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500g plain flour
160g caster sugar
180ml lukewarm milk
1 sachet dried yeast
2 free range eggs
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt
200g soft butter
45g icing sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar
In Spain there are plenty sweet pastries available, including churros which are perhaps the most famous. In Rotterdam you can buy churros everywhere so we rather make Ensaimada de Mallorca. A delicious sweet bread, eaten dipped in hot chocolate. Kids just love it!
How to make Ensaimada de Mallorca
Put the flour into the mixing bowl and make a well.
Pour the sugar all around the edge of the flour.
Heat the milk in a saucepan until it's lukewarm.
Add the yeast into the well in the mixing bowl.
Pour the lukewarm milk in the well.
Cover the bowl with a dishcloth.
Leave it for 5 minutes until the yeast foams.
Add eggs, yolk and salt and mix it together for 4-5 minutes.
The dough should look crumbly by then.
Dust a baking mat with flour and tip the dough on.
Knead the dough quickly smooth then shape it into a ball.
Preheat the oven to the lowest temperature then turn it off.
Cover the bowl with the dishcloth again and let the dough rise for one hour.
After one hour rising the dough has doubled in volume.
Dust waxed paper with flour and tip the dough on it.
The dough is elastic and sticky so dust your workspace with flour every time you handle it.
Roll the dough into a 50x50cm square, spread the butter on.
Roll the square into a long snake, the open side down.
Roll out the snake into a 15x65cm rectangle.*
Roll the rectangle into a snake again, the open side down.
* Roll out the dough carefully, if you apply to much pressure the butter may come through it.
Twist the snake in a swirl, leaving room in between to rise.
After 1 hour the swirl has closed and the bread is ready to bake.
Preheat the oven to 175°C, bake the bread in 20 minutes golden brown.
Dust the bread with icing sugar mixed with vanilla sugar.
Serve the Ensaimada de Mallorca with Spanish hot chocolate.
Spanish Chocolate Caliente for two
Stir 250 ml milk with 110 grams of milk chocolate and 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch over medium heat to combine. When the chocolate has melted, it is ready.
¡Buen provecho!