Ensaymada is a Philippine brioche.
I had three recipes for ensaymada that I wanted to try. The first one didn’t work. Something to do with the yeast, I suspect, so I ended up throwing away the dough. With the second recipe, our mixer broke down, so my husband and I headed out to get a new one. Using my new stand mixer, my handy little helper, I gave the recipe another go. The dough looked frighteningly like brain, dry brain to be exact. I added 3 1/8 teaspoon of evaporated milk. Left to rise, the dough expanded. Imagine my surprise when the dough was elastic, but the end product didn’t taste anything like ensaymada. Another fail. With everything that happened, I didn’t even get to take pictures.
Today, I tried and succeeded with the third recipe thanks to Panlasang Pinoy‘s ensaymada recipe. I’ll list the ingredients here, but for the complete recipe, check Panlasang Pinoy.
Ingredients:
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup butter, melted
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 3 pieces raw eggs
- 1 pouch rapid rise yeast (about 2 ¼ tsp)
- 1 cup fresh milk, warm
Mix the ingredients using your paddle attachment. Don’t forget to microwave 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) for 30 seconds. Knead the dough for 15 minutes using dough hook.
If the weather’s cold, let your dough rise longer and double the regular time (if required rise time is 2 hours, make it four).
After mixing the ingredients, creating the dough and leaving it to rise for two hours, I shaped the dough like those below.
I used my flower-shaped silicone cupcake cups.
After baking. . .
By the way, I added 1/4 cup sugar for topping.
Presenting my ensaymada topped with butter, sugar and cheese!
