WHEN THE BREAD IS GONE—MAKE MOLLETES

Baking bread in an emergency. These are molletes, soft sandwich buns, typical of Andalusia.

It’s finally happened—we’ve run out of bread. I bought two big country loaves when I shopped last week and stashed them in the freezer. But two guys (Ben and grandson Leo) making sandwiches quickly finished the supply. It will be several days before one of us goes out to shop. Looks like it’s time to make bread.

When my kids were growing up (in the 1970s), I baked bread once a week. We had a buying cooperative to purchase wheat in quantity, taking turns to take it to a small mill in a nearby town. The fresh, whole-grain flour was divided between several families. I got masa madre (sourdough starter) or fresh yeast from a local panadería (bread bakery). I rarely make bread anymore. But here we go!

Luckily, I have both yeast and bread flour in the pantry. There’s no shortage of yeast in my locality, so I´m not joining the sourdough brigade just yet.

Since the kids are into sandwiches, I decided to make molletes, sandwich buns. Yes, Spain has marvelous crusty rolls, but these are not them. Molletes have a soft crust and spongy crumb. And pale. They are not golden-toasty. They’re floury-white. Molletes just beg to be toasted or grilled, whole or split.

Traditional breakfast: mollete with olive oil.

A bread made traditionally in the inland Málaga town of Antequera, the mollete has become popular throughout Andalusia. Stop at a roadside venta for breakfast (oh, wait, I’m forgetting that you’re not allowed to be out on the carretera, nor are restaurants open yet), and an option is toasted mollete served with olive oil, tomato and thinly sliced serrano (or ibérico) ham.

Top the mollete with tomato or ham or both.

But molletes lend themselves to any sort of filling. They are perfect hamburger buns. They are a traditional bun for spreading pringá, the fatty meats and sausage left from puchero.

Store molletes in a cloth bag. They don’t keep more than a couple of days but can be resuscitated by toasting. Toast them, split, in a toaster or on a ridged grill pan.

Variations on the theme: Substitute whole wheat flour for some of the white bread flour. Add sesame seed or cumin to the dough. Make black buns by mixing squid ink into the dough. (Yes, I have sampled such a thing.)  I'm supposing that all-purpose flour would work for these buns, if you don't have bread flour.

A perfect breakfast, lunch or snack--split and toasted mollete with olive oil, tomatoes and ibérico ham.

Or, serve the mollete with semi-cured goat cheese. Raw onions, if you like.

Molletes are the perfect burger buns. Toast them in the toaster or on a ridged grill pan.

Sandwich Buns
Molletes

About yeast: Fresh yeast comes in a cake and is easy to crumble. Keep it refrigerated up to 2 weeks or in the freezer. To activate the yeast, use water hot from the tap or heated so that you can comfortably stick your fingers into it—about 110ºF. To substitute active dry yeast, use 1/3 of the amount of fresh yeast or, in this recipe, about 1 teaspoon dry (about half of an envelope of dry yeast) for 1 tablespoon of fresh.  

Flatten balls of dough to oval or circle.

To bake: Roll dough into balls and flatten them into ovals or rounds. Place them on baking sheets lined with parchment and sprinkled with a little flour or fine semolina. Dust the tops of the buns with additional flour. Spray them lightly with water. Bake the buns on a single rack in the lower part of a preheated oven. (Use a pizza stone if you have one.) 

Makes 8 buns. 

½ ounce fresh yeast (approx. 1 tablespoon, packed)
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1 1/3 cups hand-hot water (about 110ºF)
4 ¼ cups bread flour + additional for board and pans
2 teaspoons salt
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Flour or fine semolina for baking sheets
Water to spray buns

Crumble yeast into a small bowl. Add the sugar and 1/3 cup of warm water. Stir to dissolve the yeast. Allow to set 5 minutes.

Mix yeast and flour.

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the salt. Make a well in the center and add the remaining 1 cup of warm water and the yeast-water. Use a wooden spoon or paddle to combine the flour and liquid. Mix until it comes together in a ball and all of the flour is combined. Allow the dough to rest 15 minutes.

No flour to knead. Dip hands in oil to prevent sticking.

Place the oil in a shallow bowl alongside the work surface. Scrape the dough onto the board. Dip palms in oil and knead the dough for 3 minutes. As dough becomes sticky, use more oil on the hands. Don’t add additional flour on the board. Gather the dough again into a ball and allow it to rest 15 minutes.

Again, dip hands in oil and knead the dough until smooth and glossy, using more oil as needed. Rest the dough 15 minutes. Repeat the kneading one more time.

Use the oil to grease the mixing bowl. Gather the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl, turning it once to coat the dough with oil. Cover with a clean cloth and place in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Dough rises 2 hours.

Dough before rising.

Line two baking sheets with parchment. Sprinkle them lightly with flour or semolina.

Buns are ready for the oven. Traditional molletes are oval; round ones are fine too.

Punch the dough down. Lightly flour the board. Turn the dough out. Knead once more until smooth. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and roll them into balls. Press the balls to flatten them into ovals approximately 4 ½ X 3 inches. Place them 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Dust the tops lightly with flour and cover with cloth. Let them rise 15 minutes while oven heats.

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Remove cloth from one baking sheet. Spray or sprinkle the tops of the buns very lightly with water. Place the sheet in the lower part of the oven. Bake 5 minutes.

Repeat with the second tray, raising the oven temperature again to 425ºF before baking the buns.

Baked buns are pale, not browned, and crust stays soft.

Freshly baked molletes.

More ways to use mollete buns:

Kale and Walnut Sandwiches.

Serrano Ham, Pork Loin, Green Pepper Sandwich (Serranito)

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Lockdown update: Starting today, I get to go outside of the house! Mayores (persons over 70) can now go for a walk—from 10 am-12, or from 7 pm-8. Ben can, supposedly, go surfing (from 6 am-10 or from 8 pm- 11), but he’s not allowed to get in a car to get to the coast. (Travel to purchase food or medicine has been permitted all along. In fact, I'm not cooped up in an apartment, but can range around my olive grove and garden.) Lockdown—with gradual easing of restrictions—is to be extended for another two-week period.

The incidence of new cases of coronavirus in Spain peaked on March 26. Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha have had the highest rate of mortality up until now (125 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants). The region where I live, Andalucía, has one of the lowest mortality rates due to the virus, 15 per 100,000 persons.