I’ve made bolillos of a sort a few times. I’ve found some youtube videos in Spanish (which I can fairly well follow) that I’ve used to get a sense of different recipes and techniques. Most all of them use dried yeast but for mine I use sourdough.
One thing I’ve wondered about is the hydration of the dough. Bolillos are often compared to baguettes but it seems to me that the hydration is at almost at opposite ends of the spectrum: baguette dough is usually very wet and a lot of these bolillo videos show dough that looks as stiff as silly putty or play dough, that has to be slapped and squished into shape quite forcefully. example: this video around the 15 minute mark onwards: enseñando hacer bolillos PASO A PASO - YouTube I’ve been wondering why this is preferred, if there are practical or historical reasons and/or what advantages it might offer, but haven’t seen this explained yet anywhere…
I agree that he’s got a low hydration dough going there. Probably mid-60s? 14 kilos flour and 9 liters water is 64%, but the vegetable shortening adds some water too.
My impression of and practice for baguettes (and pizza) is a hydration in the high 60s – so, not wet like ciabatta or focaccia. (More water with more whole grain flour of course.)
I think a small dough + high heat oven can result in airy bread despite a dry dough because of the speed with which the intense heat penetrates the entire dough. There’s no settling of the matrix. The extreme of this is the pita balloon.
Fascinating that he uses that oil squirt bottle in the openings of his scores. I didn’t wantch the entire video. Did he explain why he does that?
The same gentleman has at least one other video that’s more geared to home scale bolillos but this was the one I happened to have handy as I’d just been reviewing his shaping technique. I found some others too by other people at various times but haven’t saved them. I like to watch Spanish language stuff in cases like this to practice my audio-comprehension but also in some cases to try to find more authentic info.
Duh, I didn’t think to actually do the math to figure out the hydration. I’m so used to going by how it looks and feels I guess, not thinking in percentages, but I need to become more fluent in that so I can be better educated and more precise in my language… I was struck by how firm the dough looked in many but not all of the videos I saw, but I need to start paying more attention to the actual ratios.
it’s a delight to watch someone who so clearly knows what they’re doing at that level. I don’t remember him saying why he oiled the slashes, though it could be in there somewhere–I had watched the whole video at one time but this time I mainly skipped through to the shaping part (also my Spanish isn’t perfect so I can’t always be positive I’m getting everything). I kind of assumed it was to keep the cut as moist as possible until it goes into the oven while he works through them all since he’s doing so many at once, but your guess is surely better than mine. (All that shortening and veg oil kind of made me cringe though–I prefer less processed fats like lard and natural oils, and I imagine most old-time Mexican bakers were probably using lard originally…)
He did mention at one point that his oven has some kind of built in steam function, which would also help with the expansion with lower hydration dough right?
edited to add: I dug up and rewatched another of his videos where he does “1kg batch”, 1kg flour and 3 cups water (not sure if these are US standard cups or something slightly different but it looks close) plus 55g shortening, and mixes and kneads by hand. No mention of steam here…? como hacer 1 kilo de Bolillos en casa bien crujientes - YouTube He uses a pastry brush to oil the slashes in this too. He also is baking them here at about 380 Fahrenheit for 20 minutes (or more if you like them toastier, he says), which seems not very hot! I love how much he really seems to be enjoying himself…
I agree about the shortening. There are some amazing breads that switched from lard to shortening when the latter was invented and before we knew hydrogenated oils were not good for cardiovascular health/inflammation. I buy these breads with hydrogenated oils “accidentally” sometimes They’re soooo fluffy inside and crispy outside. But I draw my line at buying shortening to bake with. If I have good lard though, I’ll make Cuban and Portuguese rolls.
I’ll check out that second video. I agree that we can learn a lot from watching and listening to bakers like this guy, experts in volume and quality control, probably decades of experience.
That was fun! I sped up the video and did closed captions. So he says “380 or 220C.” 220C is 428F actually! So pretty hot though not blazing.
The oil in the score/crevasse that he makes with the wood rod – I figured it out I think. It’s to keep the divide from sealing back up. I’m guessing this from my experience with marraquetas, which are kinda 4-lobed bolillos.
I had to press that divide at the beginning and end of the final proof for it to stay. Perhaps had I oiled it, it would have stayed without a second press.
He said his cups are 237 ml – that is the size a cup would be in the US.
His pouring and scooping was pretty casual and splashy, but 3 cups is 711g / 1000g flour for 71% hydration.
I love how much he really seems to be enjoying himself…
They’re soooo fluffy inside and crispy outside. But I draw my line at buying shortening to bake with. If I have good lard though, I’ll make Cuban and Portuguese rolls.