THIS was one of the best ‘discoveries’ and biggest trends at the height of the pandemic. Since everyone was forced to stay home due to the strict lockdown policies prevailing at that time, they naturally gravitated towards home baking—and baking Ube Cheese Pandesal kept them preoccupied and their tummies full.
Ube Cheese Pandesal turned out to be so good that it has survived the entire pandemic and beyond. Today, it is still as popular as ever. So, if you have never tried baking it during the pandemic, you can still do so with this recipe from Chef Jackie Ang Po, who is easily one of the most talented pastry chefs in the country today. She generously shared this recipe during the pandemic, and it benefitted a lot of people.
THE YEAST MIXTURE:
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 tsp. instant yeast
- 2 tsps. sugar
FOR THE DOUGH:
- 500 grams bread flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 100 grams sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 Tbsps. Ferna Ube Flavocol
- 2 egg yolks
- breadcrumbs
- 450 grams Arla Natural Cheese (Mozzarella, Gouda, Emmental, Havarti)
- halayang ube
- extra bread flour
- Mix together ingredients for the yeast mixture. Let sit for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, the mixture should be bubbly. This proves that there is yeast activity. Add the bread flour, salt, sugar, vegetable oil, Flavocol and egg yolks. Mix then knead by hand until the mixture comes together as a smooth and elastic dough. Place dough ball in a mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until double in size.
- Punch down, divide dough into two, and roll each into a baston. Make sure you scatter extra flour on the work surface and on the rolling pin so the dough does not stick to the table or to the rolling pin. You can also roll out each dough into a thin rectangle, then fold and roll up tightly into a baston. Cut each baston into 12 parts, each piece approximately 40 grams, with the whole finished dough totaling about 900 grams.
- For plain ube pandesal, roll each pandesal in breadcrumbs and arrange 12 pcs. pandesal dough on one baking sheet, cut side down and up. Let rise until double.
- For ube pandesal with cheese filling, roll out each 40-gram dough into a flat circle, place a 20-gram slice of cheese in the center, then gather up the ends like you will with siopao dough, pinch ends to seal dough, and roll lightly in palms into an oblong shape. Should you wish to make it more decadent and add halayang ube, pipe it on top of the cheese slice before positioning it. Roll entire pandesal in breadcrumbs and arrange 12 pcs. pandesal dough on one baking sheet. Let rise until double.
- Bake in a preheated 350˚F (or 177˚C) oven for 15 minutes for this size. Do not overbake, as the violet color of the bread will turn black if you do.