I have memories of buying Spanish Bread (aka Señorita Bread) from the bakery on my way home from school for merienda (afternoon snack). As with any sweet bread, I loved eating Filipino Spanish Bread with hot cocoa. Now, as an adult, I’ll eat it with my afternoon coffee.
What is Spanish Bread?
While this bread might be called “spanish,” the fact is this recipe is 100% Filipino. You can find this staple in the local bakeries in the Philippines. It is simply a milk bread with a sweet filling. In my case, its just a simple sugar crumb. The brown sugar and butter filling is similar to the filling of a cinnamon roll.
How do you make Spanish Bread?
Full list of ingredients and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of this page.
While recipes might differ between lolas, my Spanish Bread recipe begins with my famous pandesal. After making that dough, you’ll shape and fill it with a sweet sugar filling. Then its off to the oven to bake!
You can check out my pandesal recipe for process photos of the dough. Below is just examples on how to make the filling
Make the filling by simply combining all the filling ingredients
With a rolling pin, flatten each piece of dough into a disc and then spread some filling. Roll them up and pinch closed!
On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, let the rolls sit to proof before baking in the oven
Once they’ve cooled, enjoy!
Recipe
Spanish Bread
Ingredients
Method
- In a stand mixer, combine all-purpose flour, yeast, salt (make sure the salt doesn’t make direct contact with the yeast), and sugar. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
- Add the eggs and milk. Add just enough milk to pick up all the flour at the bottom of the bowl, then add a splash more (I like my pandesal dough to be a bit wet and sticky!)
- Add the butter, then put your stand mixer on medium speed. Knead for about 5-7 minutes, or until it passes the windowpane test. Make sure you don’t over-knead your dough!
- Once it’s kneaded, scrape the sides of the bowl to combine the dough into one ball. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.
- To start making the filling, take a medium bowl and mix together the butter, milk, and brown sugar. Then, add the flour and bread crumbs. Set aside.
- Once you poke the dough and it doesn’t spring back, tip the dough out on a lightly floured surface and press out all the air bubbles.
- Divide the dough into 24 even pieces, and shape them into discs. Spread some filling on the discs but be sure to leave some dough exposed on the edges so you can seal them. Roll each disc up and pinch the dough to seal.
- Place the dough on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, allowing a little room in between the rolls to puff up.
- Let the shaped rolls rise for another hour, or until you poke the dough and it only springs back halfway.
- Place your baking pan in a preheated 350ºF oven in the middle rack, and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until you get golden-brown tops.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool down for about 5 minutes before eating!
Dough ingredients:
- 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 tsp instant yeast mix
- 1 ¼ cup milk
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup melted butter
Filling ingredients:
- ⅓ cup melted butter
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup warm milk
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ cup bread crumbs
Directions:
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Then, pour in the milk (you may need more or less, depending on wet your dough becomes). Mix it together to incorporate as much of the milk as you can into the dry mixture.
- Crack 2 eggs and mix them into the dough mixture. If you notice that your dough is still a bit dry afterward, add a splash of milk. I like mine a bit tackier for fluffier bread.
- Pour in the melted butter–make sure the melted butter isn’t scorching hot, or else it’ll kill the yeast. Keep mixing the dough for a while until your dough stretches before it tears. If you have a stand mixer, set it to medium for about 10 minutes.
- When the dough is ready, cover the dough and let it rise until it has doubled in size. (This may take an hour or longer).
- To start making the filling, take a medium bowl and mix together the ⅓ cup melted butter and the brown sugar well. Next, pour in the ⅓ cup of warm milk and mix well. Then, add the ¼ cup flour and mix very well, and then mix in the bread crumbs. Set aside.
- Once the dough is ready and has doubled in size, it’s ready to punch down. Lightly flour your work surface, and then take your dough and press out as much air as you can. Then, gather your dough into a pretty ball.
- Using a large cutter, divide the dough as evenly as possible into four parts. Roll each into a log, or a ball (whatever you prefer). Cut up each part into equal parts again, each into 5 equally-sized logs. You should have 20 logs in the end.
- Take each piece of dough and flatten it into disks. Then, use a spoon to spread out the filling onto the dough, then roll it closed. Make sure you leave some space at the ends of the dough so that you can securely pinch them closed.
- Spread out your breadcrumbs onto a plate. Roll each filled dough around in the plate and make sure you completely cover it with on all sides with breadcrumbs. Repeat for all 20 logs.
- Cover the finished dough rolls with plastic wrap and allow them to puff up for about 30-40 minutes. They will have puffed up by them.
- Place the rolls into a 350ºF preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the Spanish breads have beautifully browned.
Going through the filling, rolling, and waiting process is so much worth it to have these Spanish breads freshly baked in your home.😊