Llonguet Mallorquí

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Digital kitchen scale accurate to 1g
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Bench scraper
• •Rolling pin
• •Floured linen cloth or baker's couche
• •Heavy baking sheet or baking stone
• •Small metal pan for oven humidity
• •Wire cooling rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the massa vella

   The night before baking, mix 120g of the bread flour with 72g water and 0.2g instant yeast. Knead for two minutes into a firm, smooth ball. Cover it and leave it for 10 to 12 hours at a cool room temperature, about 18 to 20°C. It is ready when it has expanded, smells gently fermented, and shows fine bubbles beneath the surface.

   If your kitchen is warmer than 22°C, leave the massa vella out for one hour, then refrigerate it overnight. Bring it out 30 minutes before mixing the final dough.
2. 2

   Mix the final dough

   Tear the massa vella into small pieces and put them in a large bowl. Add 380g bread flour, 3g instant yeast, and 223g of the remaining water. Mix until no dry flour remains, then cover and rest for 20 minutes. Dissolve the 10g salt in the final 15g water, work it into the dough, and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. The dough should become smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky, but it should release from clean fingers.

   Don't bury a sticky dough under extra flour. Wet your fingers lightly and continue kneading; too much flour gives the llonguet a heavy crumb and keeps the split from opening well.
3. 3

   Give it the first rise

   Place the dough in a clean covered bowl and leave it for 60 to 75 minutes at about 22°C. After 30 minutes, lift one side of the dough, stretch it without tearing, and fold it across the center; repeat on all four sides. By the end, the dough should have risen by roughly half and feel lighter under your fingers. It does not need to double.

4. 4

   Build the fold

   Turn the dough onto a very lightly floured counter and press it into a rectangle about 30 by 40cm, keeping some air inside. Fold the upper long edge down to the center, then fold the lower long edge over it like a letter. Cover and rest for 10 minutes. Press it gently into a rectangle about 24 by 40cm, then roll it tightly from one long edge into a 40cm cylinder. Pull each turn snug without tearing the surface. Finish with the lengthwise join resting along the top.

5. 5

   Cut and shape

   Dust the join lightly with flour so it cannot weld itself shut. Use a bench scraper to cut the cylinder straight down into 8 equal pieces, each about 5cm wide and 100g. Keep the join uppermost. Gently lengthen each piece along that join until it forms a plump oval about 9cm long. Do not tuck the seam underneath and do not smooth it away. That fold is the future split.

   Pésalo, no lo adivines. Equal pieces proof and bake together, and no roll is left pale while another dries out.
6. 6

   Proof between cloth folds

   Flour a linen cloth well and arrange the rolls seam-side up, drawing a fold of cloth between them to support their sides. Cover and proof for 45 to 60 minutes. They are ready when they look softly swollen and a light fingertip mark returns slowly. Do not wait for them to double; an overproofed seam closes instead of opening.

7. 7

   Bake without scoring

   While the rolls proof, heat the oven to 240°C conventional or 220°C fan with a heavy baking sheet or stone inside and an empty metal pan on a lower rack. Transfer the rolls to baking paper with the seam still uppermost. Do not score them. Slide them onto the hot surface, carefully pour 150ml boiling water into the lower pan, and close the door at once. Bake for 8 minutes, vent the oven briefly, lower the heat to 220°C conventional or 200°C fan, and bake for another 9 to 11 minutes. The rolls should be pale gold with deeper color inside the split and should sound hollow underneath.

8. 8

   Cool before filling

   Move the llonguets to a rack and leave them for at least 30 minutes. The thin crust settles as they cool and the crumb finishes setting. Cut through one side for a bocadillo while leaving the rounded back intact. Fill with sobrassada, camaiot, or cheese, tal como se hace allí.

Chef Tips

• •Use harina de fuerza or white bread flour with about 11.5 to 12.5 percent protein. If your only bread flour is very strong, use 350g of it with 150g plain flour; the crust will stay thinner and the crumb less chewy.
• •Plain all-purpose flour can replace the bread flour, but hold back 20g of the final-dough water and add it only if the dough feels firm. The rolls will spread a little more and their split will be shallower.
• •Fresh baker's yeast works well. Use 1g in the massa vella and 9g in the final dough in place of the instant yeast.
• •The central cleft comes from the flour-dusted seam. Keep it uppermost from shaping to baking and never cut a replacement with a knife. That gives you a scored roll, which is another thing.
• •For a Mallorcan quick meal, open the roll along one side and fill it with sobrassada de Mallorca, camaiot, or local cheese. The light crumb is meant to carry a generous filling without becoming heavy.
• •Llonguets are best on the day they are baked. Once cool, freeze any extras whole; thaw them and warm at 180°C for 5 to 7 minutes to bring the thin crust back.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the massa vella 10 to 12 hours before mixing the final dough. In a warm kitchen, refrigerate it after its first hour at room temperature.
• •The shaped rolls can be refrigerated for up to 8 hours between well-floured cloth folds. Cover them closely, then bake directly from the refrigerator and allow two or three extra minutes.
• •Fully cooled llonguets freeze well for one month in an airtight bag. Freeze them the day they are baked, before the thin crust begins to soften.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 90g)