I really don’t know why I was so afraid of yeast. Maybe it is an inherited fear because my mom won’t even get close to the stuff. She loves to bake cakes and pastries (she is a puff pastry master) but yeast is one of her biggest fears. For several months now I have been trying to conquer yeast. However, my attempts had been shy and fallen short. Until the last Daring Bakers challenge. I had so much fun working with the Danish dough that I decided to stop worrying about yeast and just start using it more.
Oh, I am so glad I took that decision. For awhile I had been wanting to make bolillos. What are bolillos? They are Mexican dinner rolls, an artisan Mexican bread, almost as common down there as tortillas. Bolillo is the bread used to make the famous tortas (Mexican sandwiches) and molletes. Its shape is oval with a crunchy outside and a soft inside. I am proud of my little babies. they were gone so fast that I almost didn’t take pictures of them.
And as the good kitchen adventurer that I am, I decided to go farther and try a variation of bolillo, something that in Mexico you will probably never see because bolillo is also known as pan blanco (white bread) I dared myself to make whole-wheat bolillos. I used half of the batch for bolillos, which I later used to make tortas, and with the other half I made a chicken and beans pizza.
I was in a baking spree, I couldn’t stop myself so I also made another batch of Danish dough. With that I made two smaller braids, one cream cheese and strawberry jam and one banana jam and chocolate with walnuts. I also made Danish empanadas (I believed I just made that up), stuffed croissants and other cute little pastries. I ended up exhausted, but very satisfied with my creations. I think that was the only way I could have tackled my yeast fear. At least now I will have fresh bread every day and Jon won’t have an excuse to keep buying mass produced bread.
I got the recipe for bolillos at cookingforums.net. I tried to link back to the person who posted it but the link is no longer there. Anyway, here is the recipe from the forums. For the whole-wheat bolillos just use 3 cups of all-purpose flour and 3 cups of whole-wheat flour. I will try more flavors in the future. Stay tuned for that.
Bolillo
Makes 14-16 bolillos
Ingredients:
* 1 cup warm water (105 – 115 degrees)
* 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
* 1 pkg dry yeast
* 1 tablespoon salt
* 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
* 1 cup water
* 6 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon cornstarch
* 1/2 cup cold water
How To Make :
1. Combine 1 cup warm water, sugar, and yeast in a large mixing bown; let stand 5
minutes.
2. Combine salt, butter, and 1 cup water in a small saucepan; heat until butter melts. Cool to 105 to 115 degrees.
3. Stir butter mixture into yeast mixture. Add 2 1/2 cups flour; beat at medium speed of an electric mixer until blended. Add remaining 3 1/2 cups flour to make a soft dough.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 10 minutes Cover and let rise in warm place (85 degrees free from drafts, 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk.
5. Punch dough down, and divide into 16 equal portions Shape each portion into a 4 x 1 1/2 inch loaf-shaped roll. Place on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 35 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
6. Score tops of rolls with scissors ,making slashes 3/4 inch deep and 2 inches long.
7. Dissolve cornstarch in 1/2 cup cold water in a small saucepan ,bring to a boil. Let cool slightly. Brush each roll with cornstarch mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until rolls are golden brown.
I was going to announce a new event with this post, but I didn’t finish the badge. So I will try to do it tomorrow or sometime next week. (Does anyone want to volunteer to help me with the badge?)
Have a great weekend and Buen Provecho!
Update 07-14-08: I just learned about a food event that is perfet for this post. Aparna of My Diverse KitchenBread Baking Day #12 with the theme “Small Breads” I am sending this post as an entry because bolillos are individual Mexican dinner rolls. If you haven’t heard of this event check out the past roundups here. is hosting this
22 Replies
Wow, love the array of breads you have here! I’m so envious.
Posted on July 11th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
They look absolutely delicious Ben! Good on you for tackling the yeast fear…hope you’re enjoying your weekend.
Posted on July 12th, 2008 at 1:04 am
These look absolutely delicious Ben. Glad you conquered your fear of yeast…hope you enjoy the weekend.
Posted on July 12th, 2008 at 1:06 am
These look wonderful! We had a taqueria in town that sold tortas, too, but it’s closed now, so I’m delighted to get this recipe. I’m so glad you’ve conquered your yeast fears.
Posted on July 12th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Well done, Ben. Your bread looks wonderful and those tortas de pollo look great. I am still afraid to become a member of the Daring Bakers.
Posted on July 12th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
First John and now you! Excellent job on the breads and for conquering the fear of yeast.
Posted on July 12th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Go Ben!!! Great job, love Bolillos and now that I have the confidence like you with yeast, I am gonna see if I can do as nice a job!!!!
Posted on July 12th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Oh Ben. You’ve touched my heart. Bolillos are the perfect bread for any Mexican food. Bolillos and menudo, yum. It’s so easy to get them at the Bowie Bakery here in EP, but I am really going to try and make some. I also grew up with a fear of using yeast, inherent from my mom, but it’s time to try something knew. Thanks Ben.
Posted on July 13th, 2008 at 12:53 am
wow, these are beautiful! i also want to conquer yeast!
Posted on July 13th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Your on a roll Ben. No pun intended. Seriously are you eating all the goodies alone, or are your sharing?
Posted on July 13th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I’m still a little nervous around yeast – I mean it does grow on you (figuratively and literally). When I made a recent dish with yeast it became the “yeast that ate Toronto” – I mean seriously I walked into the kitchen and it was bubbling and crawling down the side of my fridge.
Posted on July 13th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
yeah ben i think you conquered it, great looking rolls!! just the way i like them , crusted on the outside and soft inside, perfect!
Posted on July 13th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Congratulations on getting over your fear of yeast! I love to bake with it. Probably because growing up my mom always did and I would help her. Well, I did more eating than helping probably. But it was always fun and those memories make me love baking so much now. The bolillos look so good! I think I have something new to try! : )
Posted on July 14th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Que bien! te quedaron los bolillos!!!
Yo una vez traté de hacer pan blanco, de caja (creo que en EU es el Sourdough o algo así) y me salío un bolillo gigante! muy bueno! jajaja!
Muy buen trabajo Ben!
Posted on July 14th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Maybe I’m just naive but I’ve never been scared of yeast, but have also seen a lot of bloggers who have expressed a fear or worry about it. I’m glad you’re working on it and not just avoiding it you’ve made some great looking bolillos.
Posted on July 15th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Ooo now I want to go and make more Danish pastries!! Though I’d like to find another recipe that doesn’t use orange juice (or maybe I can replace that with water?) Everything looks delicious.
Posted on July 15th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I am glad you aren’t afraid of yeast anymore, because you have baked up the most astonishing variety of bread.
Thanks for participating, Ben.
I also revisited the Danish pastry dough and made croissants, plain and with chocolate.
Posted on July 16th, 2008 at 8:09 am
What a yeasty feast!
I’ve been a bit of a yeastophobe too – but having been trying to push through it
Posted on July 16th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Ben-
Those rolls turned out beautifully! Yeast is easy to use, but it does have it’s quirks to be conquered. It looks like you are well on your way!
Posted on July 21st, 2008 at 11:57 am
I love bolillos. I enjoy tortas whenever I can – one of my favorite sandwiches.
Posted on August 6th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Mexican dinner rolls look awesome… yeah I had been using the rapid rise active dry yeast for a long time, somehow I wasn’t pleased with the outcome, and then I learnt that a normal instant good yeast would do the trick rather than some highly active kind… now it works like a charm every time.
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Hi chef well all amaze chef here.
have my love for all your recipe.
about this recipe for this dough ok i say loving as good for all/
ans i say about my insyhing dhat’ chef she or se asyes sagittarius! cos, i’m!
i love your blog .
ann
Posted on February 23rd, 2009 at 7:21 am
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