Pan de sal, or "pandesal" for short, is a common Filipino breakfast. It is a round bread that is composed of flour, sugar, and salt (hence why there is "sal"). It was a recipe made during the Spanish colonization (hence the Spanish naming).

Originally, it was simply baked only with flour and salt, so it was salty before. However, after the colonization, the Filipinos found out that they had a sweet tooth (maybe as a result of American influence) and added sugar to the bread.

It is best partnered with coffee (since it is breakfast). Filipinos sometimes dip the bread to the coffee to soften it.

Literally means, "bread with salt", it is the most common Filipino bread. The weight per portion and maximum price is even government regulated.

Some years ago, there was a big hullabaloo over the use of bromate as a bread improver, i.e. profit improver, by some bakeries. Bromate has supposedly been proven to cause cancer. The bakers claim they do not have knowledge of anything like that and they only use it to make the bread look nicer and to have a greater yield with a given amount of flour.

Given that there are plenty of stupid people out there, not just here but everywhere, I tend to believe them, as when they were told to stop using bromate they promptly did.

It is very much like your average dinner roll except it is a bit more crusty and usually has bread crumbs sprinkled all over it.

A standard recipe which I use calls for:

If you are lucky enough to have a Hobart mixer, just pour everything in, use the hook attachment mixer at either speed setting 2 or 3 and mix until your dough forms a ball that sticks to your hook.

Divide into two, roll into logs, sprinkle with bread crumbs. Place in proofing oven for about an hour. Cut each log into a dozen rolls and bake at 190 deg C for 15 minutes.

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