The Gluten-Free Pandesal Experiment
Pandesal is a traditional Filipino bread, usually served during breakfast or meryenda (afternoon snack). Some are round-shaped, some oblong, some are as big as your fist, while some are made even bigger (jumbo pandesal!). My favorite filling for pandesal is a thick slice of cheddar cheese or a generous scoop of corned beef. Other people like it slathered with butter or PB&J, and some even dunk it in coffee or hot chocolate.
When I was in grade school, I lived with my grandparents in Quezon City, and two blocks away from their house was a pandesal bakery. I'd always volunteer to tag along with my uncle just to get a whiff of the distinctive sweet aroma of freshly baked pandesal. It's a delightful scent - something that my husband Jerry wants to capture in a jar and convert into a car freshener. He said it brings back happy memories from his childhood in Bicol.
Since I was diagnosed with colitis, pandesal was one of the Filipino foods I had to remove from my diet because it contains gluten. I do not have celiac disease, but I do have gluten-intolerance. I noticed that my body just cannot process gluten the same way it used to. Either I'd get cramps or indigestion, and I'd always end up feeling bloated.
Sometime last year, I decided to invest in a bread machine. My intention was to make gluten-free versions of all the recipes I enjoy, pandesal included. It took 10 months before I decided to bust out the bread machine when, one day, I noticed that I started to experience pain and stiffness in my fingers. My doctor said it may be signs of arthritis - a condition that most patients with colitis also experience. Great, another -itis for me to deal with. At least now, I'd be able to use the bread machine once and for all.
Before making gluten-free pandesal, I decided it would make more sense if I understood what it was like to make regular pandesal. To fulfill this task, I chose an uncomplicated and highly-rated recipe from Foxy Folksy (foxyfolksy.com/pandesal-recipe) - tried and tested by my breadmaking friends. Thanks to my bread machine, which did all the hard work of kneading and proofing, my first attempt at making pandesal was a success! The scent filled our apartment as if it was a bakery in Manila. "This is legit, Honey", Jerry said, eating one pandesal after another. He stopped at three but vowed that he will have some more the next day.
Inspired by my accomplishment, I decided to experiment with making gluten-free pandesal by following the exact Foxy Folksy recipe - except for the flour and the breadcrumbs. I chose a gluten-free flour that offered a 1:1 substitution, a brand called Cup4Cup, and was available on Amazon. Cup4Cup contained the following ingredients: cornstarch, white rice flour, brown rice flour, rBST-free milk powder, tapioca flour, potato starch, and xanthan gum. As for the breadcrumbs, I used leftover gluten-free bread that I heated up in the oven and pulsed into crumbs using a food processor.
All of the ingredients were mixing beautifully in the bread machine until I noticed that the dough wasn't thickening enough to form a ball. Uh-oh, should I stop at this point, or should I wait after it has proofed? I'd hate to have to throw away that blob that could potentially be bread! Okay, calm down, don’t give up yet. Let's stick to it and see what happens.
True enough, after proofing and transferring the dough onto the pastry mat, I noticed how wet the dough was. It was very different from what it would have been if I used regular flour. I couldn't roll the dough into balls because of its texture, so I had to use a spoon to scoop the dough out and roll it lightly on a pan of breadcrumbs. The method seemed to work, and I was able to create six even-sized pandesals. I let it proof for 30 minutes to see if it will still rise, and it did, although very slightly - just enough to create small cracks in the dough.
I baked the pandesal at 375 F (190 C) for 15 minutes. Sadly, it didn't produce the distinct scent that I was expecting. The bread came out with a hard exterior, almost like sourdough - but inside, it was moist and airy. The taste offered a faint reminder of what it was supposed to be. Jerry split one open, spreading butter on it while it was still steaming. "It's good enough!" he declared. His expectations were low since he knew it was a gluten-free version.
As for me, I gave the gluten-free pandesal a B-. I wish the crust wasn't too hard and that it tasted closer to the real thing. Is it as simple as changing the gluten-free flour or adding more ingredients to it, such as baking powder, butter, or more yeast? That'll have to wait until my next experiment.
In the meantime, I hope that the gluten-free pandesals I stored would not turn into rocks overnight. Otherwise, I'd have to invite Fred and Wilma for breakfast.