August 10, 2007

Ensaimada

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I have always wanted to make the Hizon style ensaimada which resembles the original Spanish ensaimada, i.e. flat and whitish inside, not the fluffy yellow almost cake-like Goldilocks ensaimada. The Hizon ensaimada I remember was golden brown and flattened further with a hot iron or maybe spatula to caramelize the sugar topping. It was delicious, bready, sweet and perfect with hot chocolate.

In one of my Spanish cookbooks the recipe for ensaimada is leavened with baking powder and has lard, not butter. It is shaped into one gigantic coil and left to rise for 7 hours before baking. I will try that recipe next time I make ensaimadas.

Today I used a Spanish recipe I found online. I was able to make two 7-inch ensaimadas using half of the dough and the other half I made into a coffee cake loaf filled with Nutella and hazelnuts.

Update: Goldilocks-style and Spanish Majorcan recipes here


topped with butter, sugar, and grated young gouda


Nutella and hazelnuts coffee cake loaf

Here is the ensaimada recipe that uses baking powder and lard:
5 cups flour
¾ cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup lard
  • Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, eggs and water. Knead to form a smooth dough. Roll dough and spread the lard. Roll and fold several times until the lard is absorbed. Halve the dough (or use one dough recipe but it will be HUGE) and roll each dough as thin as possible. Roll the dough from one side like a poster. Coil the rolled dough loosely on 2 large baking sheets, cover with damp towel or plastic wrap and leave to rise for 5 - 7 hours. Bake in a preheated 300°F oven until golden brown. Dust with powdered sugar before slicing.

9 comments:

Sidney said...

I am drooling before my computer monitor.

Oggi said...

Hi Sidney, thanks for stopping by. Love your website!:)

christine said...

Those look wonderful, especially the Nutella and hazelnuts coffee cake roll! That couldn't sound any more tempting.

Oggi said...

Hi Christine, I love anything with Nutella: cookies, cakes, bread, ice cream, fresh strawberries.:)

Anonymous said...

Bad idea to visit your blog with my 11-yo here. Now I've got him whining about how I haven't made ensaimada in forever...

that looks GOOOOOOD.

Oggi said...

Reading food blogs does that to me too. I have been dreaming about ensaimada after reading Hizon's in one Filipino blog.;D

raissa said...

This is the ensaimada that I ate growing up while we still had our bakery. I would put quickmelt cheese in between and put it back to the oven for the cheese to melt and then sprinkle it with sugar and eat it while still warm. Yummy!

Oggi said...

Raissa, you had a bakery? That's my dream, to own a bakery and coffee shop but I'm scared to start a business. It needs a ton of money and soul to open one and I don't have both.:)

Eating lots of ensaimada topped with butter, sugar, and cheese a few months ago contributed to my weight gain and the hubby's high sugar test results.:)

raissa said...

It was my maternal grandparents but my mom was the last one who managed it. My siblings and I save for our youngest all looked after the bakery while we were young. The food business takes a lot of time and one should really be passionate about it.

Oh sorry to hear that. I like the bread kind not those french type that has a lot of butter. The bread based is pretty bland thats why it needs some butter/margarine, sugar and cheese.

I miss it. I havent seen those kind here

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