Pan de Sal (Easy and Fast Method) and Day 1 of the Trip to Baguio

Pan de Sal

The first activity the Class '65 had for our 50th Grand Reunion Celebration was the trip to Baguio.  We woke up really early to make it to the 6 am meeting time at Trinoma Mall in Quezon City.  Some of us did not have breakfast and were really hungry as we sat in the van that took us to Baguio during the 5 or so hour trip.  Lo and behold the organizers gave us bags of pan de sal with latik (sweet spread from coconut) or kesong puti (white cheese usually made from carabao milk).  That saved the day!  Kudos to the organizers for not missing this detail of providing us with portable breakfast.

Our class waiting to leave for Baguio at Trinoma Mall, Quezon City.  Three vans took us to Baguio. 

Pan de sal is a staple in the Philippines that we eat especially in the morning.  We eat them piping hot straight from the nearest bakery in the neighborhood. They are dinner rolls which are crispy on the outside and  pillow soft in the inside.  They are coated with bread crumbs with little salt thus the name pan de sal which means salty bread.

I found an easy and convenient recipe for pan de sal in the Cooking with the Filipinos of Pittsburgh, PA cookbook.  It uses frozen bread dough and required no kneading and just one rising of the dough. 

The first time I made it I used frozen white bread dough.  I found the finished product lacking in that tinge of sweetness typical of some pan de sal I have eaten.  Still they were awesomely delicious.  My husband almost ate all the ones I baked.  To achieve that sweetness in the pan de sal, I decided to try using Rhodes frozen sweet bread dough.  I like the result.  The pan de sal had a whisper of sweetness to it that I was looking for (or what was it just the power of suggestion since it was made from sweet dough?).  You can use either dough, with actually very subtle difference in taste.

While researching for this post on pan de sal, I remember the recipe provided to me by one of our classmates, Becky Ortega.  She gave this recipe to me many years ago when we were both in our twenties. I used to sleep over at the apartment she occupied with Carn Abella which was a few minutes from the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission where I worked at that time.  Becky baked a lot of this pan de sal when I visited and they were delicious.  The recipe was made in the traditional way with several risings of the dough. I am showing both sides of the index card featuring Becky's recipe below in case somebody might like to labor through making pan de sal through this method.  I did not.  I stuck to using frozen bread dough for this post.

The pan de sal can be eaten with just plain butter or butter spread.  In my case, I spread liver spread on my pan de sal.  So good.  If I had vienna sausage from a can I would have inserted one into the pan de sal like I did when I was young.   Cheese pimiento is another possible filling.

Day 1 of the Trip to Baguio

The trip to Baguio was special.  Those who joined it witnessed the miracle and gift of both friendship and faith.  Everyday we not only ate, talked, laughed but we also prayed together.  We had the wonderful privilege to have in our company Bishop Rolly Santos, our classmate and the present bishop of Papua, New Guinea. En route to Baguio, we stopped at the Our Lady of Manaoag Church in Pangasinan where Bishop Rolly said Mass at noon with us in attendance with the rest of the community.

Bishop Rolly Santos saying Mass at Our Lady of Manaoag Church, Pangasinan.

It was in this Mass that I saw a splendid show of faith by the people. They clapped and literally moved moblike to the altar for the last blessing which they accepted with their hands up high. 



A copy of the statue of the Lady of Manaoag found in their museum.



The altar of the Church at Manaoag

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The inspiring and magnificent show of faith and reverence.

After the Mass, we had our first meal together prepared by Boy Garcia's cook.  I am salivating as I recall the dishes we ate.  We had chicken and pork adobo, rice, shrimps and salted eggs.  We devoured the food at the hall of the church that generously provided the venue.  I had two servings of the "to die for adobo".




The group poses in the hall after the delicious lunch of adobo, rice, shrimps and salted eggs.

While we were at the church grounds ready to leave for Baguio we heard a commotion.  It turned out two bishops, Bishop Jose Palma of Cebu and Bishop Soc Villegas of Lingayen Dagupan just arrived.  People, including our classmates, were very excited to shake their hands and pose for pictures.    This will not be our last encounter with a bishop as you shall see in later posts.  Are we not blessed?



Chance meeting of three bishops, Bishop Jose Palma of Cebu, Bishop Soc Villegas of Lingayen Dagupan and Bishop Rolly Santos of Papua, New Guinea at the grounds of the church. You can see the excitement in the faces of some of our classmates who squeezed their way into meeting the bishops.   

From Manaoag we proceeded to Holiday Park Hotel where we rested our tired bodies from the long trip.



Holiday Park Hotel where we stayed. Danny Reyes, the owner, saw to it that we were well fed during breakfast and had comfortable rooms and hot water. Thanks Danny.

My roommate, Imelda Aguilar, and I collapsed in our bed and slept when we got to our room.  We actually were late for the sumptuous dinner at Solibao Restaurant.   The most memorable part of this dinner for me was the dessert, puto bumbong.  It was so good.  After the dinner, most of us just collapsed in bed or continued to talk.



Sumptuous dinner at Solibao Restaurant walking distance from the hotel.  A big plus in staying at Holiday Park Hotel is that it is in a very convenient location close to a lot of eateries and even the famous Burnham Park. 



Pan de Sal

(Adapted from Cooking with the Filipinos of Pittsburgh, PA cookbook which is now out of print.)

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf frozen white bread or sweet bread dough
• 1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
• 1/4 tsp salt

Thaw dough at room temperature until soft enough to handle.  (It took about 1 1/2 hours for me).  On a flat surface, roll dough to form a (2-inch diameter) cylinder.  Cut into 12 pieces.  Roll each piece in a mixture of crumbs and salt.  Lay cut-side up on a cookie sheet dusted generously with bread crumbs, spacing pieces 2 inches apart.  Let rise at room temperature until double in size,  (About 3 hours).  Bake at 375 degrees Farenheit for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

Notes:

1.  The longer you let it rise, the lighter the Pan de Sal.
2.  They are best eaten hot.  They can be reheated in a toaster oven.  I used the toast mode. 

 Acknowledgement: Thanks to Jun Salumbides, Florie Cruz, Zeny and Rudy Parayo for some of the photos featured in this post.