Pan de Agua [Video+Recipe] Dominican Breakfast Bread Rolls

Pan de Agua [Video+Recipe] Dominican Breakfast Bread Rolls

Pan de agua is the quintessential Dominican breakfast bread roll, with a soft crumb and firm crust; it's perfect with hot drinks, and essential for making Dominican sandwiches.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine Dominican, Latino

Keyword dominican bread, how to make pan de agua, pan de agua recipe

Prep Time 1 45

Cook Time 30

Total Time 2 15

Servings rolls

Calories 157kcal

Author Clara Gonzalez

Equipment

2 baking sheets
Parchment paper to line both baking sheets
1 spray bottle (food safe)
Mixer (or kneading machine)

Ingredients

2 cups bread flour [350 grams]
2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
½ tablespoon salt
1 cup ice-cold water [236 mililiters] plus two tablespoons extra if needed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or olive oil), plus extra to grease hands, parchment paper, and countertop.
3 cups hot water to make steam in the oven
2 tablespoon room temperature water in the spray bottle

Instructions

1. Combining

Combine flour, salt, and yeast, and sift together. Pour the flour into the mixer vase.
Add 1 cup of cold water to the flour.

2. Kneading

Start kneading at low speed (use the hook attachment if you're using a mixer). Run until most of the dough has gathered into a ball. You may need to scrape the sides if there's dry flour. If it looks too dry, add two tablespoons of cold water.
Increase the speed to medium and run for 10 minutes. While you knead the dough, line two baking sheets with parchment paper greased with oil, and set them aside.

3. Adding oil

Stop the mixer/bread maker and pour 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil onto the dough.

4. Knead again

Start kneading at low speed until most of the oil has been incorporated into the dough (about 3 minutes).
Increase the speed to medium and knead for another 10 minutes, or until it passes the windowpane test (see below).

5. Windowpane test

Grease your hands with a bit of oil.
Pull some of the dough and stretch gently until it's thin enough that you can see your fingers on the other side without breaking. If you can't do that, knead for another 5 minutes.

6. Form rolls

Place the dough onto the greased countertop. Divide the dough into 6 equal balls.
⚠️ If you want to be exact, weigh the initial dough and divide it into six, then weigh the balls to make sure they're the same weight. I simply eyeballed it.
Make the bolls into thin rolls to make modern mini-baguette-type pan de agua (about one inch [2.5 cm] in thickness. See the video to learn how to shape them into traditional rolls.
As you form them, put them seam-side-down onto one of the lined and greased sheets.

7. Rising

Cover the baking sheet with a clean cotton tea towel and let it rest in a place that's not too hot or cold (where you'd be comfortable).
⚠️ In the summer, I let mine rise in a room with the air conditioner on, because I live in the Dominican Republic, and it's typically hot most of the year.
The rolls have to double in size, and the time it takes will depend on the temperature, humidity, and altitude, around 60 to 90 minutes. Check at 60 minutes and keep checking every 15 minutes if it's not done.

8. Preheat oven

At about 40 minutes since the bread starter rising, preheat the oven to 350 º F [177 ºC] if it's a convection oven (with a fan), 375º [190 ºC] for a regular oven.
Place a baking pan at the bottom of the oven, and pour 3 cups of hot water into it. The oven should be very steamy before you put the bread in the oven.

9. Ready rolls

Once the rolls have doubled in size, remove the tea towel.
Cover the bread with greased parchment paper (greased side-down). Place the other baking sheet on top without letting the baking sheet rest its weight on the bread.
Flip the baking sheets, so now the bread is seam-side-up. Remove the top baking sheet and parchment paper.

10. Bake

Spray the bread with a fine mist of water with the spray bottle and immediately place the baking sheet with the bread in the center of the oven and close fast so the steam doesn't escape.
Bake for 20 minutes. If the pan still has water, remove it from the oven (be very careful).
Move the bread to the top rack of the oven, and bake more until they have a golden brown crust (7 - 10 mins approx).

11. Serve

Remove from the oven.
See serving suggestions above the recipe.

Video

Notes

Be very careful when dealing with a hot oven and hot implements, exercise caution, and use proper oven mitts and holders.

Nutrition