Special Pandesal

Pandesal is usually a lean bread, with simple ingredients like flour, yeast, salt, sugar, water.  But when it's special, it means that the pandesal contains eggs, butter, milk...

This recipe was given to me a while back but it took some time before I tried it out.  And it's pretty good, actually.

Here's the recipe:

1.  Mix together:  1 cup lukewarm water, 1/4 cup oil or melted, cooled butter, 2 slightly beaten eggs.

2.  Mix together (dry ingredients):  1 tablespoon instant yeast, 3 tablespoon powdered milk, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon table salt and 4 1/2 cups bread flour. 

3.  Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. 

4.  Knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is tacky but not wet. 

5.  Gather the dough into a ball.  Place it in a greased bowl and cover with a towel.  Let it rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.  (I was told that if I wanted soft pandesal, let it rise until tripled, or about an hour and a half.)

6.  Dump the dough onto a floured surface and deflate.  Halve the ball and stretch each half into a log about 12 to 14 inches in length.  Cut each log diagonally into 12 pieces.  Roll each piece in bread crumbs and place on greased baking trays.  Let rise about 40 minutes to an hour.

7.  Bake in a preheated 375F oven for about 18 to 25 minutes.