Burnt Bread Recipe

Ingredients to make Burnt Bread:

1. 25 grams of mild olive oil
2. 40 grams of white sugar
3. 200 grams of flour of force
4. 2 eggs (one for brushing)
5. 40 grams of warm milk
6. 10 grams of baker’s yeast (fresh)
7. Zest of 1 lemon
8. 1 teaspoon salt
9. 2 dessert spoons of sugar to decorate above
10. 2 teaspoons of orange blossom water

How to make Burnt Bread

• Grate the lemon or orange peel. You can add both if you wish.
• Put the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the liquids first, that is, the milk, the oil, the egg, the orange blossom water. Then, sprinkle the yeast on top of the liquids. Prepare them like this so that when kneading they mix without any problem
• Now, add the dry ingredients in this order: the lemon zest, the sugar, the flour, and finally the salt. It is convenient to say that the salt should not touch the yeast, because it annuls the power of the leavening. Knead for 15 minutes and, if you don’t have a mixer or bread maker, try to knead for at least 7 minutes.
• Trick: The kneading, like the rising times in this type of tone, is very important.
• Rub oil into your hands and roll the dough into a ball. Leave it in a deep container to rest and make its first rise. Put a clean kitchen towel or a piece of plastic wrap on top of the dough and put it in the turned off oven. Let rest for about 3 hours.
• Tip: If the temperature in your home is cold, you can preheat the oven 15 minutes before at 80ºC for 5 minutes.
• One of the characteristics that you will see in the dough is that it will be quite sticky and a bit difficult to handle. Do not add more flour to be able to handle it, because your panquemao will be less fluffy. Instead, sprinkle a little flour on the work area and knead to get the air out of the dough and degas (3 minutes will do).
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper, shape the dough into a ball again and leave it on the baking tray. Beat an egg and paint the burnt bread with it. Put it back in the oven for 1 hour and a half for the second and last rise.
• Tip: When you have already removed the dough from the second rise, put the oven to preheat to 200 ºC.
• Take out the dough and, with scissors, make two cross cuts. Sprinkle the sugar to decorate the cross and, if you feel like it, you can also add ground almonds. Take your burnt bread to the oven and lower the temperature to 180ºC. Let it bake at medium height with heat up and down for 25 minutes.
• Tip: If you see that the burnt bread is browning too much, cover it on top with aluminum foil.
• Get the burnt bread out of the oven and be proud of your preparation! Your loved ones will be delighted and it will be a perfect bread to enjoy for snacks or breakfast. You can keep it for 3 days in the fridge in a bag or Tupperware.