Semitas Potosinas Seculares

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl
• •Bench scraper
• •Kitchen scale for even rolls
• •Heavy baking sheet or baking stone
• •Clean cotton servilleta for covering and storing

Instructions

1. 1

   Soften the bran

   Stir the wheat bran and grated piloncillo together in a large bowl. Pour in the hot water and mix until the piloncillo dissolves. Let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bran has absorbed the water and the mixture is warm, not hot. Bran steals moisture from dough if you don't make it drink first. This is why dry bread goes from firm to dusty.

2. 2

   Mix the dry base

   In a separate wide bowl, whisk the flour, instant yeast, and salt. Add the manteca de cerdo in small pieces and rub it into the flour with your fingers until the mixture looks like damp sand and holds together when pinched. La manteca es el sabor. Vegetable shortening gives you fat without memory. This bread needs the lard.

   Use clean, pale pork lard from a butcher or a Mexican market if you can. The hydrogenated blocks work in an emergency, but they taste flatter. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
3. 3

   Form the dough

   Add the soaked bran mixture to the flour base. Pour in the 1/2 cup warm water and mix with your hand until a rough dough forms. If dry flour remains at the bottom of the bowl, add more warm water one tablespoon at a time. The dough should be firm and tan, speckled with bran, slightly tacky but not loose. Do not chase softness. This is semita, not telera.

4. 4

   Sobar the dough

   Turn the dough onto an unfloured counter and knead for 12 to 15 minutes. Push it away with the heel of your hand, fold it back, turn, and repeat. This is sobar, the working of the dough. It will not become silky like white bread because the bran interrupts the gluten. It should become elastic enough to spring back slowly when pressed.

5. 5

   Let it rise

   Grease a bowl lightly with manteca. Place the dough inside, turn it once to coat, cover with a clean cotton servilleta, and let it rise in a warm corner for 75 to 90 minutes. It should look puffy and alive, but it may not fully double. Bran and lard slow the rise. No me vengas con atajos. Give the dough its time.

6. 6

   Shape the semitas

   Dust two baking sheets with a little flour and wheat bran. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, about 70 to 75 grams each if you are using a scale. Shape each piece into a tight round, then flatten it gently into a low disk about 3 inches wide. The semita should sit squat and sturdy, not tall like a dinner roll.

7. 7

   Proof and mark

   Set the disks on the prepared sheets with space between them. Dust the tops lightly with flour and bran. Cover and let proof for 35 to 45 minutes, until the dough looks swollen and a finger pressed gently into the side leaves a slow mark. Cut one shallow slash across the top of each semita. Do not cut deep. You are marking the bread, not opening it like a bolillo.

   If the kitchen is cold, the proof may take an hour. Watch the dough, not the clock. Overproofed bran dough collapses and bakes flat.
8. 8

   Bake them dry

   Heat the oven to 425F with a heavy baking sheet or baking stone inside. Slide the semitas onto the hot surface or place the baking sheets directly in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the oven to 375F and bake 12 to 15 minutes more, until the tops are matte tan-brown, the bottoms are darker, and the rolls sound hollow when tapped. Do not add a water pan. A semita wants a dry oven.

9. 9

   Cool and keep

   Move the semitas to a rack and let them cool at least 30 minutes before tearing one open. The crumb finishes setting as it cools. Serve with café de olla, frijoles de olla, queso fresco, or a little piloncillo if that is how your table eats merienda. Wrapped in a cotton servilleta, they keep better than bolillos. That is part of the point.

Chef Tips

• •Buy salvado de trigo where it turns over quickly: a Mexican bakery, a flour mill, or a serious market stall. It should smell nutty and clean, not dusty or rancid. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •There is no chile in this bread. San Luis Potosí does not need to prove itself with heat. This dish speaks through wheat, bran, lard, and the dry climate of rancho baking.
• •Do not confuse this with cemita poblana. No sesame crown, no pápalo, no milanesa. That is Puebla. This is San Luis Potosí. Esto no es comida de un solo México.
• •A home oven can do the job if you preheat it hard and keep it dry. A horno de barro gives darker bottoms and a deeper wheat smell, but the principle is the same: firm dough, enough lard, patient proofing.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be mixed and kneaded the night before. After kneading, place it in a greased bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Bring it back to room temperature for about 1 hour before shaping.
• •Baked semitas keep for 3 days wrapped in a cotton servilleta at room temperature. Refresh them on a comal or in a 325F oven for a few minutes.
• •For batch cooking, freeze fully cooled semitas in a sealed bag for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature and rewarm on a dry comal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 80g)