A ''bolillo'' () (in Mexico) or ''pan francés'' (in Central America) (meaning "French bread") is a type of savory
bread
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...
made in Mexico and Central America. It is a variation of the
baguette
A baguette (; ) is a long, thin type of bread of French origin that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, though not the shape, is defined by French law). It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust.
A baguette has a di ...
, but shorter in length and is often baked in a
stone oven
A masonry oven, colloquially known as a brick oven or stone oven, is an oven consisting of a baking chamber made of fireproof brick, concrete, stone, clay (clay oven), or cob (cob oven). Though traditionally wood-fired, coal-fired ovens were c ...
. Brought to Mexico City in the 1860s by
Emperor Maximilian's troupe of cooks, its use quickly spread throughout the country.
It is roughly long, in the shape of an
ovoid, with a crunchy
crust and a soft inside known as ''migajón'' (). It is the main ingredient for ''
torta
Torta is a culinary term that can, depending on the cuisine, refer to cakes, pies, flatbreads, sandwiches, or omelettes.
Usually, it refers to:
* cake or pie in South America, much of Europe, and southern Philippines
* flatbread in Spain
* a ...
s'' and ''
mollete
A ''mollete'' () is a type of bread in Spanish cuisine, or an open-faced sandwich with beans and cheese in Mexican cuisine.
In Spanish cuisine
A is a flatbread from the Andalusian region, in southern Spain. It is a soft round white bread, u ...
s''. It has a slash on top made with a slashing tool or
bread lame, which permits the exhaust of steam and the expansion of bread without stressing its skin. A variation of the bolillo is the
'telera', which is very similar, but in this case, is usually softer and as a current trend sweeter. Other variations include ''bolillos'' made of alternate ingredients such as whole wheat, wheat germ, or flax.
Names
The ''bolillo'' is a variation of the
baguette
A baguette (; ) is a long, thin type of bread of French origin that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, though not the shape, is defined by French law). It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust.
A baguette has a di ...
, and thus often has names in the local language reflecting this. In
Guadalajara
Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...
and
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...
, they are called ''birotes'' which are often made with
sourdough
Sourdough or sourdough bread is a bread made by the fermentation of dough using wild lactobacillaceae and yeast. Lactic acid from fermentation imparts a sour taste and improves keeping qualities.
History
In the ''Encyclopedia of Food Microbio ...
. In northern Mexico, they are known both as ''bolillos'' and ''pan blanco'', whereas in northeast Mexico it is known as ''pan francés''. In
Sinaloa, they are called ''torcido'' and ''birote''. In Central America, especially in
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
, it is also known as ''pan francés'' and in
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
it is known as ''pirujo''. In
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
, a similar but longer type of bread is known as ''flauta ''(flute) while ''pan francés ''refers to the thinner, crustier French baguette. In
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, a similar bread is made and known as ''pão francês'' or ''pão de sal'' ("bread of salt"). In the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, another similar baguette-derived bread is known as ''
pan de sal
Pandesal ( es, pan de sal, salt bread, lit. "salt bread") is a staple bread roll in the Philippines commonly eaten for breakfast. It is made of flour, yeast, sugar, oil, and salt.
Description
''Pandesal'' is a popular yeast-raised bread in t ...
'' (also "bread of salt").
Slang
''Bolillo'' is a
slang
Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...
term used in some parts of
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
as an insult to refer to Mexicanos or Chicanos who act "White" because Bolillos are brown on the outside, but white on the inside.
A more common meaning is used when a person says the expression "''puro bolillo''" (lit. "only French bread"), which is equivalent with the English slang word ''zilch''.
References
{{Mexican cuisine
Cuisine of the Southwestern United States
Mexican breads
Mexican slang
Salvadoran cuisine
Spanish slang