Greetings, foodie friends!

I'm back with yet another recipe. As I promised, I will be posting the recipe where I used the purple yam jam I made from scratch. It took me a few weeks to publish because of my busy schedule.

Just a quick introduction about this recipe.

I still recall my very first bite of this Ube Cheese Pandesal. It was during the pandemic's lockdown periods, to be more precise. It was delivered by a delivery man wearing gloves, a facemask, and a shield after I placed my order online. I just wanted to try it because it was trendy online, so I got some. I was so dang paranoid that I can't even remember how many times I sanitized the packaging. We had just finished our quarantine period at the time, and I clearly recall not wanting to become ill once more.

You read that correctly; this particular variation of Filipino bread roll with a twist became well-known during the lockdown, when people were forced to stay at home and do anything to pass the time. Many people learned new skills because they had nothing else to do. 😅

Pandesal, or bread of salt, is a well-known Filipino breakfast and snack. You may purchase it in any bakery in the Philippines, particularly in the morning. It is best eating hot. The twist of putting a generous amount of yam and cheese inside the already famous bread is already a guarantee that it will be a hit.

My first attempt to recreate this bread roll didn't leave me disappointed; it was gone in a minute. The home-made yam that I used for the recipe is what made it special.

Ube Cheese Pandesal

Ingredients:

• 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
• ¼ cup warm water
• 6 tbsp white sugar
• 3 tbsp butter, room temperature
• ¼ cup warm milk
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup purple yam
• 1 ½ tbsp liquid ube flavoring to enhance the color and flavor of the dough
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 ½ cups flour
• 1 tbsp oil for kneading
• cheese cut into cubes, you can use mozzarella if you want extra stretch
• ½ cup bread crumbs

Instructions:

• In a bowl, mix the warm water, active dry yeast and a tablespoon of sugar, set it aside for 5 minutes to bloom and become foamy.

• After 5 minutes, add to your yeast mixture the butter, two eggs, the remaining white sugar, warm milk, purple yam jam, salt, and ube flavoring. Mix until well combine.

• Once the wet ingredients are well mixed, gradually add the flour, one cup at a time. Mix until there's no trace of white flour.

• Grease your kneading area with oil and be ready to knead. I grease my hands too with oil because the mixture is sticky.

• Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic; it took me almost 10 minutes to manually knead it. Don't forget to windowpane test the dough by stretching part of the mixture.

• Put the kneaded dough in a bowl that has been lightly oiled, then wrap it up in plastic wrap. Allow to rise for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until doubled.

• Deflate the dough once it has risen, then shape it into a log. The log will yield 15 sections if it is sliced vertically in half and then into smaller pieces.

• Each piece of dough should be flattened before being topped with a piece of cheese and ube jam. The dough should be folded over the fillings and formed into a smooth ball with the ends tucked under to seal.

• Place the dough in a single layer after rolling it in bread crumbs.
  Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for about 60 minutes, or until it doubles in size.

• Bake in a 350°F preheated oven for 20–25 minutes.

• Let it cool down a little before serving or eating, as the filling is hot.

You can use your favorite type of cheese. I tried it with mozarella cheese, and it's also good, but my kids are not fans of mozarella; they said the stretch are like spider webs that are hard to get rid of, so this time I used cheddar cheese.

Apologies for the not-so-detailed photos of the step-by-step process, as I was not comfortable picking up my phone when it was all covered with flour and oil. This is a one-woman production. lol

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and craved for some pandesal.

Thank you for reading this far and see you on my next one!

❤️❤️❤️

All photos were taken by me, unless stated otherwise.