Pan de Agua (Dominican Breakfast Bread Rolls) can be found on the Dominican breakfast table almost every morning. It has a similar texture and taste to that of the French bread.
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Why do I even have this recipe in our blog? I am not sure. After all, Dominicans don't Pan de Agua (Dominican Breakfast Bread Rolls) at home. We buy it in colmados (corner stores) and supermarkets. I guess it has something to do with all the requests I got for it over the years.
It must be a matter of nostalgia for a lot of our readers.
In all my years I have yet to see two "panes de agua" that looked, or tasted the same. Yet, for reasons beyond my comprehension, Dominicans can tell when they try one. It's like we all have different voices, different dictions, but somehow manage to sound "Dominican".
What's with that?
When I was a child, a messenger on a heavily-loaded tricycle delivered "pan de agua" to our door every evening. There were two bakeries in my hometown and only one delivered, both breads had different texture and flavor.
Most panes de agua sold in "colmados" have a similar shape, a long roll with an indentation along its length. But this is not the only pan de agua you can find, step into a city supermarket and the bread you'll be given will be more similar to a mini-baguette.
In any case, while I can produce a pretty decent pan de agua at home, it is because I have a machine for kneading and leavening, special oven gadgets, and special molds. For the sake of everyone's pocket I have found a compromise. You'll get the characteristic hard crust and soft center, but the shape will be different.
Pan de Agua Recipe (Dominican Breakfast Bread Rolls)
Ingredients
- 2 cups of pre-sifted bread flour
- 1 teaspoon of instant , dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of lukewarm water
- ⅓ cup of fine cornmeal
- Extra flour for working
Instructions
- Whisk bread flour, yeast and salt together. Place in the mixer bowl and attach the dough hook.
- Start mixer at low speed (speed 2 of 12 in mine).
- Add the water and run mixer for 10 minutes. The resulting dough will be shaggy and quite wet.
- Pour the dough on a clean surface covered with flour.
- Divide the dough into 6. Make into balls. Sprinkle extra flour if necessary to work with it, but don't overdo it or the bread will be dry and hard.
- Place on a baking tray (see suggestions in notes) sprinkled with cornmeal. Let it rise covered in a dark, warm place until the balls double in size (1 ½ hrs, aprox.)
- Heat oven to 500 ºF (260 ºC). If your oven doesn't reach that temperature, go as high as it goes (results may vary).
- Place an empty tray on the topmost rack in the oven, one on the bottom. Fill both with boiling water. The oven should be very steamy when you put the bread in the oven.
- Place the tray with the bread in the center of the oven, between the trays with boiling water. Close the oven fast so the steam doesn't escape.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the trays with the water (be very careful), and bake the bread some more until they have a golden brown crust (7 - 10 mins aprox).
- Remove from the oven, serve hot.
Thank you. Just made these. They taste like my youth.
El pan de agua esta en mi lista para este fin de semana 😉
I love it. I miss it
The best bread in the world.