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 with a few swishes.
Add the eggs. Using the dough hook attachment, mix until the mixture starts to barely come together. Very slowly pour in the milk. Add just enough to pick up all the flour from the bottom and sides of the bowl. You may not use all of the milk.
Knead for about 5 minutes. Stop the stand mixer and add the butter. Then continue mixing until the dough is smooth and elastic. This will take 3-5 more minutes. I like to add butter after the dough kneads a little so that gluten can form easier as fats slow down gluten development.
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 until it has doubed in size. This will take about an hour at room temperature or you can leave it in the fridge overnight.
While the dough is rising, blitz the cream crackers (or alternative) into a powder. A blender will speed it up but you could grind it by hand with a mortar and pestle or just simply smashing them while in a plastic bag.
Once you poke the dough and it doesn’t spring back, punch down the dough and tip it out on a lightly floured surface.
Divide the dough into 24 even pieces, and shape them into balls. I recommend using a scale to ensure each roll is equal in size. Then coat the dough balls with the powdered cream crackers (or alternative).
Place the dough on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, allowing a little room in between the rolls to puff up. It is ok if they end up touching during the bake.
Let the shaped rolls rise for another hour, or until you poke the dough and it only springs back halfway.
Place your baking sheet in a preheated 350ºF oven in the middle rack, and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the pandesal get golden-brown tops.
Remove the tray from the oven and allow the pandesal to cool down for about 5 minutes before eating!
