Spanish Bread: Filipino Bakery Rolls with Buttery Filling
Breadcrumbs appear twice in these Spanish bread rolls, and each use matters. Inside, they hold butter, brown sugar, and milk in a spreadable filling; outside, they give the soft enriched dough a fine, lightly textured coating.
Puto Cheese: Steamed Filipino Rice Cakes
A square of cheese turns a lightly sweet steamed cake into a small savory-sweet snack. These puto use rice flour alongside all-purpose flour, with milk, egg, and butter in the batter and the cheese added near the end of steaming.
Pandesal: Soft Filipino Bread Rolls
Fine breadcrumbs give these pandesal their familiar sandy coating, with a soft, lightly sweet roll underneath. Milk, egg, and butter enrich the dough, while a mixture of bread flour and all-purpose flour gives it structure for shaping into sixteen rolls.
Palitaw: Filipino Rice Cakes with Coconut and Sesame
Palitaw turns a soft rice-flour dough into chewy little ovals with coconut clinging to their surfaces. Toasted sesame and sugar finish the cakes with fragrance and a little crunch. Even shaping matters more here than an elaborate ingredient list.
Ensaymada: Filipino Brioche with Butter, Sugar, and Cheese
Ensaymada gets its character from two kinds of butter: butter kneaded into the dough for richness, and a soft layer spread on the cooled rolls. Sugar and grated cheese finish the bread with a sweet, salty contrast.
Bibingka: Filipino Coconut Rice Cake
Warm bibingka needs little dressing up: coconut milk in the batter, butter on the surface, and a salty patch of cheese or egg against the sweet cake. Banana leaves bring their own aroma and make the edges especially inviting.