Giddy with the apparent success of the first batch of pan de sals stuffed with sisig, I wondered why no one had ever thought to sell pan de sals stuffed with mango, guava, mangosteen or kalamansi jam. With enough dough left for 8 pan de sals, I decided to try it out for myself. Into the center of the dough, I added 1.5-2.0 teaspoons of homemade mango jam and guava jelly. It seemed like a smart idea, the local equivalent of jelly doughnuts…
But a few minutes after sticking the pan in the oven, as the jam heated up and found crevices in the dough, several of the pan de sals started oozing molten jam, others erupted from their thinnest and therefore weakest point in the dough. The jam started caramelizing right on the silpat mats, and some of it dripped to the oven floor, burning and sending our smoke alarms into a tizzy. Some bottoms of the pds’s burned a bit due to the jam leaks. Let’s just say this was not a pretty picture. :)
But part of the problem may have been we simply sealed the gaps poorly. Or that molten jam is stronger than the dough and therefore it was a daft idea to begin with. However, having said all this, the pan de sals that did make it and cooled down a bit were a huge taste sensation. Crew members who chowed down on the mango and guava filled pan de sals loved them! Personally, I think the way to go may be to wait for the bread to be cooked, then carefully pierce each pan de sal with the nozzle of a squeeze bottle and squirt 2 teaspoons of jam into each pan de sal. The jam would still melt a bit and would flavor the sandwich, but minus all the possible mess in the oven. I suppose you could squirt some liquified sweet butter into the bread as well. :)
15 Responses
Haha, Same experience here MM, but with donuts this time. Kneaded a lovely batch of dough by hand and placed chocolate bits inside. Fried them afterwards and ended up with chocolate flavored oil (with burnt chocolate bits!) Apparently, fillings like these take a life of their own once heated! I think piping them inside the cooked bread would really work! :)
i wouldn’t mind the jam-oozy pan de sal. I think it would taste better to bake the pds with the jam filling than doing the filling after.
Nooooooo………. Cravings setting in………. Diet ruined……….. Haha
Looks so sinfully delicious! Although personally I would have had an almost equal bread to jam ratio haha…
…like those jam filled doughnuts, if you want, you can squirt the jam into the side of the bun using a piping bag with a plain tip. But if you want baked in type, maybe doing it like sio pao ….pinching the edges and sealing it by twirling , bake it, pinched side up….or doing it like brioche by rolling the tippy-top with the edge if hand like a “lagare?” motion but not all the way through….and topping it with that little piece of dough. Artiisan C. can explain it better.
Looks good!
Try freezing the jam in balls, stuffing it in the pan de sal, then baking it.
Got some frozen sweetened strawberries in my freezer, and I am planning to make pandesal this weekend… so the jam-filled idea will be it.
What if you vented it so you choose where it erupts (like up top maybe in a bit of a divot)?
great breakfast food! i can eat 10 pandesals with jam in one sitting yum!
liquefied sweet butter? ayiii! sounds good…
I think the idea is to create a jam tense enough to withstand the chemical reactions of the bread gases. Yet pliable enough to revert to form once cooling has set in. Hydrocolloids are the way to go here. Not for purists though
The melting point of the jam may have been lower than that of the temperature of the oven. It may have liquefied while inside the dough during baking, and seeped it’s way out (through the interstices) since the pandesal is, in essence, a porous substance. However, I have seen siopaos with jams as fillings (may be explained by the significantly lower temperature prevailing when steaming). Maybe lowering the temperature of the oven to one where the jam would be able retain it’s form may be a solution. But, I am not sure if one would be able to bake a pandesal at such a temperature.
PS. First comment ever. But I’ve been a lurker for about a year :) Great blog/site, sir!
Gab, thanks for that, Sister explains that the jam melts rapidly and provides steam that searches for a vent. The jam will always melt before the bread cooks. So maybe the idea of inserting the jam afterwards (as they indeed do with doughnuts) is the way to go. That allows you to put good homemade old fashioned jam into the pan de sal, without the outbursts. :)
Very angry pan de sals…
Hi MM! Long time no comment. I think it’s best to put the jam inside after baking them.