Pataqueta - Baking partner challenge November 2013

  When Swathi announced making of traditional Spanish bread named 'Pataqueta', I was thrilled.  According to Marisa, pataqueta is bread that inhabitants of Valencia's Orchard used to eat when they went to work.  This crescent moon shaped bread, is known since seventeeth century.  It was baked in Moorish oven, later on wood stoves.

 What differs Pataqueta from other bread is they are steam baked.  Yes, that nourishes them with even soft texture with firm crust outside.  I, really enjoyed baking them, along with them, I made pretzel rolls too.  Thanks to Swathi and Marisa.

Yields 8 rolls

Ingredients required

For ferment

• 100 ml water
• 50 gm/ 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tbspn active dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp sugar

For Bread dough

• 450 gm all purpose flour
• 200 ml lukewarm water
• 11/2 tsp salt
• Little flour, for dusting

 

Method

For ferment, add dry yeast in a vessel and pour the water.  Give a gentle stir.  Add the flour, sugar and stir continuously without forming any lumps.  Cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 48 hours. 

 

After refrigeration, add this pre-ferment into an bowl.  To this, also add flour followed by lukewarm water and knead into an soft dough.  Rub through sea salt and knead again. 

 

 

Divide them into eight balls and cover with wet cloth till they double in size.  This will take around an hour.

 

 

How to shape pataqueta

Take a single ball and roll them around with your hand, forcing on edges to get a uniform, circular dough. 

 

Make an cut on side towards the centre of the circle and ending over any edge. 

 

Expand the cut.

 

Now, apply pressure on top using your palm.

 

Finally make a cut, just above the expansion.  Leave them covered to prove their size. 

 

How to shape pretzel

To the first four, I followed Pataqueta, rest four went to pretzel.  Take a ball and roll into thin cylinder.  Try to put a knot and close it very tightly.

 

 

Now, right arm of the knot is brought towards the centre and is joined. 

 

 

Similarly left arm of knot is pushed towards at back and joined at centre.  Adjust for fine round shape. 

 

 

 

It is done, placed both shapes for proving their size. 

 

Bake with steam

After proving, pataqueta must be baked with steam.  For this pre-heat oven for 180 degree Celsius and place a empty tray above the bottom shelf of oven. 

 

To the proven pataqueta, cut two ends on bottom and sprinkle flour. 

 

Place a pot of hot water over stove-top.  Just when water starts to boil, empty its contents to baking tray getting pre-heated in oven.  Be careful and cautious when performing this step.

 

Place tray containing pataquetas above the top of baking tray and bake at 180 degree Celsius for 30 minutes. 

 

This is called as 'Bake with steam'

 

I also baked pretzel rolls, which didn't need bake with steam.  They were also baked at 180 degree Celsius for thirty minutes, and here they are...

 

Both look beautiful, don't they??

 

Happy baking!!  :)

 

Linking this to Swathi Iyer's Baking partners