Pan de sal

November 19, 2009 • Hello. I am currently out of the country and unable to respond to comments and e-mails. Rest assured, however, that future posts have been scheduled so new recipes will go live almost everyday during my absence. I'll be back soon with lots of stories and photos. Ciao for now! ~ Connie

pan de salIf the Philippines has a national bread, it would be pan de sal. It crosses over social and economic classes. Rich or poor, you will find pan de sal in most Filipino household’s breakfast table. In many rural areas, and this is how a lot of old people still prefer to eat their pan de sal, the bread in dipped in hot “coffee” that is often made from toasted rice. We’re a Third World Country and there are places, especially in the provinces, where coffee is a luxury. But rice is abundant, so…

But I digress, I was talking about pan de sal. What is it? Obviously, a bread. A roll to be more precise. But why is it unique? Actually, I don’t know how unique it is. It is special to us Filipinos because it is part of our culture. For many of us, it is part of our childhood and it evokes warm memories of our parents’ homes.

Pan de sal is a roll, usually sweet (ironic since the name implies it is supposed to be a salty bread), with a crusty surface but soft inside. It is characterized by the bread crumbs that is sprinkled over the dough before it goes into the oven.

The size, shape, color and quality of pan de sal vary. The inexpensive ones are from the neighborhood panaderia (bakery) is rather small and light. The more expensive ones in bigger bake shops may be big or small but almost always more compact and dense. The bad ones will turn hard as rocks after several hours; the good ones will stay soft even after a day (Marketman has a rant about how commercialized pan de sal has gotten so bad).

The best thing about the pan de sal is its versatility. It goes well with butter and, therefore, a great accompaniment for soup in a Continental dinner. Small-sized pan de sal is really best with soup. The bigger ones can be split in half and stuffed with vegetables (lettuce, tomatoes, onions), cheese, ham or just about anything that you can use with Western rolls. Last Christmas, we served our ham with pan de sal and it was just glorious!

If you want to try baking pan de sal at home, English Patis has a recipe. Manong Ken has another and Manuel Viloria has links to two more. Me, I have a recipe for corned beef pan de sal.

Tags: , , , ,

March 18, 2006  Print This Post   
Tagged:

Comments

One Response to “Pan de sal”
  1. Mario L. Cuezon says:
    September 11, 2006 at 11:23 am

    hello!

    if you have an e-group, I would like my name/address to be included.

    thank you.

    mario

Stay updated!

Feed for RSS readers Weekly Newsletter Get recipe updates via Facebook Get recipe updates via Twitter Get recipe updates via Plurk Get recipe updates via Yahoo! Meme

View the archive

November 2009
S M T W T F S
« Oct    
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  
Perk up your ricePerk up your rice
Corned Beef and Shredded CabbageCorned Beef and Shredded Cabbage
Beef, ginger and pineapple stewBeef, ginger and pineapple stew
Spaghetti with Chinese ham and peppersSpaghetti with Chinese ham and peppers
Salmon, mango and coriander makiSalmon, mango and coriander maki

Conversations