine to dough cycle. Press START
3. When the cycle stops, I usually leave the dough in the bread maker for another hour or so until the dough doubles in size. Sometimes, if I forget, it’s almost coming out of the bread maker. Alternatively, remove the dough from your bread maker and put it in a much bigger bowl (lightly greased) cover it with cling wrap and leave in a warm place to rise until it doubles in size.
4. Remove the dough from the bread maker, punch out the air then roll out on a floured board, into a 1 ½ diameter strips.
5. Cover with bread crumbs. Let rise for another 15 minutes
6. Cut into 1 ½ inch pieces, roll them into some more bread crumbs.
7. Arrange on a slightly greased baking sheet, cut side up.
8. Sprinkle with more bread crumbs. Let rise for another 30 minutes or until it doubles again in bulk.
9. Bake in a pre-heated oven.
10. Bake until slightly brown, about 15 – 20 minutes.