Mollete de Antequera

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Large mixing bowl or stand mixer
• •Flexible dough scraper
• •Two light-colored baking sheets
• •Parchment paper
• •Clean cotton or linen cloth
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Plancha, griddle, or heavy frying pan
• •Serrated bread knife
• •Box grater, if serving with tomato

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the sponge

   The evening before, mix 150g flour, 150g cool water, and 1g instant yeast until no dry flour remains. Cover and leave it at cool room temperature for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for 11 to 15 hours. It is ready when it looks swollen and webbed with small bubbles and smells gently fermented, not sharply sour.

   For a same-day sponge, leave it at about 20°C for 3 to 4 hours and use it when domed and bubbly. The molletes will still work, though the wheat flavor will be lighter.
2. 2

   Mix the dough

   Put the sponge in a large bowl and add the 190g lukewarm water. Break it up with your fingers, then mix in the remaining 350g flour until you have a rough, sticky dough. Cover and leave it for 20 minutes. This short rest lets the flour drink properly and saves you from burying a soft dough under extra flour.

3. 3

   Add salt and knead

   Sprinkle over the 10g salt and 2g yeast. Knead for 8 to 10 minutes by hand, or 6 minutes with a mixer on low speed, until the dough is supple, elastic, and still a little tacky. It should stretch thin without tearing immediately. Resist adding flour; a firm dough gives you an ordinary bread roll, not the tender crumb of an Antequera mollete.

   If the dough clings to everything, wet your fingers and use a scraper. Pésalo, no lo adivines: the measured water is what gives the roll its soft, open middle.
4. 4

   Give it the first rise

   Cover the dough and leave it in a warm, draught-free place for 75 to 90 minutes. After 30 minutes, lift one side, fold it over the middle, and repeat from the other three sides. Cover again and let it rise until roughly 60 percent larger, airy but not necessarily doubled.

5. 5

   Divide and relax

   Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 8 pieces of about 105g. Shape each piece gently into a loose ball without squeezing out all the gas. Cover with a cloth and leave them for 15 minutes so the dough relaxes and will flatten without springing back.

6. 6

   Shape the flat ovals

   Line two light-colored baking sheets with parchment and dust them with some of the remaining flour. Pat each piece into an oval about 12cm long, 8cm wide, and 1.5 to 2cm thick. Set four on each tray, dust the tops lightly with flour, and cover. Proof for 45 to 60 minutes, until pillowy and a fingertip pressed at the edge leaves a mark that returns slowly.

7. 7

   Bake them pale

   Heat the oven to 220°C conventional or 200°C fan. Put in the first tray, immediately lower the heat to 200°C conventional or 180°C fan, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The molletes should be set, light in the hand, and still ivory on top, with only the faintest color underneath. This short, pale bake decides the bread: take it to brown and you have made a crusty roll, which is another thing entirely.

   The center should reach 93 to 95°C if you check with a thermometer. On a dark baking sheet, stack a second empty sheet underneath to keep the bases from coloring too quickly.
8. 8

   Cool and soften

   Move the molletes to a rack and lay a clean cloth loosely over them while they cool. The floury skin will stay thin and flexible, and a little wrinkling is right. Let them cool for at least 30 minutes before splitting, or the moist crumb will compress under the knife.

9. 9

   Warm on the plancha

   To serve, split a mollete through the middle and place the cut sides on a plancha or dry frying pan over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes, just until the surface catches a few golden patches while the rest stays soft. Grate the tomato from its cut face, discarding the skin. Spoon it over the bread, add olive oil and salt, and finish with jamón if you like. The crumb should drink the dressing without falling apart.

Chef Tips

• •Use medium-strength wheat flour with about 10.5 to 11.5 percent protein. If your bags give no strength rating, mix 300g all-purpose flour with 200g bread flour. Strong flour alone makes the crumb too chewy, while weak flour alone lets the ovals spread more.
• •Bake on a light-colored sheet and watch the final two minutes. A mollete should look almost unfinished but feel set and light. If the top turns properly golden, it will still be edible, but it won't have Antequera's thin skin and pillow-soft center.
• •Don't judge the crumb while the rolls are warm. Cool them under a cloth for at least 30 minutes so the moisture settles and the skin softens. Cutting too early presses the interior into a damp ridge.
• •Use raw tomato only when it is ripe enough to perfume the grater. In poor tomato season, serve the warmed mollete with good olive oil, salt, and jamón, or with manteca colorá. Pale winter tomato adds wetness and very little else.
• •Molletes are best the day they're baked. Freeze any extras as soon as they are completely cool, then thaw at room temperature and finish on the plancha. That final warming restores the crumb remarkably well.

Advance Preparation

• •Mix the sponge the night before and refrigerate it for 11 to 15 hours. It can remain chilled for up to 20 hours, though the flavor becomes a little more pronounced.
• •Bake the molletes earlier in the day, cool them fully under a cloth, and keep them in a well-closed bag until the meal. Warm the cut sides on the plancha only when you are ready to eat.
• •For longer storage, freeze the cooled rolls whole for up to 2 months. Thaw them inside their wrapping, then split and warm them on the plancha. Grate the tomato just before serving, not the night before.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 160g)