Hojaldras Dulces Yucatecas

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy wooden rolling pin
• •Bench scraper
• •Two heavy sheet pans
• •Parchment paper
• •Sharp chef's knife or pastry wheel
• •Pastry brush for the egg wash

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the détrempe

   In a wide bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and 2 tablespoons of sugar together. In a separate cup, stir the cold water, vinegar, and egg yolk until the yolk breaks up. Pour the liquid into the flour. Mix with your hand until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Do not knead it smooth. You want a rough, slightly tacky dough that you will refine through folding. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. The vinegar relaxes the gluten so the dough rolls thin without fighting back. This is how the pastelerias in Mérida do it.

   The water must be cold. Warm water activates the gluten too aggressively and you end up with a tough dough that will not laminate cleanly.
2. 2

   Build the fat block

   While the dough rests, mash the cold lard and the cold butter together with the back of a wooden spoon or a bench scraper until they form a single uniform block. Do not let them soften past cool. Shape into a flat 6-inch square on a sheet of parchment, wrap, and refrigerate. La manteca es el sabor and in hojaldre it is also the structure. Lard alone gives crumble. Butter alone gives a French puff pastry, which this is not. The mix is the Yucatecan version: tender, layered, and slightly savory underneath all that sugar.

3. 3

   Encase the fat

   On a lightly floured counter, roll the chilled dough into a 10-inch square. Place the cold fat block in the center, rotated 45 degrees so the corners of the fat point at the flat sides of the dough. Fold each corner of the dough over the fat to meet in the middle like an envelope. Pinch the seams closed. You should have a neat package with no fat peeking through.

4. 4

   First two turns

   Lightly flour the counter. Roll the package into a long rectangle about 8 by 18 inches, working from the center outward in firm even strokes. Keep the corners square. Fold the dough into thirds like a business letter: the bottom third up, the top third down. That is one turn. Rotate the dough 90 degrees so the open seam is on your right like a book. Roll out again to the same dimensions and fold again into thirds. That is two turns. Wrap and refrigerate for one hour. No me vengas con atajos. The rest between turns is what lets the layers separate in the oven.

5. 5

   Second two turns

   Place the cold dough on the floured counter with the seam on your right. Roll out and fold into thirds. Rotate, roll out, and fold into thirds again. That is four turns total. Wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours, preferably overnight. The long rest in the refrigerator is when the layers settle and the dough loses its memory. Hojaldre made and baked the same day is always tighter than hojaldre made the day before.

6. 6

   Cut the hojaldras

   Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line two heavy sheet pans with parchment. Roll the chilled dough on a floured counter into a large rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Trim the edges square with a sharp knife, do not drag the blade or you will seal the layers. Cut into 12 squares or rectangles, about 4 inches across. The trimmings can be stacked, not balled, and rerolled once for a second batch.

7. 7

   Egg wash and sugar

   Transfer the pieces to the lined sheet pans, leaving 2 inches between each. Brush the tops with the egg wash, then pile a generous tablespoon of granulated sugar on each one. Pile it. Do not sprinkle. The Yucatecan hojaldra is identified by the snowdrift of sugar on top that partially melts and partially stays crystalline in the oven. If you want the darker version, mix grated piloncillo with the white sugar at a ratio of one part piloncillo to two parts sugar before piling.

   Do not let the egg wash drip down the sides of the dough. It glues the layers shut and they will not rise. Brush only the top surface.
8. 8

   Bake

   Bake on the middle rack for 22 to 25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The hojaldras should rise to two or three times their original height, the layers visible from the side, and the sugar on top should be glassy and golden in patches. If they are still pale at 20 minutes, give them another three. Underbaked hojaldre is gummy in the middle. Pull them out when the bottoms are deep gold.

9. 9

   Finish and serve

   Cool the hojaldras on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes. The sugar crust needs to set or it will smear on your fingers. Serve as they do in Mérida for merienda, in the late afternoon, with cafe de olla or chocolate. Drizzle with honey or split one open and spoon in a little mermelada de ciruela or marmalade made from naranja agria. They crumble the second you bite. That crumble is the point. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Lard quality matters. Manteca de cerdo from a Mexican butcher, soft white and faintly porky, will give you the right flavor. The shelf-stable hydrogenated lard from the supermarket baking aisle is a different product and will give you a flatter, blander pastry. If you cannot find good manteca, ask at a carniceria mexicana. They render their own.
• •Temperature is everything in lamination. The dough and the fat block must be the same coolness when you roll them together. If the fat is harder than the dough, it tears through. If it is softer, it squeezes out the sides. Both ruin the layers. Work in a cool kitchen or rest the dough between turns whenever it starts to feel soft.
• •The traditional drizzle is local Yucatecan honey from the melipona bee, which is darker and more floral than what you find in a grocery jar. If you are anywhere near a market that carries miel de melipona, buy it. It will change what you understand a hojaldra to be.

Advance Preparation

• •The laminated dough can be wrapped tightly and refrigerated for up to 2 days before cutting and baking, or frozen for up to one month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before rolling out.
• •Baked hojaldras are best the same day. They keep at room temperature for 2 days in a paper bag, never plastic, which traps moisture and softens the crust. Refresh in a 350°F oven for 5 minutes to crisp them back up.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 87g)