I chanced upon a familiar brown spiral notebook while I was at home in Manila this January. It was a notebook with recipes in my maternal grandmother's handwriting. I took pictures of some recipes including this one for ensaymada.
From the looks of the recipes in the notebook, these were not my grandmother's tried and tested recipes. I assume that the notebook contained recipes she had copied from various sources which she intended to try out. Nonetheless, I was determined to try out her ensaymada recipe.
At the onset, the fact that I did not have proper ensaymada moulds discouraged me. However, at a certain point in time, I figured the moulds were just containers. What mattered was the end product. On a whim, while MacGyver was away, I decided to try out the recipe using my regular muffin pans.
When the time came to divide the dough, I reviewed the recipe to determine the yield but could not find how many ensaymadas the recipe expected to produce. Given the size of the muffin pans, I decided to divide the dough into 24.
The recipe indicated bake at 400F for 15 minutes and that's what I did. Clearly I have not had ensaymada in a long time. It did not occur to me that 400F was pretty hot and that bread is usually baked at that temperature. Bread is usually crusty on the outside whereas ensaymada is supposed to be soft. When I pulled them out of the oven, I could already tell that they were not the ensaymada I was hoping for.
They tasted good but unless they were reheated in the microwave, they were rock hard!
I concluded that (1) the temperature was too high, (2) twenty-four pieces was too many and (3) I needed to check out more ensaymada recipes if I wanted to get soft and fluffy ensaymada.
The temperature and the number count are easily solved. The additional recipe research turned out to be a nightmare. My SIL was very supportive, sending me one recipe after another. (She doesn't bake but she reads and knows the good places to eat.) I thought that the eight eggs in this recipe was a lot but then I discovered that the other recipes required a dozen eggs or even up to 20 eggs. In fact, one recipe called for a whopping 60 egg yolks (but that was for 3 kilos of flour). It was then that I realised I was willing to stick with 8 eggs. The only question would be when I would try the recipe again.
The answer came in stages. First, I dropped by Vinnie's on a Saturday morning and found a Texan muffin pan, six individual cups and four small tart pans. Second, my work hours got shifted for a couple of days enabling me to go home early. Third, I was determined to try out my grandmother's recipe one more time before trying others out.
Knowing there would still be several rising times required, I started the sponge as soon as I arrived home. Unfortunately, I got distracted and it was near midnight by the time I remembered I had only finished steps 1 and 2. I figured I would do steps 3 to 6, let the formed ensaymada rise in the fridge overnight, and finish off with step 7 when I got back from work the next day.
Easier said than done. I had gone through the whole Jungle Book movie by the time I finished kneading (step 5) and forming the dough (step 6).
We completed step 7 in the evening. Thank goodness the dough managed to rise while baking in the oven or else we'd have ended up with rocks again.
I brushed melted butter over the bread soon after they came out of the oven then tried to sprinkle some grated cheese. The cheese kept falling off that I decided to make that a DIY step. I gave everyone the option of topping it with either sugar or cheese but since it was DIY most of the ensaymada ended up with both sugar and cheese.
So, all's well that ends well ... in our tummies.
Below is the recipe from the notebook which I have modified slightly to indicate the number of pieces to divide the dough, a lower temperature, and a longer baking time, in the hopes that the yield of this recipe are 16 soft ensaymada rather than 16 softballs.
ENSAYMADA (Country Bake)
1. Sponge
3/4 c lukewarm water
2 t yeast
1/2 t sugar
1 c flour
Mix well and allow to rise 1 hour
2. To sponge, add
1/4 c sugar
4 egg yolks
1 c flour
Mix well. Set aside another hour
3. Cream thoroughly
3/4 c butter
1/4 c sugar
4 egg yolks
Add to yeast mixture.
4. Add 2 2/3 c flour. Knead well (400 strokes) on floured board until fine. Cover and allow to rise 10 mins.
5. Knead dough on greased board. Cut into sixteen equal portions and form into balls.
6. Roll out each ball thinly. Brush generously with butter. Roll up and form into coil. Keep and allow to rise until double.
7. Bake at 350F for 18-20 mins. Cool slowly. Brush over with butter and sprinkle grated cheese. Dip in sugar.
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