There is little as comforting as the smell of baking bread. The humblest of loaves can leave a home smelling warm and cozy. While breads with exotic ingredients or breads formed into detailed shapes can be exciting for the eyes and the tongue, a plain crusted loaf is a staple in almost every country for a reason.
In Mexico, the bolillo is a celebrated savory loaf. Like many traditional breads, there are many variations and many names for this loaf within Mexico. In the Yucatan, bolillo is called barras. In Sonora and Guadalajara, it is named birotes. Some recipes call for sourdough starters, some do not. I am certain that a person could spend a long time just baking the different variations of this simple loaf.
Mexico is known for its sweet breads and flat breads and corn based breads. They are revered for good reason. I live in an area with access to wonderful Mexican and Central American baked goods and have enjoyed trying them. But, I never ate a crusted loaf of traditional Mexican bread before.
I used a simple recipe, found here: https://www.mamalatinatips.com/2020/04/traditional-mexican-bolillos-easy-recipe.html
Ingredients3 1/2 cups bread flour (approx 500 gr)
2 teaspoons salt (approx 15 gr)
2 teaspoons active yeast (approx 7 gr)
1 1/3 cups lukewarm water (approx 300 ml)
1 teaspoon sugar
Oil of your choice to grease bowl
In a medium-size bowl, mix flour and salt until combined. Make a well in the middle and add the yeast.
Pour a little bit of the water on top of the yeast and mix with a fork or with your fingers until dissolved, add the sugar and mix a little more. Add the rest of the water and using your hands, mix it in the bowl.
Pour out the dough onto a clean surface and mix with one hand (using the other hand to push the flour with the bench scraper) until all the ingredients are integrated, no more, please don’t over mix. This will take about 5 minutes.
Form a ball. This ball will look and feel very rough and lumpy. Put it inside a greased medium bowl, cover with plastic or a wet towel.
Place in a warm space away from drafts and let it rest until doubled in size. Depending on the weather and humidity, this can take 1-2 hours.
Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a clean, lightly floured surface. Gently punch it and knead it for a few seconds, just enough to form a ball or roll.
Divide it into 8 pieces for 7-inch bolillos or into 16 pieces for mini-bolillos
Roll each piece to form balls, cover them, and let them rest for 20 minutes. This will help to relax the dough.
Flour a clean surface and start shaping the bolillos. Take one ball, turn it over and with your fingers start rolling the dough tightly.
Fold edges toward the center and keep rolling. Then, with your pinky fingers, push and roll at the same time, about half an inch from the edges, to form the rounded ends of the bolillo.
Then, with your fingertips, push the center of the dough to flatten it a little. Repeat and place them on a baking sheet (you don’t need to grease it).
Loosely cover with plastic wrap or a light kitchen towel and let them rest until double in size. Depending on the weather and humidity this can take between 1 and 1.5 hours.
Once they have doubled in size, pre-heat the oven at 450 °F (230 °C) and place the small baking sheet (or oven-proof container) with water in the lower rack of the oven.
Right before baking, sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the bolillos, and, using a very sharp knife or razor and holding it at a 45-degree angle, make a long cut from one side to the other.
Finally, before placing them in the oven lightly spray them with water. This is important, the water on top and the warm water in the baking sheet already in the oven will create steam which will make that beautiful crust on the bolillo.
Bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown top and bottom. Take them out of the oven and immediately transfer to a cooling rack.
Important note for baking: If you make mini-bolillos, start checking them after 18 minutes because they could be done sooner since they are smaller
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