dgbaking 
I have a funny story about this bread, pan sobao. My husband is Puerto Rican, he was raised in a town called “Levittown”, which is in Toa Baja Puerto Rico. There is a bakery there, “Panaderia Lemy”, that has got the most wonderful Pan Sobao in all of PR, its addicting, how good it is.
In fact, its so good that I made my husband go back and get me four loaves so that I could bring back to the states in my luggage! I joked with him, “imagine they stop me for “smuggling” bread and arrest me and I appear on one of those Netflix shows. “locked up abroad?” Bad girls, Bad girls, watcha gonna do, watcha gonna do when they comes for you…..
Well, I wasn’t arrested but my loaves arrived a bit squashed, it’s all good, still edible! Ever since, I have tried and tried to replicate the recipe and until now, nothing has come close. I think I have finally got it, or well, at least close to it. That Lemy pan sobao is just really that delicious!
I posted a video that explains the process better. I explained in the video that I use a poolish. Using a poolish is optional. I realize these preferments can be time consuming and sometimes, we just want bread that same day! and that’s fine. In that case, do not separate flour or water for a poolish, or preferment, and just bake the recipe by mixing all ingredients.
What a poolish does is first, adds a delicious nutty flavor to dough so that is basically enhances flavor. It adds a softness to a bread crumb and the acid build up that develops during fermentation acts as a natural preservative to breads-so that they stay fresher longer.
A poolish uses some of the flour and water from the recipe at a 1:1 ratio. You can learn more about poolish here.
You mix all of the ingredients for the poolish, the flour, water and yeast. I used a medium sized bowl that comes with a lid. The poolish will look shaggy. I cover the bowl with the lid and leave it to ferment at room temperature for 8 hours. After 8 hours, I refrigerate the poolish for up to 24 hours. I usually leave it overnight and bake the next day. I never exceed refrigeration by 24 hours. I know some who do, for up to three days and I think the trick is to smell it, if it has a strong smell, like acetone, or has mold, discard it.
When ready to bake, remove from fridge and let stand at room temperature for about 30 min while you gather the rest of your ingredients. At this point the poolish should look a bit bubbly, softer than before, more wiggly and hydrated.
This recipe might seek complicated but it isn’t, the video is easy to follow and explains a lot, but I would like to elaborate on the the kneading times. I use a Joydeem bread dough mixer, like I show in the video With these types of machines, I knead for 15 minutes and that is plenty.
I used to make this recipe on my Artisan Kitchenaid, which is fine, and knead it on 2 for ten minutes. I have sense given my Artisan a bread dough rest, I bake too much bread now and it was heating up a lot. Its srill alive, my trusted and tough Artisan.
Hand kneading should take you 15 minutes. In fact, that Joydeem I have actually mimics hand kneading. It kneads and pauses and on, just like when you use your hands.
After kneading, form the dough into a ball, rub some oil and place into a large bowl and cover with a large towel or cling wrap. You then want to ferment your dough for 90-120 minutes, or until it doubles in size.
Once it has fermented, you punch the dough down to release gases. Invert the bowl onto a lightly floured counter top, and release the dough on your surface.
Divide the dough into two equal parts. Flatten both and form into an “envelope”, and cover with a large towel for 10 minutes. This helps the dough to relax and makes it easier to form the loaves for a final rise.
Once the 10 minutes pass, form the dough into loaves. Roll them into rectangles that are about 16×5 or 17×5, and then roll them lenth wise, towards you, and shape into a long log. Pinch the seams and then lightly roll the log again, to ensure the seams close and give the log a uniform shape. Repeat with the second dough.
At this point, go ahead and preheat your oven to 400 degrees. I also place the small cast iron pan that i am using to create steam, in the oven on the lowest rack. Place both loaves onto the pan that you are using to bake them in. Cover with a large towel and let the loaves rise, their final rise, for 30 minutes to an hour or until you notice that they get puffy. It took 40 minutes for me.
I want to move on to when I am about to bake the pan sobao. Once you get to that final rise, add as much steam as you can to your oven. I do this two ways but you can choose one way. I spray or brush water on the loaves and immediately bake. Another way is to heat up a pan, I used a cast iron, while your dough is in its final rise. Place that pan on your lowest rack because your pan sobao is going on the middle rack, right above it. When you are about to bake, first put the pan with the loaves inside the oven and then add ice or hot water to the heated pan below and immediately close your oven door to trap in that steam.
Bake the pan sobao at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the top is golden in color. I either bake using an Italian loaf pan, which is similar to a baguette pan but larger, or I use a 18×13 cookie sheet and yes, I fit two loaves in one large baking sheet.
I’d love to answer any questions that you might have and your feedback is very much appreciated. Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Pan Sobao-Puerto Rican Bread
Equipment
- 1 18×13 cookie sheet pan prep parchment paper or silicone mat
Ingredients
Poolish
- 120 g bread Flour
- 120 g water- room temperature
- 1/8 tsp instant yeast
Bread Dough
- 495 g bread Flour
- 4.5 tsp instant yeast
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 50 g (3.5 tbsp) Shortening or Lard or olive oil or melted butter choose one
- 230 g water-room temperature
- 1.5-2 tsp salt
- prepared poolish
Instructions
- Prepare poolish by mixing all ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix will look shaggy. Cover the bowl and let it stand at room temperature for 8 hours. After 8 hours, refrigerate the bowl for for a few hours, until ready to bake. Do not exceed 24 hours. Mix will look bubbly and hydrated.
- When ready to bake, take out the poolish from refrigerator and let it warm up at room temperature, for about 30 minutes, while you gather the rest of the ingredients to bake your pan sobao.
- Prepare a large baking pan. I use silicone mat but you can use parchment paper.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer or bread dough mixer or just a regular large bowl, add your flour, instant yeast, sugar, fat you are using, water, salt and the prepared poolish
- knead the ingredients for 10-15 minutes, or mix the ingredients and then knead with your hands. Depending on what keading method you are using. Check that the dough is clearing up the sides of the bowl, like you see in the video I posted. If you notice that too much dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, scrape the dough from the sides and add 2 -4 tbsp of bread flour and this should clear up the sides. If not, if to much dough is sticking, add a bit more flour but try not to add much more. Final dough should not stick to your hands. It should be smooth and stretchy.
- Once the dough is kneaded, form a ball, oil the dough ball with a bit of oil and bring it back to the bowl that you used for mixing or kneading, cover it and let it rise for about 90 -120 minutes, or until it doubles in size.
- Once the rising is done and the dough has doubled in size, flour your counter top a bit and your hands, and punch down on the dough to deflate it. Invert the bowl with the dough on your countertop, and flatten the dough a bit with your hands.
- Divide the dough into roughly two equal parts. Flatten each section with your hands and then fold, like you are folding an envelope, Please watch video so that this can be more clear. Cover the two doughs for 10 minutes. This resting of the dough makes the final shaping easier.
- After 10 miutes, begin to shape the doughs into loaves. Take one dough and roll it with a rolling pin or your hands, into a rectangle that is roughyl 16×5 or 17×5
- roll the length of the rectangle, facing you, into a long log and pinch the seams. Once the seams are pinched, roll the log gently to ensure that the seams close and make the loaf more uniform in shape.
- Place loaf log on prepared pan
- Repeat process with other dough and add to the pan that you are using to bake the breads
- Cover the pan with a large towel and let the loaves have their final rise for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Take this time to preheat your oven to 400 degrees and add that pan that you are using to heat up, to create steam. I use a small 6 inch cast iron skillet.
- When the loaves get puffy, brush or spray them with water and place inside your oven's middle leveled rack.
- Once pan with loaves is inside oven, go ahead and add 1 cup of ice or hot water to the small cast iron skillet. This should create a rise of steam, immediately close the oven door to trap steam inside.
- Bake pan sobao for 15-20 minutes or until it's a deep golden color.
- Once done, let the loaves stay in the pan for 5 minutes and after 5 minutes, move them to a cooling rack. Cool completely before cutting.
Video
Notes
- The poolish is totally optional so that if you are not using, just add all of the ingredients, including the ingredients under the poolish, to your dough, without taking steps to ferment to create a poolish. Just add and mix/knead.
- I highly recommend that you do take the time to create a poolish, when you are able too. It really does make a difference in the final product.
- The fat that you use is up to you. In Puerto Rico, they use lard or shortening.
- The amount of sugar that I use makes the sweetness detectable in this recipe but not overwhelming. Increase to 1/3 cup for a sweeter bread.
