Homemade Ensaymada (aka my first successful attempt at making bread)
I finally conquered my biggest fear in baking (hint: see below picture), and baked bread successfully for the first time!
What made this victory even better is that I made one of my favorite Filipino breads, called the ensaymada. The ensaymada is something we inherited from the Spanish and comes from the Catalan word, saïm (reduced pork lard). Filipinos don’t use pork lard though, but replace it with tons of butter, sugar and cheese. The result is an extremely soft, sweet and flavorful bread, which is best paired with hot chocolate. I didn’t top mine with buttercream and loads of cheese like most other ensaymadas. Still, it was delicious - as you can see below, the bread is super soft and melts in your mouth, while the top is sweet and buttery!
Read on for the recipe, which is extremely tedious but worth it if you are patient enough. :)
My family and friends say I take way too many pictures of food. I really enjoy baking and am starting to enjoy cooking too. I love anything food related - bakery-hopping, learning about food chemistry, drawing food, trying food from different places! Nothing beats home so I tend to write about Asian cuisine a lot too.
