Pan de Hojaldre

La ricetta in italiano qui.

Even my dearest sisters are curious and when travelling around they do not miss any opportunity! One day, years ago, Margherita and Valeria were in Valencia and walking along like tourists do they stopped in front of a bakery: in the window there was a wonderful bread that caught their attention.
They immediately went in, soon made friends with the bakers and came home with the recipe, which they then adapted for our domestic ovens.
Pan de Hojaldre means precisely puff bread and their teacher was Don Juan Villanueva of the Avenida del Puerto.

I used to make a single loaf, as explained in their book "Sfida al matterello".

But now, even the sisters have reviewed the recipe and prefer to make smaller loaves without a folding passage. Here below both versions, choose your favorite!

A good extra virgin olive oil makes the difference, personally I like to use my new oil, to the last drop!

Making a loaf or two small loaves

Sponge:
50 gr. flour
30 gr. water
2 gr. fresh yeast

Mix all ingredients and let it rise until doubled.

Dough:

250 gr. flour

125 gr. water

half a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil for the dough

10 gr. fresh yeast

5 gr. salt

30 gr. of extra virgin olive oil to spread inside *

* only 20 gr. if you decide to make two small loaves

Make a well with flour, put water in the middle, dissolve fresh yeast and chopped sponge into it, add oil, start kneading with a little flour, add salt and end up kneading without overworking the dough.

Shape in a loaf of about 20cm. and let it rest on the table for about twenty minutes, covered with a cloth or a bowl.

One loaf

1 - Without reworking the dough and on floured working surface, roll it out into a rectangle about 20x50. Spread over half of 30g. oil (with fingers or a brush) and fold it like this:

2 - from the short side of the rectangle fold to the middle,

3 - the same fold on the other short side toward the center,

4 - fold the two sides on each other. You will now have 4 layers.

5 - Seal edges with fingers not to release the oil, flour the table again and a little bit on the dough that won't stick to rolling pin. Roll out a thin layer of about 60x40 without bothering if a little oil willspread out, it is inevitable.

6 - Grease the dough with remaining oil (2 cm from the edges) and then roll it from the short side without squeezing too hard and trying to raise the dough slightly while rolling in order to keep the oil inside the pastry (it might escape all the way to the end of the pastry).

7 and 8 - Place the roll on a baking tray (covered with baking paper) with the ending part below, make a deep cut with a razor blade, leaving a central space of 3cm and reaching up to a couple of centimeters from the winding side. Brush with a little oil and allow to rise until doubled (usually 1 hour), then bake at 200° for 30/35 minutes.

If you bake it in advance, better warm it 3/4 minutes before serving.

Two small loaves

1 - Roll out the dough to form a rectangle about 25x35 and cut it in half along the long side.

2 and 3 - Grease pastry with oil and then roll by hand without squeezing starting from the short side and trying to raise the dough slightly while rolling in order to keep the oil inside the roll(it might escape all the way to the end of the pastry).

5 - Place the rolls on a baking tray (covered with baking paper) with the ending part below, make a deep cut with a razor blade up to a couple of centimeters from the ends.

6 - Brush with a little oil and allow to rise until doubled (usually 1 hour), then bake at 200° for 25/30 minutes.

If you bake it in advance, better warm it 3/4 minutes before serving.

This recipe goes to Susan's weekly YeastSpotting.

YeastSpotting Round up 1.15.10