Pandesal ( es, pan de sal, salt bread, lit. "salt bread") is a staple bread roll 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 ...

commonly eaten for breakfast. It is made of flour,

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

, sugar, oil, and

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

Description

''Pandesal'' is a popular yeast-raised bread in the Philippines. Individual loaves are shaped by rolling the dough into long logs (''bastón'', Spanish for "stick") which are rolled in fine bread crumbs. These are then portioned, allowed to rise, and baked. It is most commonly served hot and may be eaten as is, or dipped in coffee, ''

tsokolate ''Tsokolate'' (), also spelled ''chocolate'', is a native Filipino thick hot chocolate drink. It is made from ''tabliya'' or ''tablea'', tablets of pure ground roasted cacao beans, dissolved in water and milk. Like in Spanish and Mexican ver ...

'' (hot chocolate), or milk. It can also be complemented with butter, margarine, cheese, jam, peanut butter, chocolate spread, or other fillings like eggs, sardines and meat. Its taste and texture closely resemble those of the Puerto Rican ''pan de agua'', French baguette, and Mexican ''

bolillos A ''bolillo'' () (in Mexico) or ''pan francés'' (in Central America) (meaning "French bread") is a type of savory bread made in Mexico and Central America. It is a variation of the baguette, but shorter in length and is often baked in a masonry ...

''. Contrary to its name, ''pandesal'' tastes slightly sweet rather than salty. Most bakeries produce ''pandesal'' in the morning for breakfast consumption, though some bake ''pandesal'' the whole day.

Variants

Some ''pandesal'' in supermarkets and some bakeries are less crusty and lighter in color. These also tend to have more sugar than the traditional ''pandesal,'' which only has 1.75% sugar. On Siargao Island, famous as a surfing spot, an oval-shaped version is locally known as "''pan de surf''" as it resembles a surfboard. It is baked on makeshift ovens fueled with coconut husks, and usually sold alongside ''

pan de coco Pan de coco, literally "coconut bread" in Spanish, is a Filipino rich sweet roll that uses sweetened shredded coconut meat ('' bukayo'') as filling. See also * Asado roll *Pandesal Pandesal ( es, pan de sal, salt bread, lit. "salt bread") ...

''. Dried and ground-up

malunggay ''Moringa oleifera'' is a fast-growing, drought-resistant tree of the family Moringaceae, native to the Indian subcontinent. Common names include moringa, drumstick tree (from the long, slender, triangular seed-pods), horseradish tree (from th ...

or moringa leaves are sometimes mixed into the flour for added nutritional content; this is called "''malunggay pandesal''" or "malunggay bread". A popular new variant of pandesal is ''ube'' cheese ''pandesal,'' which has a

purple yam ''Dioscorea alata'', also known as purple yam, ube (, ), or greater yam, among many other names, is a species of yam (a tuber). The tubers are usually a vivid violet-purple to bright lavender in color (hence the common name), but some range in ...

(''ube'') and cheese filling. It is characteristically purple like all ube-based dishes. Other contemporary variants include chocolate,

matcha is finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea leaves, traditionally consumed in East Asia. The green tea plants used for matcha are shade-grown for three to four weeks before harvest; the stems and veins are removed during ...

, strawberry and blueberry flavors. A soft, yellowish type of Filipino bread roll that is similar to pandesal except that uses

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...

, and butter or margarine is known as

Señorita bread Señorita bread, also known as Spanish bread or ''pan de kastila'', is a Filipino bread roll characteristically oblong or cylindrical in shape with a traditional sweet filling made of breadcrumbs, butter or margarine, and brown sugar. It is u ...

, Spanish bread, or ''pan de kastila''. Unlike the pandesal, it commonly has sweet fillings. It is unrelated to the Spanish '' pan de horno'' (also known in English as "Spanish bread").

History

The precursor of the ''pandesal'' was '' pan de suelo'' ("floor bread"), a local Spanish-Filipino version of the French

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 dia ...

baked directly on the floor of a wood-fired oven called a ''pugón.'' It was made with

wheat flour Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or ''bread ...

and was harder and crustier than the ''pandesal''. Since wheat is not natively produced in the Philippines, bakers eventually switched to more affordable yet inferior flour, resulting in the softer, doughy texture of the ''pandesal''. ''Pandesal'' flourished in the

American colonial era The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European colonization of North America from the early 17th century until the incorporation of the Thirteen Colonies into the United States after the Revolutionary War. In the ...

in the early 1900s, when cheaper American wheat became readily available. It has since become a staple breakfast bread in the Philippines. Baking of ''pandesal'' in ''pugón'' has declined due to a nationwide ban on cutting

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

trees for fuel, and bakers shifted to using gas-fired ovens.

Gallery

File:Pandesaljf1683.JPG, The "

putok ''Putok'' or star bread is a dense bread roll from the Philippines made with all-purpose flour, milk, and salt. It is typically dusted with coarse white sugar. It is a variant of ''pan de monja'' (''monáy'') distinguished primarily by the crown ...

" is a variation on the ''pandesal'' made from monay dough File:Bag of pandesal.JPG, ''Pandesal'' plastic-wrapped for the grocers File:RNJ PANDESAL.jpg, ''Pandesal'' with

File:Pandesal for breakfast-01.jpg, ''Pandesal'' (lower right) for breakfast File:Pampanga Prado Farm - Sausage, Egg, Kesong Puti, and Pan de Sal.jpg, Traditional full Filipino breakfast with '' kesong puti'', ''pandesal'', ''

sinangag ''Sinangag'' (), also called garlic fried rice or garlic rice, is a Filipino fried rice dish cooked by stir-frying pre-cooked rice with garlic. The rice used is preferably stale, usually leftover cooked rice from the previous day, as it result ...

'' (garlic rice), and a ''

longganisa Longaniza (, or ) is a Spanish sausage (embutido) similar to a chorizo and also closely associated with the Portuguese linguiça. Its defining characteristics are interpreted differently from region to region. It is popular in the cuisines ...

'' sausage

References

{{Filipino food Yeast breads Philippine breads Southeast Asian breads